Change wallpaper at sunrise and sunset using automation

I used to change my wallpapers at sunrise and sunset using Shortcuts and Automations. It broke when Apple introduced the new Wallpaper design. I finally got it to work again. I’m running on an iPhone 15 and iOS 17.

I’m using Shortcut and Automation, one of each for sunrise and sunset.

Each Shortcut uses the action Switch Between Wallpapers to select the desired Wallpaper (morning or evening) and each Automation runs the morning Shortcut at sunrise and the evening Shortcut at sunset. 

The Cliff Notes if you’re familiar with shortcuts and automations …

Step 1. Create one each morning and evening Wallpaper

Step 2. Create two Switch Between Wallpapers Shortcuts to switch to your morning or evening Wallpaper, one for each. 

Step 3. Create two Automations to run the Switch Between Wallpaper Shortcuts created in Step 2., one at sunrise for the morning Wallpaper and one at sunset for the evening Wallpaper. 

Now for the rest of us, detailed instructions to automate display of your day/night Wallpaper at sunrise/sunset. 

Step 1. Create one each morning and evening Wallpapers

I created two Wallpapers using the standard Settings/Wallpaper/+ Add New Wallpaper. One I use for day, the other for night. They happen to be the 4th and 5th Wallpapers, in that order, on my phone. If I could figure out how to name the Wallpapers I would. My guess is that they ever change position in the order, I’d have to update the shortcut accordingly. 

Step 2. Create the Shortcut to switch to a specific Wallpaper, in this example, to the morning Wallpaper

+ Open the Shortcuts app and tap the + icon in top right to create a new Shortcut. 

+ In the next window, tap + Add Action 

+ In the next window, use the search function at the top to find Switch Between Wallpapers, then select it from the Scripting list.

+ In the next window, tap the blue Wallpaper in the Switch to line. 

+ In the next window, choose

 the Wallpaper you want for day. I chose the 4th one b/c that’s the one I created in Step 1. to display during the day. Then tap Done. 

+ You return to the previous window.   At the very top of this window is the default name for your new Shortcut in gray. It will read Switch Between Wallpapers. Rename it by tapping the name then tap Rename e.g., “Set To Morning”. Note: Shortcut names must be unique so if you don’t rename it here, your next one will be called  Switch Between Wallpapers 2. 

+ Tap Done in the upper right to return to main window. I’ve included a screenshot of my shortcut list below. Here I created a Set to Morning and Set to Evening Shortcuts.

Step 3. Create the automation to run the switch to your day wallpaper at sunrise. 

+ At the bottom of the main window tap the Automation button. 

+ In the next window tap the + at the upper right to create a new Automation. 

+ In the next window tap the > for Time of Day

   + In the next window under the When list, tap Sunrise,

   + In the next window, tap At sunrise, then Done to return to the previous window

    + In the Repeat list, tap Daily then under that, tap Run Immediately. Notify When Run will result in a message to tell you it ran. You can ignore that if you don’t need to know it ran. 

   + Then tap Next in the upper right 

   + In the next screen, select the Shortcut you created in Step 2., e.g., “Set to Morning” is what I called my Shortcut in Step 2. This brings you back to the main Automation window and your Automation is complete. 

Now repeat Steps 2 & 3 for your evening wallpaper. The result should look like the screenshot below. Two automations. One to run the morning Shortcut (my shortcut is called Set To Morning)every day at sunrise and the other to run the evening Shortcut (my shortcut is called Set To Evening) every day at sunset. 

I change my wallpapers for different seasons. For example, I’ll have a a fall scheme in September, Halloween scheme in October, Christmas scheme in December. Each month I’ll modify the two Wallpapers, day and night, by selecting a new day and night photo. If you modify the Wallpaper and not change the order of your Wallpapers, these shortcuts don’t have to change.