Latest releases.

This version does NOT work on Sequoia. It does have a limitation on external drive usage which is not functional, but is otherwise stable, and the most up-to-date. If you run macOS Tahoe or Golden Gate beta, you should consider using these betas.

What's new :

• Add a "Play" button in playlists and various views in the Video Library to immediately change what plays. You can shift click to select your target if you use multiple monitors on independant mode
• Fix a bunch of bugs with multiple selections, improve the readability of some actions
• Clarify how drag and drop works for multiple selections in Video Library
• Lower scan limit for videos in my folder from 500kb to 100kb
• Various minor fixes

Known issues :

• Using an external location for Cache or Expansions doesn't work right now. If you need that feature, stick to stable.

Important :

• You can start fresh if you get stuck by deleting /Users/Shared/Aerial. It resets everything, including settings.
• You can go back to stable if you prefer, you will have to reset your wallpaper manually in that case.
• When upgrading from one beta to another, you need to manually restart the wallpaper. This can be done (most of the times) by running killall WallpaperAgent in a terminal. Sometimes that may leads to your Wallpaper being reset to the default ones, before coming back "after a while". You can try triggering it a few times. Restarting macOS is the best way to ensure you are running the latest after updating from one beta to another. This will be improved later.
• Use Settings > Advanced > Export Diagnostics to generate the logs before posting about your issue in Discord or Github, it will help !

This version does NOT work on Sequoia. It does have a limitation on external drive but is otherwise stable, and the most up-to-date. If you run macOS Golden Gate beta, you should use these betas.

What's new :

• Fix some flashes on waking up your mac from sleep, or launching the screensaver if you don't use the wallpaper
• Fix a bunch of time management issues
• Fix a crash on multiple monitors
• Fix (finally) Aerial wiping your cache for no reason sometimes
• Various minor fixes

Known issues :

• Using an external location for Cache or Expansions doesn't work right now. If you need that feature, stick to stable.

Important :

• You can start fresh if you get stuck by deleting /Users/Shared/Aerial. It resets everything, including settings.
• You can go back to stable if you prefer, you will have to reset your wallpaper manually in that case.
• When upgrading from one beta to another, you need to manually restart the wallpaper. This can be done (most of the times) by running killall WallpaperAgent in a terminal. Sometimes that may leads to your Wallpaper being reset to the default ones, before coming back "after a while". You can try triggering it a few times. Restarting macOS is the best way to ensure you are running the latest after updating from one beta to another. This will be improved later.
• Use Settings > Advanced > Export Diagnostics to generate the logs before posting about your issue in Discord or Github, it will help !

This is a beta version, and has known issues. This version does NOT work on Sequoia. If you run macOS Golden Gate beta, you should use these betas.

What's new :

• Improve startup time/fluidity of wallpaper <-> screensaver transition, they should be perfectly smooth in all cases now
• You should (generally) no longer see flashing "old" images when starting screensaver
• Fix some crashes that cause the wallpaper to reset
• You can now have the wallpaper rotate periodically if you want, to avoid staying on the same one. This is configurable in settings in Wallpaper > Auto Advance
• More CPU usage optimizations
• Various minor fixes

Known issues :

• Using an external location for Cache or Expansions doesn't work right now. If you need that feature, stick to stable.

Important :

• You can start fresh if you get stuck by deleting /Users/Shared/Aerial. It resets everything, including settings.
• You can go back to stable if you prefer, you will have to reset your wallpaper manually in that case.
• When upgrading from one beta to another, you need to manually restart the wallpaper. This can be done (most of the times) by running killall WallpaperAgent in a terminal. Sometimes that may leads to your Wallpaper being reset to the default ones, before coming back "after a while". You can try triggering it a few times. Restarting macOS is the best way to ensure you are running the latest after updating from one beta to another. This will be improved later.
• Use Settings > Advanced > Export Diagnostics to generate the logs before posting about your issue in Discord or Github, it will help !

This is a beta version, and has known issues. Prefer the stable version unless directed to this or you want to give feedback.

Generally what changes in 4.1 ?

