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Your Pixel phone could soon turn any photo into an animated wallpaper
Oct 19, 2026 — 10:14 AM ET
- Google may be developing a new animated wallpaper feature that uses AI to turn an image into a video/animated wallpaper.
- It could work like the Photo to Video tool in the Google Photos app, which was introduced last year.
- Google could set daily limits on how many wallpapers you can create, according to one of the strings we found.
Pixel phones currently let you set Cinematic Wallpapers on your smartphone, leveraging AI to add motion effects to your favorite photos. It’s been over three years since its release, and Google seems to be gearing up to add another wallpaper-based feature to Pixel.
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We dug into version 2026.07.09.978 of Custom Icons, a Pixel-exclusive system app, to find evidence of a feature simply called Animated wallpaper, codenamed “catsmile.” We’re seeing references to catsmile across multiple code strings, including those that mention its video generation capabilities.
Interestingly, we’ve spotted a visual preview of the feature in Wallpaper & style’s Live effects section in an Android 17 QPR2 beta build, as you can see in the video below:
From what we can tell, it may work similarly to the Photo to Video feature in Google Photos, which, as the name suggests, could use Google’s Veo models to turn your images into short videos.
We’ve managed to surface the notification that users may see when the animated video is being generated in the background.
Here are some common strings that mention this particular background function, along with a few other notifications:
<string name="video_generation_notification_channel_name">Wallpaper Generation</string>
<string name="video_generation_notification_loading_title">Generating Animate…</string>
<string name="video_generation_notification_loading_text">You can continue using your phone</string>
<string name="video_generation_notification_complete_title">Animated wallpapers ready</string>
<string name="video_generation_notification_complete_text">View the new effects and apply them to your screens</string>
<string name="video_generation_notification_failure_title">"Can't generate animations"</string>As expected, it would require an internet connection to work, with one string suggesting daily limits may be in place. However, it’s unclear what those limits are at this stage.
<string name="error_message_no_network">Check your internet connection and try again.</string>
<string name="video_generation_default_error_message">Something went wrong. Try again later.</string>
<string name="video_generation_resource_exhausted_error_message">Check back tomorrow to animate more wallpapers.</string>Additionally, we’re seeing strings for a consent dialog that mentions Google’s Terms of Service, AI Prohibited Use Policy, and Privacy Policy. Others point to users being able to submit positive or negative feedback on the animated video and explain what went wrong.
The strings and accompanying visuals offer early insight into Google’s broader plans for this AI-based animated wallpaper creation tool. That said, it’s difficult to say whether Google will move forward with this customization option, especially at such an early stage of development. Smartphone owners certainly wouldn’t mind seeing a feature like this, though.
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