Where is the wallpaper setting?
Phones say wallpaper, computers say background, and the word a system chooses tells you which tradition it came from. We read the settings tree of all 43 systems in the catalogue and recorded where each one keeps it.
What each system calls it
22 of the 43 operating systems in our catalogue have this setting, and between them they use five different labels for it:
| Name on screen | Systems |
|---|---|
| Wallpaper | 11 |
| Background | 7 |
| Wallpaper and style | 2 |
| Desktop & Screen Saver | 1 |
| Wallpapers | 1 |
The most common is Wallpaper, on 11 of the 22. If that is not the word on your screen, the table above is the rest of the vocabulary to try.
Where it lives on each system
These are the shortest paths from the first settings screen on the newest release of each system. 17 of the 22 are within two taps; the rest sit deeper, and the table shows how much deeper.
| System | Path | Taps |
|---|---|---|
| Android 17 | Wallpaper | 1 |
| Android Auto 11 | Wallpaper | 1 |
| CarPlay 27 | Wallpaper | 1 |
| ChromeOS 151 | Wallpaper and style | 1 |
| HyperOS 4.0 | Wallpaper | 1 |
| iOS 27.0 | Wallpaper | 1 |
| iPadOS 27.0 | Wallpaper | 1 |
| Mac OS X 10.6 | Desktop & Screen Saver | 1 |
| macOS 27 Golden Gate | Wallpaper | 1 |
| One UI 9 | Wallpaper and style | 1 |
| BlackBerry OS 10 | Display › Wallpaper | 2 |
| HarmonyOS 6.0 | Home screen & wallpaper › Wallpaper | 2 |
| KaiOS 3.0 | Display › Wallpaper | 2 |
| Symbian Belle | Display › Wallpaper | 2 |
| Windows 11 | Personalization › Background | 2 |
| Windows 98 98 SE | Display › Background | 2 |
| Windows Phone 8.1 | Lock screen › Background | 2 |
| OxygenOS 16 | Customization › Wallpapers and style › Wallpapers | 3 |
| PlayStation 26.06 | Accessibility › Closed Captions › Background | 3 |
| Windows XP SP3 | Appearance and Themes › Change the desktop background › Background | 3 |
| Xbox 2608 | Closed captioning › Style › Background | 3 |
| tvOS 27 | Accessibility › Closed Captions and SDH › Style › Create New Style… › Background | 5 |
Each system name above opens the real menu in the simulator, so you can walk the path before you touch your own device.
Why the names came out this way
Wallpaper arrived with phones and stuck to anything with a lock screen. Background is the desktop word, inherited from decades of window managers. The systems that say Wallpaper and style are describing something broader — picking an image that then re-colours the whole interface.
Depth varies more here than almost anywhere else, from a first-screen entry on phones to five levels down on systems where personalisation was bolted on later.
Find it on your own device
If your system is not in the table, or the label on your screen is different again, there are three ways through it:
- Search every system at once for a setting by name — it looks inside all 43 trees, not just the one you are holding.
- Open your own system in the settings simulator and click to the screen without changing anything real.
- Follow the step-by-step guide to switching to dark mode, or see where that setting lives on every system.
Related settings in the same part of the menu:
All of it comes from the same catalogue: 43 systems, 135 versions, published as an open dataset.
Try it yourself, on the real menusOpen any of 43 operating systems in your browser and walk the Settings tree exactly as it appears on the device. No download, no account.Frequently asked questions
Where is the wallpaper setting on most systems?
On 17 of the 22 systems that have it, within two taps of the first settings screen. The most common label is “Wallpaper”, used by 11 of them. The table above gives the exact path for each system.
Why can I not find it by searching my settings?
Because settings search matches the label your system uses, and there are five different labels in use for this one setting. Searching for the word your previous device used is the single most common reason a setting appears to be missing.
How many systems have this setting at all?
22 of the 43 operating systems we catalogue. The rest either have no hardware for it or fold the behaviour into something else, which is why a feature that feels universal often is not.