• Aerial 4.1 replaces the "fake" wallpaper mode with a native macOS Wallpaper Extension. In practice, Aerial now shows up as a Wallpaper in System Settings. The recommended way to activate it is to let it activate itself when prompted at startup.
• When upgrading from one beta to another, you need to manually restart the wallpaper. This can be done (most of the times) by running killall WallpaperAgent in a terminal. Sometimes that may leads to your Wallpaper being reset to the default ones, before coming back "after a while". You can try triggering it a few times. Restarting macOS is the best way to ensure you are running the latest after updating from one beta to another. This will be improved later.
• The Wallpaper Extension means video plays truly as your wallpaper, there is nothing underneath. This also means video plays on your login screen after waking up from sleep.
• During 1st startup you can pick between always still wallpaper (the way macOS works) or the video wallpaper with auto pause based on your windows. You can switch from one mode to another by using the "Play/pause" button for Wallpaper in the Aerial menu in your menubar.
• There's now an home screen that lets you configure easily most things. open the Video Library to see it. This will become the main way to configure things soon.
• There is now a beta track for auto updates.

What's new :

• You can now have the wallpaper rotate periodically if you want, to avoid staying on the same one. This is configurable in settings in Wallpaper > Auto Advance
• Massive CPU usage optimizations on App/Extension
• Various minor fixes

Known issues :

• Using an external location for Cache or Expansions doesn't work right now. If you need that feature, stick to stable.

Important :

• You can start fresh if you get stuck by deleting /Users/Shared/Aerial. It resets everything, including settings.
• You can go back to stable if you prefer, you will have to reset your wallpaper manually in that case.
• Use Settings > Advanced > Export Diagnostics to generate the logs before posting about your issue in Discord or Github, it will help !

This is a beta version, and has known issues. Prefer the stable version unless directed to this or you want to give feedback.

Generally what changes in 4.1 ?

• Aerial 4.1 replaces the "fake" wallpaper mode with a native macOS Wallpaper Extension. In practice, Aerial now shows up as a Wallpaper in System Settings. The recommended way to activate it is to let it activate itself when prompted at startup.
• When upgrading from one beta to another, you need to manually restart the wallpaper. This can be done (most of the times) by running killall WallpaperAgent in a terminal. Sometimes that may leads to your Wallpaper being reset to the default ones, before coming back "after a while". You can try triggering it a few times. Restarting macOS is the best way to ensure you are running the latest after updating from one beta to another. This will be improved later.
• The Wallpaper Extension means video plays truly as your wallpaper, there is nothing underneath. This also means video plays on your login screen after waking up from sleep.
• During 1st startup you can pick between always still wallpaper (the way macOS works) or the video wallpaper with auto pause based on your windows. You can switch from one mode to another by using the "Play/pause" button for Wallpaper in the Aerial menu in your menubar.
• There's now an home screen that lets you configure easily most things. open the Video Library to see it. This will become the main way to configure things soon.
• There is now a beta track for auto updates.

What's new :

• Bring audio playback back for local videos. It's disabled by default, you will need to enable it in Advanced. It will only work when playing at 1x speed (so screensaver, and wallpaper if at 1x)

• Add audio playback volume control

• Possible fix for crash when churning sessions for some reason

• Better debugging for potential churnings

• Keep up to 2 extra logs just in case instead of wiping them

• Better export log diagnostics, will also try to grab crash logs if they exist

• Various minor fixes

Known issues :

• Using an external location for Cache or Expansions doesn't work right now. If you need that feature, stick to stable.

Important :

• You can start fresh if you get stuck by deleting /Users/Shared/Aerial. It resets everything, including settings.
• You can go back to stable if you prefer, you will have to reset your wallpaper manually in that case.
• Use Settings > Advanced > Export Diagnostics to generate the logs before posting about your issue in Discord or Github, it will help !

This is a beta version, and has known issues. Prefer the stable version unless directed to this or you want to give feedback.

Generally what changes in 4.1 ?

• Aerial 4.1 replaces the "fake" wallpaper mode with a native macOS Wallpaper Extension. In practice, Aerial now shows up as a Wallpaper in System Settings. The recommended way to activate it is to let it activate itself when prompted at startup.
• When upgrading from one beta to another, you need to manually restart the wallpaper. This can be done (most of the times) by running killall WallpaperAgent in a terminal. Sometimes that may leads to your Wallpaper being reset to the default ones, before coming back "after a while". You can try triggering it a few times. Restarting macOS is the best way to ensure you are running the latest after updating from one beta to another. This will be improved later.
• The Wallpaper Extension means video plays truly as your wallpaper, there is nothing underneath. This also means video plays on your login screen after waking up from sleep.
• During 1st startup you can pick between always still wallpaper (the way macOS works) or the video wallpaper with auto pause based on your windows. You can switch from one mode to another by using the "Play/pause" button for Wallpaper in the Aerial menu in your menubar.
• There's now an home screen that lets you configure easily most things. open the Video Library to see it. This will become the main way to configure things soon.
• There is now a beta track for auto updates.

