The creator of Action Launcher built a 'living' Android wallpaper app
SwirlWalls reacts to motion and touch.
Most wallpaper apps don't do much more than offer a gallery of static images or canned animations, but Action Launcher creator Chris Lacy believes he can do better. He just introduced a SwirlWalls app for Android that aims to make wallpapers far more interactive. The psychedelic backdrops react directly not just to basic touch, but to velocity — a quick swipe will spin graphics differently than a slow drag. Wallpaper can react to the motion, too, if you're inclined to treat your phone like a Joy-Con.
You can customize backgrounds with "remixes," darkness, spin speed and other fine-tuning, and it'll recognize your phone's dark theme. It's even somewhat practical — you can set a gesture to lock your device screen.
SwirlWalls will cost you $5, but Lacy stressed that it's a one-time purchase with no subscriptions, ads or in-app purchases. And if swirls aren't your thing, more apps are coming as part of an ActionWalls series. Whether or not this is appealing depends on just how involving you want your wallpaper to be, but it might be worth the outlay if you want a phone that's lively even when you're staring at your icons.
