Installing

Installing

How to get Open Wallpaper Engine onto your Mac, what happens the first time you open it, and what to do next.

Download

Releases are on the Releases page and on the website, https://openwallpaperengine.app, as a DMG and a zip with SHA-256 checksums. The current releases are betas (pre-releases). You can also build the app from source.

1. Download the DMG.
2. Open it and drag Open Wallpaper Engine to Applications.
3. Open the app from Applications.

Gatekeeper

Release builds are signed with a Developer ID, built with the hardened runtime, notarized by Apple and stapled. macOS therefore opens them without a Gatekeeper warning. The first time, macOS asks you to confirm opening an app downloaded from the internet; choose Open.

If you built the app yourself and signed it to run locally, macOS may treat it differently; see Building and running.

You can check a download yourself; the commands are in Releasing under "Verifying a download".

First launch

On first launch a setup assistant opens. Its steps are listed on the left; use Continue and Back, or Skip for Now on the optional steps, and come back to any of them later.

Step	What it does
Terms	Short summaries of the Terms of Use and the Privacy Policy, with the full texts. Tick I have read the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy to continue.
Welcome	The language, and a short feature tour: every wallpaper type, the Workshop, displays, effects and music, the Scene Editor (Live), playlists, battery rules and the menu bar
Privacy	What stays on your Mac and what the app contacts; automatic updates
Steam	SteamCMD, the Steam login and an optional Steam Web API key
Assets	Installs the Wallpaper Engine assets scenes need
Wallpapers	Import a Workshop collection or a Steam library, or download your subscriptions
Done	A summary, with shortcuts to Installed, Workshop and Display Settings

You can run the assistant again with Settings › General › Run Setup Again…. If the Terms of Use or Privacy Policy change, the app shows them again once after an update.

The app also adds an icon to the menu bar. See Menu bar and keyboard shortcuts.

What to do next

1. For scene wallpapers, install the Wallpaper Engine assets: Wallpaper Engine assets. The menu bar menu shows Set Up Assets… while they are missing.
2. For the Workshop, log in to Steam: SteamCMD and Steam login.
3. For audio-reactive wallpapers, grant the System Audio Recording permission (Screen Recording before macOS 14.2): Permissions.
4. Add wallpapers: download from the Steam Workshop or import your own.

Updating and uninstalling

• Update: the app checks for updates and installs them itself (Sparkle); use Open Wallpaper Engine › Check for Updates… to check now, and Settings › Updates to change how it updates. You can also replace the app in Applications with the new version.
• Uninstall: quit the app and move it to the Trash. Your wallpapers stay in the Wallpaper storage folder (by default ~/Documents/Open Wallpaper Engine), which also holds the assets copy (.owe-assets). Settings live in the app's defaults, and SteamCMD (if OWE installed it) in ~/Library/Application Support/Open Wallpaper Engine/steamcmd. Delete those yourself if you want them gone.

Read more (for developers): Releasing