What's new :

• Add ability to ignore apps for auto-pause calculations
• Fix versions not displaying correctly
• Various minor fixes

Known issues :

• Using an external location for Cache or Expansions doesn't work right now. If you need that feature, stick to stable.

Important :

• You can start fresh if you get stuck by deleting /Users/Shared/Aerial. It resets everything, including settings.
• You can go back to stable if you prefer, you will have to reset your wallpaper manually in that case.
• Use Settings > Advanced > Export Diagnostics to generate the logs before posting about your issue in Discord or Github, it will help !

This is a beta version, and has known issues. Prefer the stable version unless directed to this or you want to give feedback.

Generally what changes in 4.1 ?

• Aerial 4.1 replaces the "fake" wallpaper mode with a native macOS Wallpaper Extension. In practice, Aerial now shows up as a Wallpaper in System Settings. The recommended way to activate it is to let it activate itself when prompted at startup.
• When upgrading from one beta to another, you need to manually restart the wallpaper. This can be done (most of the times) by running killall WallpaperAgent in a terminal. Sometimes that may leads to your Wallpaper being reset to the default ones, before coming back "after a while". You can try triggering it a few times. Restarting macOS is the best way to ensure you are running the latest after updating from one beta to another. This will be improved later.
• The Wallpaper Extension means video plays truly as your wallpaper, there is nothing underneath. This also means video plays on your login screen after waking up from sleep.
• During 1st startup you can pick between always still wallpaper (the way macOS works) or the video wallpaper with auto pause based on your windows. You can switch from one mode to another by using the "Play/pause" button for Wallpaper in the Aerial menu in your menubar.
• There's now an home screen that lets you configure easily most things. open the Video Library to see it. This will become the main way to configure things soon.
• There is now a beta track for auto updates.

What's new :

• Fix overlap bug on Tahoe
• Add separate HDR compatible render mode
• Fix wallpaper believing it's a screensaver if you opened System Settings
• Various minor fixes

Known issues :

• Using an external location for Cache or Expansions doesn't work right now. If you need that feature, stick to stable.

Important :

• You can start fresh if you get stuck by deleting /Users/Shared/Aerial. It resets everything, including settings.
• You can go back to stable if you prefer, you will have to reset your wallpaper manually in that case.
• Use Settings > Advanced > Export Diagnostics to generate the logs before posting about your issue in Discord or Github, it will help !

This is a beta version, and has known issues. Prefer the stable version unless directed to this or you want to give feedback.

Generally what changes in 4.1 ?

• Aerial 4.1 replaces the "fake" wallpaper mode with a native macOS Wallpaper Extension. In practice, Aerial now shows up as a Wallpaper in System Settings. The recommended way to activate it is to let it activate itself when prompted at startup.
• When upgrading from one beta to another, you need to manually restart the wallpaper. This can be done (most of the times) by running killall WallpaperAgent in a terminal. Sometimes that may leads to your Wallpaper being reset to the default ones, before coming back "after a while". You can try triggering it a few times. Restarting macOS is the best way to ensure you are running the latest after updating from one beta to another. This will be improved later.
• The Wallpaper Extension means video plays truly as your wallpaper, there is nothing underneath. This also means video plays on your login screen after waking up from sleep.
• During 1st startup you can pick between always still wallpaper (the way macOS works) or the video wallpaper with auto pause based on your windows. You can switch from one mode to another by using the "Play/pause" button for Wallpaper in the Aerial menu in your menubar.
• There's now an home screen that lets you configure easily most things. open the Video Library to see it. This will become the main way to configure things soon.
• There is now a beta track for auto updates.

What's new :

• Fix overlays offset not working correctly in screensaver mode
• Add ability to disable the automatic dock/menubar overlay offset for more precise control
• Fix selected user playlists randomly reverting to some other state
• Tentative fix for overlap issues on Tahoe only; If you experience issues on Golden Gate please report them.
• Various minor fixes

Known issues :

• Using an external location for Cache or Expansions doesn't work right now. If you need that feature, stick to stable.

