[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":378},["ShallowReactive",2],{"project-45247396":3},{"id":4,"name":5,"line":6,"line_source":7,"title":8,"url":9,"domain":10,"maker":11,"posted_at":12,"year":13,"points":14,"comments":15,"rank_in_year":16,"shown_in_year":17,"top":18,"tier":19,"category":20,"subcategory":21,"format":22,"keywords":23,"reception":28,"sentiment":29,"stance_mix":30,"scored_comments":35,"aspects":36,"strip":45,"post_text":46,"what":47,"said":83,"maker_in_thread":183,"shape":196,"grid":200,"attempts":342,"same_week":343,"maker_shows":38,"maker_hidden":370,"reader_version":371,"card":372},"45247396","Backdrop","I reverse engineered macOS to allow custom Lock Screen wallpapers","title","Show HN: I reverse engineered macOS to allow custom Lock Screen wallpapers","https:\u002F\u002Fcindori.com\u002Fbackdrop","cindori.com","cindori",1757924889,2025,82,56,868,3837,23,"notable","creative","live wallpaper app","desktop_app",[24,25,26,27],"mac live wallpaper","macos lock screen","animated wallpaper","video wallpaper mac","mixed",-0.176,{"positive":31,"neutral":32,"mixed":33,"critical":34},3,13,2,9,27,{"idea":37,"execution":40,"privacy":42,"pricing":43,"design":44},{"positive":38,"critical":39},1,5,{"positive":41,"critical":38},0,{"positive":41,"critical":38},{"positive":41,"critical":38},{"positive":41,"critical":41},[38,41,38,41,41,31,41,41,41,31,39,31,31,39,31,41,41,31,31,31,41,41,31,31,41,31,31,39,41,31,31,41,38,38,38,41,38,38,41,41],"Hi HN, I'm Oskar, a solo indie Mac developer from Sweden. For those in the Mac community, you might know me from my other apps like Sensei and Trim Enabler.\n\nFor years, I've been frustrated by the lack of customisation of macOS. In particular the Lock Screen which supports animated wallpapers, but only ones provided by Apple. There's never been a way to add your own personal videos.\n\nI decided to figure out how to solve this, and the result is Backdrop 2.0. Backdrop is my Live Wallpaper app for Mac, it can play video wallpapers on your desktop. And now it can play on your Lock Screen too.\n\nThe",{"problem":48,"audience":54,"pricing":59,"motivation":74,"time_to_build":78,"stack":79,"openness":80,"stage":81,"team_size":82},{"value":49,"source":50,"evidence":51},"macOS Lock Screen only supports Apple-provided animated wallpapers; users cannot add their own videos.","maker",[52],{"id":53},"post",{"value":55,"source":56,"evidence":57},"Mac users who want custom video wallpapers","inferred",[58],{"id":53},{"value":60,"source":61,"evidence":62},"About $45 or a monthly subscription, per a commenter; price shown in AUD after a fix.","commenter",[63,67,71],{"id":64,"by":65,"text":66},"45260950","squigz","$45 or a monthly subscription for a feature that should be possible out of the box. I will simply never understand the allure of Apple products.",{"id":68,"by":69,"text":70},"45256122","captaincrowbar","I'm in Australia, you're Swedish (but I don't know if your business is based there), and most web sites show US prices by default. So I wouldn't like to guess whether it was…",{"id":72,"by":11,"text":73},"45265218","Thanks! Should be resolved now, and show AUD correctly.",{"value":75,"source":50,"evidence":76},"Frustration with the lack of macOS customisation, especially the Lock Screen.",[77],{"id":53},null,[],"paid","launched","solo",{"praise":84,"objections":100,"requests":121,"questions":140,"alternatives":157},[85],{"value":86,"source":61,"evidence":87},"Good work and a useful solution for Mac customisation",[88,92,96],{"id":89,"by":90,"text":91},"45251138","cloudking","This is awesome, nice work! Next, can you please reverse engineer spaces (multiple desktops) so we can rename them? Desktop 1, Desktop 2 etc is not very useful.",{"id":93,"by":94,"text":95},"45250232","yardie","Hi Oskar, I'm a big fan of TrimEnabler since my Hackintosh days. Sensei looks great but since I already have iStat and thought buying another status menu app would be redundant.