We are sorry to announce that the project is discontinued. https://www.reddit.com/r/WeatherWalls/comments/wn1gyc/the_end_of_weatherwalls/
WeatherWalls 3.x or lower might not work on iOS 15. WeatherWalls 4.0 Beta is currently in development. If you want to test, check the subreddit for the newest build. The current beta is only the core shortcut so no modules support. Features will eventually come back.
WeatherWalls is an iOS Shortcut created by /u/apoch8000 and /u/Firefox6_66. The shortcut takes the current weather conditions on your location and sets an according wallpaper on your device.
Table of contents
- Features
- Requirements
- Setup
- Automate
- Modules
- Themes
- Creating your own theme/module
- Tips & Tricks
- FAQ
WeatherWalls has several (optional) features to give you and your device a nice experience. Find a list of the features below.
- Up to 9 different weather conditions can be shown: Clear, Minor Clouds, Cloudy, Heavy Clouds, Drizzle*, Rain, Fog, Snow and Thunderstorm*. (* Only available in select themes)
- **4 Themes to choose from (and even more by the community) ** ('Sea', 'Beach', 'Mountain' & 'Surface').
- Each theme has its own Day / Night version.
- Some themes have a Sunrise / Sunset effect.
- Easy installation with a seperate installer shortcut.
If you follow this guide precisely, WeatherWalls will work like a charm on your device.
Allow 'Untrusted Shortcuts' on your device by going to Settings → Shortcuts.
The shortcut is only working on iPhone models running iOS 14.3 or higher as the 'Set Wallpaper' action was (re)introduced in this version.
Before WeatherWalls can work, we need to make sure all images are in the correct folders.
On your iPhone, click on the link below for the installer shortcut. Run it to download and extract all files. Once completed, you can delete the installer shortcut again.
- Installer
19 June 2021
Click on the link below to install the most recent version of WeatherWalls
- Version 3.2.2
22 August 2021
WeatherWalls does not update your wallpaper automatically by default. You can either choose to manually trigger this shortcut every time you want your wallpaper to update OR you can choose to use automations to trigger the shortcut.
Create your own automations to your preferences and add a 'Run Shortcut' action. Choose the WeatherWalls Shortcut to run and you're set.
Recommended is to run WeatherWalls approximately every 1-2 hours and maybe more frequent around the sunrise/sunset period to fully enjoy the effect. Alternatively you can choose to run the shortcut every time you open/close one of your most used apps (also through Automations) to make sure your wallpaper is updated from time to time.
IMPORTANT NOTE Running this shortcut too frequently through some automations (e.g. Every time I open app, run shortcut) can have a negative impact on the battery life of your device. It is suggested to use the feature to limit the shortcut to only run once every 10-15 minutes at least.
Stock Modules (still in work)
Contributed Modules
- Sticky Note Module (by /u/Firefox6_66)
- Random Cat Facts Module (by /u/Firefox6_66)
Stock Themes
- Sea
- Beach
- Mountain
- Surface*
Contributed Themes
- Minecraft (by /u/Firefox6_66, reworked by /u/apoch8000)
- Disney Castle (by /u/CheeseheadDave)
It is possible to create your own theme or module. More info available at /docs/theming.md.
Disabling Automations notifications
Using automations throughout the day will flood your notifications as Shortcuts notifies you every time an automation runs in the background. There is no way to turn off notifications for Shortcuts in Settings → Notifications, though there is a glitch that makes it possible to turn off those notifications.
Go to Settings → Screen Time → All Activity. Scroll down to the Notifications section. You'll see different apps you used in the past day with a clickable arrow. Shortcuts will be there too, but probably won't have an arrow (yet). Scroll through the chart horizontally a few times back and forth, until a clickable arrow comes available on Shortcuts. Click it and you should be prompted with a Notifications settings page for Shortcuts. If you disable notifications here, Shortcuts automations will still run in the background, but you will no longer be notified. Note that this glitch resets when you restart your device.
- I get an error where 'there is no key provided' when I run the shortcut?
This is a known bug that I cannot solve. This shortcut uses Microsoft Translate service to translate the weather conditions from your default device language to English to find the matching image. Some conditions are somehow not translatable (e.g. 'Halbbewölkt' in German doesn't translate to 'Partly Cloud' thus won't show the correct condition). The only way to fix this is by manually adding the condition in the vocabulary list in the shortcut and assign the matching wallpaper.
- The wallpapers seem to be pixelated / low quality?
Depending on your device, the shortcut needs to resize the original images to fit your screen and uses overlay actions to create e.g. the sunrise/sunset effect. In this process, the quality of the images seems to be reduced, causing blurry or pixelated results in some cases. There is nothing I can do to solve this.
- Will you make an iPad version?
Not in the near future. An iPad version would need their own set of images, which currently does not exist as the shortcut initially was designed for an iPhone. There are no plans to make the shortcut compatible for iPad.
- Will you make more themes?
Probably. Depending on my personal life and spare time, there probably will come more themes over time.
- Is this shortcut 'battery hungry'?
No. Only your automations will define how much resources will be used. If you e.g. run the shortcut every 10 minutes, there will be a noticeable effect on your battery life. I tested the shortcut (version 2.0) and let it run 50 times throughout the day. My battery stats told me it used 2% as background activity on a day of moderate usage (iPhone 11 / 88% battery life).
- Can I get your source files to the wallpapers?
No. I am not sharing my source files with anyone. I created them manually in Photoshop and took the original images from Unsplash (except the original Microsoft Surface wallpaper). Anyone can create its own set of wallpapers, place them in a manually created folder and name the images accordingly.
- Do you accept paid assignments to create a custom theme?
Everything is negotiable but it is not my intention to start creating private themes for the highest bidder. If people buy me a coffee from time to time, I probably stay motivated to add new themes from time to time, that everyone can enjoy.
- Do you want a coffee?
I thought you'd never ask! Yes, you can buy me a coffee via paypal.me/WeatherWalls.