Important :

• You can start fresh if you get stuck by deleting /Users/Shared/Aerial. It resets everything, including settings.
• You can go back to stable if you prefer, you will have to reset your wallpaper manually in that case.
• Use Settings > Advanced > Export Diagnostics to generate the logs before posting about your issue in Discord or Github, it will help !

This is a beta version, and has known issues. Prefer the stable version unless directed to this or you want to give feedback.

Generally what changes in 4.1 ?

• Aerial 4.1 replaces the "fake" wallpaper mode with a native macOS Wallpaper Extension. In practice, Aerial now shows up as a Wallpaper in System Settings. The recommended way to activate it is to let it activate itself when prompted at startup.
• When upgrading from one beta to another, you need to manually restart the wallpaper. This can be done (most of the times) by running killall WallpaperAgent in a terminal. Sometimes that may leads to your Wallpaper being reset to the default ones, before coming back "after a while". You can try triggering it a few times. Restarting macOS is the best way to ensure you are running the latest after updating from one beta to another. This will be improved later.
• The Wallpaper Extension means video plays truly as your wallpaper, there is nothing underneath. This also means video plays on your login screen after waking up from sleep.
• During 1st startup you can pick between always still wallpaper (the way macOS works) or the video wallpaper with auto pause based on your windows. You can switch from one mode to another by using the "Play/pause" button for Wallpaper in the Aerial menu in your menubar.
• There's now an home screen that lets you configure easily most things. open the Video Library to see it. This will become the main way to configure things soon.
• There is now a beta track for auto updates.

What's new :

• Fix overlays offset not working correctly in screensaver mode
• Add ability to disable the automatic dock/menubar overlay offset for more precise control
• Fix selected user playlists randomly reverting to some other state
• Tentative fix for overlap issues on Tahoe only; If you experience issues on Golden Gate please report them.
• Various minor fixes

Known issues :

• Using an external location for Cache or Expansions doesn't work right now. If you need that feature, stick to stable.

Important :

• You can start fresh if you get stuck by deleting /Users/Shared/Aerial. It resets everything, including settings.
• You can go back to stable if you prefer, you will have to reset your wallpaper manually in that case.
• Use Settings > Advanced > Export Diagnostics to generate the logs before posting about your issue in Discord or Github, it will help !

This is a beta version, and has known issues. Prefer the stable version unless directed to this or you want to give feedback.

Generally what changes in 4.1 ?

• Aerial 4.1 replaces the "fake" wallpaper mode with a native macOS Wallpaper Extension. In practice, Aerial now shows up as a Wallpaper in System Settings. The recommended way to activate it is to let it activate itself when prompted at startup.
• When upgrading from one beta to another, you need to manually restart the wallpaper. This can be done (most of the times) by running killall WallpaperAgent in a terminal. Sometimes that may leads to your Wallpaper being reset to the default ones, before coming back "after a while". Restarting macOS is the best way to ensure you are running the latest after updating from one beta to another. This will be improved later.
• The Wallpaper Extension means video plays truly as your wallpaper, there is nothing underneath. This also means video plays on your login screen after waking up from sleep.
• During 1st startup you can pick between always still wallpaper (the way macOS works) or the video wallpaper with auto pause based on your windows. You can switch from one mode to another by using the "Play/pause" button for Wallpaper in the Aerial menu in your menubar.
• There's now an home screen that lets you configure easily most things. open the Video Library to see it. This will become the main way to configure things soon.
• There is now a beta track for auto updates.

What's new :

• Fix Location overlay not working
• New testing for overlap bugs. If you experience an overlap, please enable in advance the diagnostics badges, and try launching a few times, you will see a letter A/B/C, please report a picture if you see an overlap with one, or if one seems to always work ok, this may require a few tests. Please report it on discord/github after enabling
• Various fixes

Important :

• You can start fresh if you get stuck by deleting /Users/Shared/Aerial. It resets everything, including settings.
• You can go back to stable if you prefer, you will have to reset your wallpaper manually in that case.
• Use Settings > Advanced > Export Diagnostics to generate the logs before posting about your issue in Discord or Github, it will help !

This is a beta version, and has known issues. Prefer the stable version unless directed to this or you want to give feedback.

Generally what changes in 4.1 ?

