Android has always excelled in this area, offering you features like live wallpapers third-party apps that promise to add some pizzazz to your background. If you want to ditch the stock wallpapers that came with your phone, then these are the apps to get. Many also replenish with a fresh supply so you’ll never run out of ways to liven up the look. The ads are a little annoying, but it’s what you’ll have to put up with in order to take advantadge of all these freebies. Zedge also goes beyond wallpaper, offering ringtones, icon packs, even game downloads. If you want a free easy-to-use option, this is a great place to start. Zedge (free) It makes your wallpaper smarter, since it can display tiny widgets with real-time data. They can’t actively launch you into an app or setting, but if you’re willing to make a little room on your home screen you can get a quick look at important statistics. To get the full suite of options, including Fit integration, you’ll need to go for the $1 in-app upgrade. Otherwise yo’re limited to C, RAM, battery life -Fi connectivity. Smart llpapers (free) If you opt for the $2 in-app upgrade, you get to kill off the advertisements, choose from a larger selection of backgrounds, the promise of more upcoming features. You’re also able to upload your own images to the community. However, I found that often the photos were rotated 90 degrees to the left. It was an odd quirk, though not one that keeps me from recommending Backdrops for those who want some fun wallpaper choices. Backdrops (free) llrox uses a lot of material design elements with its look, which makes it feel like it belongs on Android. Instad of asking you to upgrade for additional features, everything is free. However, the developer has a donation button if you’d like to say “thank you” for all the hard work. llrox (free) llpapers for Me is packed with freebies, though you’ll have to ignore the advertisements that live on the bottom. It’s worth it, however, for the large growing number of background choices. llpapers for Me (free) You also get to tweak the whole live look, with simmlated scrolling the ability to have the background move between different screens. If you sign in with an account you can pin certain favorites so they’ll be with you when you switch from phone to tablet or score a new device. Backgrounds HD (free) Muzei ve llpaper (free) There are several themes for holidays or other outdoor types which could make it an especially fun wallpaper to use during Halloween, the summer, or if you’re on vacation want the ocean on your phone all the time. The app will set you back a dollar, but it’s well worth it for the fun artistic designs that will grace your home screen. perl o ($0.99) Minima o ve llpaper ($0.99) The $1 in-app upgrade gives you a lot more customization features effects, so you can liven things up with moving shapes scenes. Be sure to check out the Master Switch, as this is where you can tell the app to automatically change up your wallpaper from time to time. It’s nice to get some automation, but that means you may get some backgrounds that aren’t to your liking. In that case, just turn the feature off. Tapet (free)