…",{"id":97,"by":98,"text":99},"45252156","jaimehrubiks","To me it's a bit too expensive for what it provides, so I'll probably not buy it. However I must agree that the hacks on the internet with renaming videos doesn't work very well,…",[101,106,117],{"value":102,"source":61,"evidence":103},"Too expensive for what it provides",[104,105],{"id":97,"by":98,"text":99},{"id":64,"by":65,"text":66},{"value":107,"source":61,"evidence":108},"Long-term reliability across macOS updates is uncertain",[109,113],{"id":110,"by":111,"text":112},"45250146","iKlsR","> The core technical challenge, as you can imagine, came from trying to do something that Apple otherwise does not allow I think the main question most would ask is what…",{"id":114,"by":115,"text":116},"45250647","Dennip","What happens to purchasers if\u002Fwhen apple update MacOS and this no longer works?",{"value":118,"source":61,"evidence":119},"Not on the App Store",[120],{"id":93,"by":94,"text":95},[122,129,133],{"value":123,"source":61,"evidence":124},"Support 5K\u002F6K wallpapers",[125],{"id":126,"by":127,"text":128},"45251378","iscoelho","Hi cindori, I couldn't figure these out without purchasing: 1. Does Backdrop plan to support 5K\u002F6K wallpapers? Those resolutions are pretty standard for Mac workstations. 2. Is…",{"value":130,"source":61,"evidence":131},"Hide the notch like TopNotch",[132],{"id":126,"by":127,"text":128},{"value":134,"source":61,"evidence":135},"Grey or plain backgrounds",[136],{"id":137,"by":138,"text":139},"45251732","sgt","Very cool and nice solution. I personally need to have a grey background though, no photos etc. Elaborate colors are just overstimulation.",[141,146],{"value":142,"source":61,"evidence":143},"Will it keep working after macOS updates?",[144,145],{"id":110,"by":111,"text":112},{"id":114,"by":115,"text":116},{"value":147,"source":61,"evidence":148},"How the reverse engineering works and which tools are used",[149,153],{"id":150,"by":151,"text":152},"45250364","doix","What's reverse engineering like on a Mac? Have you ever written about it? I had a lot of experience reverse engineering things on windows (win32 + x86, before 64bit was a thing)…",{"id":154,"by":155,"text":156},"45250974","pm","What were some of the technical challenges you experienced while reverse-engineering the wallpaper system? I've been reverse-engineering (for lack of a better term) some of…",[158,165,176],{"value":159,"source":61,"evidence":160},"Renaming Apple's video files (hack)",[161],{"id":162,"by":163,"text":164},"45250281","nerdjon","Worth mentioning that if you want a free way to do this that does not require running additional software. All you have to do is have a video you want to use, download one of…",{"value":166,"source":61,"evidence":167},"Aerial screensaver",[168,172],{"id":169,"by":170,"text":171},"45256502","millzlane","I'm pretty sure I do this on my mac using Aerials. Is your way different from this? https:\u002F\u002Faerialscreensaver.github.io\u002F",{"id":173,"by":174,"text":175},"45251353","cwizou","Awesome stuff ! I've been trying to make a library\u002Fcli to set the wallpaper\u002Fscreensaver to use in the next version of Aerial (https:\u002F\u002Fgithub.com\u002FAerialScreensaver\u002FPaperSaver) on…",{"value":177,"source":61,"evidence":178},"Plash",[179],{"id":180,"by":181,"text":182},"45255115","purplecats","https:\u002F\u002Fgithub.com\u002Fsindresorhus\u002FPlash",{"comments":184,"answered":185,"key":186},12,8,[187,190,193],{"id":188,"text":189},"45250709","I think you will find that if you try to do that, it will actually not work properly. Visiting the lock screen repeatedly will eventually crash the wallpaper extension, producing…",{"id":191,"text":192},"45251088","I have not written about it yet. I use Hopper (https:\u002F\u002Fwww.hopperapp.com) to disassemble related binaries and frameworks. It's a great way to explore whats actually