• Aerial 4.1 replaces the "fake" wallpaper mode with a native macOS Wallpaper Extension. In practice, Aerial now shows up as a Wallpaper in System Settings. The recommended way to activate it is to let it activate itself when prompted at startup.
• When upgrading from one beta to another, you need to manually restart the wallpaper. This can be done (most of the times) by running killall WallpaperAgent in a terminal. Sometimes that may leads to your Wallpaper being reset to the default ones, before coming back "after a while". Restarting macOS is the best way to ensure you are running the latest after updating from one beta to another. This will be improved later.
• The Wallpaper Extension means video plays truly as your wallpaper, there is nothing underneath. This also means video plays on your login screen after waking up from sleep.
• During 1st startup you can pick between always still wallpaper (the way macOS works) or the video wallpaper with auto pause based on your windows. You can switch from one mode to another by using the "Play/pause" button for Wallpaper in the Aerial menu in your menubar.
• There's now an home screen that lets you configure easily most things. open the Video Library to see it. This will become the main way to configure things soon.
• There is now a beta track for auto updates.

What's new :

• New pause features for wallpaper : pause on low power mode, pause on thermal, pause on camera use
• UI now tells you why your wallpaper is paused
• Settings > Advanced > Export Diagnostics will now make a zip with the logs and your configuration files, so issues can be better reported
• Possible fixes for some spanned geometry issues
• Message overlays should work again
• Import/export playlist buttons
• You can view release notes in the app now in Settings > Auto Updates (What's new button)
• Better UI for per screen margins
• Various fixes
• Lots of code cleanups

Important :

• You can start fresh if you get stuck by deleting /Users/Shared/Aerial. It resets everything, including settings.
• You can go back to stable if you prefer, you will have to reset your wallpaper manually in that case.
• Use Settings > Advanced > Export Diagnostics to generate the logs before posting about your issue in Discord or Github, it will help !

This is a beta version, and has known issues. Prefer the stable version unless directed to this or you want to give feedback.

Generally what changes in 4.1 ?

• Aerial 4.1 replaces the "fake" wallpaper mode with a native macOS Wallpaper Extension. In practice, Aerial now shows up as a Wallpaper in System Settings. The recommended way to activate it is to let it activate itself when prompted at startup.
• When upgrading from one beta to another, you need to manually restart the wallpaper. This can be done (most of the times) by running killall WallpaperAgent in a terminal. Sometimes that may leads to your Wallpaper being reset to the default ones, before coming back "after a while". Restarting macOS is the best way to ensure you are running the latest after updating from one beta to another. This will be improved later.
• The Wallpaper Extension means video plays truly as your wallpaper, there is nothing underneath. This also means video plays on your login screen after waking up from sleep.
• During 1st startup you can pick between always still wallpaper (the way macOS works) or the video wallpaper with auto pause based on your windows. You can switch from one mode to another by using the "Play/pause" button for Wallpaper in the Aerial menu in your menubar.
• There's now an home screen that lets you configure easily most things. open the Video Library to see it. This will become the main way to configure things soon.
• There is now a beta track for auto updates.

What's new :

• Better recovery of stuck/deactivated video contexts
• New transitions between videos on wallpaper and screensaver
• Improved buffer usage for decoded frames on recovery
• Various fixes

Important :

• You can start fresh if you get stuck by deleting /Users/Shared/Aerial. It resets everything, including settings.
• You can go back to stable if you prefer, you will have to reset your wallpaper manually in that case.

Aerial 4.1.0beta1c — corner-overlap fixes (diagnostic follow-up)

Building on the beta1b evidence (thanks to the tester logs — they nailed it):

• Frozen wallpaper fix: a window whose video renderer entered a failed state used to stay frozen forever while everything else kept playing. The renderer now detects this, flushes, re-primes the current frame and rejoins playback automatically (🚑 in the log).
• Quarter-window fix attempt: the "small window in the top-right corner" was proven to be macOS compositing our (fully correct) layer tree without the Retina ×2 factor. The extension now declares the display scale on its rendering context explicitly instead of letting the system infer it. If the small window still appears on this build, the remaining bug is on Apple's side and we'll file a Feedback with the evidence.
• Geometry audit now reports per-layer renderer health (st=FAILED / needsFlush).

For testers: same drill — reproduce, send /Users/Shared/Aerial/Logs/wallpaper.txt and the app log. Look out for whether the small corner window still happens at all.