Wallpaper Themes

Four subjects live here: butterflies, flowers, space and sunsets. Space and sunsets are the deep ones, with thirty designs each, while butterflies and flowers are tighter sets of six.

Space

The space wallpapers swing between photo-style astronomy and illustration. On the realistic side you get a spiral galaxy, Saturn and its rings, the moon's craters up close, a total eclipse with its corona and a rocket lifting off at night. Then the style changes completely. Retro Space Poster, Friendly Planets in cartoon colors, Orbit Lines drawn in thin strokes and a low-poly Faceted Cosmos. Black Sky and Deep Field are almost empty, which helps on a home screen packed with apps.

Sunsets

Sunset wallpapers are sorted as much by place as by color. Ocean Sunset, Desert Dunes, a city skyline reflected in still water, palms, a lone tree, a sailboat and an open road all face the same low sun. Some lean pastel, like Pastel Dusk and Teal to Coral. Others burn, like Fire Sky and Last Ember.

Butterflies and flowers

The six butterfly designs run from an iridescent glass wing over pink blossoms to a blue morpho in a green rainforest and three monarchs flying into a low sun. The six flower designs cover cherry blossom, a meadow of poppies and daisies, watercolor roses, a vintage floral, white roses on black and daisies scattered over pale yellow.

Should I pick a theme or an aesthetic?

If you can name the thing you want to see, such as planets, roses or a sunset over water, start with a theme. If you can only describe a feeling, like calm, moody or loud, the aesthetic styles will get you there faster. You can also mix them, a theme on the desktop and a style on the phone.