happening…",{"id":194,"text":195},"45250570","That’s totally valid. In the end, all apps on Apple platforms exist at the liberty of Apple. I have several friends who’ve seen their app stop working on Tahoe or previous macOS…",{"commenters":197,"max_depth":39,"maker_replies":184,"first_comment_mins":198,"lifespan_hours":199},35,359,33,[201,203,205,209,213,216,219,221,223,226,228,230,232,235,236,240,242,243,245,248,250,254,256,259,261,262,267,269,274,277,280,282,284,287,289,292,294,296,298,299,301,302,305,307,309,313,316,318,321,325,327,329,333,335,338,340],[162,41,38,202,163,41],"project\u002Fcritical\u002Fidea",[188,41,41,204,11,38],"commenter\u002Fneutral\u002Fnone",[206,41,38,207,208,41],"45256200","project\u002Fcritical\u002Fexecution","commandersaki",[210,41,38,211,212,41],"45251154","project\u002Fcritical\u002Fprivacy","ronsor",[214,41,41,204,215,41],"45251672","1970-01-01",[217,41,41,204,218,41],"45252083","jeroenhd",[220,41,41,204,215,41],"45252765",[150,38,31,222,151,41],"maker\u002Fneutral\u002Fnone",[224,38,41,204,225,41],"45250466","cosmic_cheese",[227,38,41,204,151,41],"45250586",[229,38,41,204,225,41],"45250670",[231,38,41,204,151,41],"45251577",[233,38,31,222,234,41],"45250765","worldsavior",[191,38,41,222,11,38],[237,38,39,238,239,41],"45264924","maker\u002Fpositive\u002Fnone","mthoms",[110,33,31,241,111,41],"project\u002Fneutral\u002Fexecution",[194,33,41,222,11,38],[97,31,31,244,98,41],"project\u002Fmixed\u002Fpricing",[89,246,39,247,90,41],4,"project\u002Fpositive\u002Fidea",[249,39,31,244,69,41],"45253524",[251,39,41,252,253,41],"45253789","other\u002Fneutral\u002Fnone","whycome",[255,39,41,252,65,41],"45260978",[257,39,41,258,11,38],"45254079","maker\u002Fneutral\u002Fpricing",[68,39,31,260,69,41],"project\u002Fneutral\u002Fpricing",[72,39,41,260,11,38],[263,264,31,265,266,41],"45250751",6,"project\u002Fneutral\u002Fdesign","vevek",[268,264,41,265,11,38],"45251068",[270,271,31,272,273,41],"45250276",7,"project\u002Fneutral\u002Fidea","TuringNYC",[275,271,41,252,276,41],"45251523","jasonpeacock",[278,271,41,204,279,41],"45256494","c22",[154,185,31,281,155,41],"maker\u002Fneutral\u002Fexecution",[283,185,41,222,11,38],"45251051",[285,185,31,222,286,41],"45251928","hirvi74",[288,185,41,222,11,38],"45254143",[290,34,41,252,291,41],"45252236","giorgioz",[137,293,31,265,138,41],10,[126,295,31,265,127,41],11,[297,295,41,265,11,38],"45254175",[93,184,39,238,94,41],[300,184,41,222,11,38],"45250784",[173,32,31,222,174,41],[303,304,41,252,215,41],"45250420",14,[114,306,31,241,115,41],15,[308,306,41,241,11,38],"45251122",[310,306,38,311,312,41],"45252995","maker\u002Fcritical\u002Fnone","sitzkrieg",[314,306,38,202,315,41],"45255553","chainingsolid",[169,317,38,202,170,41],16,[64,319,38,320,65,41],17,"project\u002Fcritical\u002Fpricing",[322,323,31,272,324,41],"45253663",18,"lordgrenville",[326,323,41,272,11,38],"45254100",[180,328,38,202,181,41],19,[330,331,38,202,332,41],"45250376",20,"lordofgibbons",[334,331,41,204,225,41],"45250499",[336,331,41,252,337,41],"45250685","dmitrygr",[339,331,41,204,332,41],"45256657",[341,331,41,204,337,41],"45256744",[],[344,348,352,357,361,366],{"id":345,"name":346,"points":347,"category":20},"45231378","AnyCrap",1184,{"id":349,"name":350,"points":351,"category":20},"45220069","Beat Maker",202,{"id":353,"name":354,"points":355,"category":356},"45212535","Asxiv.org",161,"ai",{"id":358,"name":359,"points":360,"category":20},"45232299","CLAVIER-36",146,{"id":362,"name":363,"points":364,"category":365},"45245138","Dagger.js",80,"languages",{"id":367,"name":368,"points":369,"category":356},"45276501","Math2Tex",79,false,"v2",{"id":373,"name":5,"line":6,"ai":370,"cat":20,"year":13,"points":14,"comments":15,"rec":28,"s":374,"top":18,"kw":375,"maker":11,"domain":10,"tier":19,"attempts":41,"strip":376,"url":9,"mix":377,"praise":86,"objection":102,"sub":21},45247396,-0.18,[24,25,26,27],"1010030003533530033300330335033011101100",[31,32,33,34],1794036682511]