macOS Sequoia Macintosh wallpaper getting stuck

The fix that's seemed to work for me (🤞🏻 so far) is to set the Screen Saver to "Macintosh" (whichever colour option you like) but turn off the "Show as wallpaper" option. Then go to the Wallpaper settings and set the wallpaper to "Macintosh" and make sure that the "Show as screensaver" option is turned off.

Although counter-intuitive, setting them independently with these options turned off has worked so far. Not sure if it matters but I have "Show on all Spaces" turned on for both settings. I also upgraded to 15.1 earlier this week so that may have something to do with my success here.

A little more info:

MacOS: Sequoia (15.3.2).

Hardware: Mac MINI M4 Pro.

Screensaver: Macintosh.

This would work following a restart, then stop. I have discovered that having full screen apps will stop this screensaver working. Reducing these down to Fill (single screen) allows the screensaver to work. This also applies to the animated background. This is a shame as I quite like to pan to full-screen apps, rather than [Tab] between applications.

Hi there, quick head up:

It seems that the new macOS Sequoia update (15.1) fixes this issue.

What I did after the update though: I went to the screensaver settings and wallpaper settings to re-click on the Sequoia wallpapers/screensavers.

Tested on my external 4K display, no issue so far since yesterday morning (North America time).

This exactly. I tested it and whenever I don't use the desktop spaces/virtual desktop feature, my wallpaper never freezes. When I do, eventually after a few hours it gets stuck again. Without touching any settings, it literally unfreezes itself when I delete the desktop spaces.

I also tested with an external monitor, and the issue only happens on the monitor(s) where the desktop spaces exist.

Same here on an M2 Mac mini with a HUION 24” 4K display tablet attached. I also have a Thunderbolt 4 dock from OWC attached. The controls jam as well — separate issue from the screen getting stuck. Screen getting stuck is only resolved by restarting. Setting the preferences for the Macintosh screensaver only gets resolved with toggling back and forth from the “use as wallpaper” option, and then going to your wallpaper, selecting a different one, and making sure it’s not being used as a screensaver as well.

Doing a soft reboot via Shift Option Command Q seems to fix it temporarily but after some time it appears again

Same here. I'm only using the screensaver though, not as a wallpaper.

In my case, I'm on a Mac Mini with a single monitor.

I'd recommend anyone who's not done so already raises this using Feedback Assistant. The more it's reported, the more chance there is of it being fixed.

I hope we get a fix in the next update.

As Heliomass already mentioned, if you all can report this bug on the Feedback Assistant page, that might help (a bit 🤔). The more the reports, the quicker this might be addressed.

https://feedbackassistant.apple.com/

I didn’t want to reply to myself…

This seems to be working again (for me) after updating to Sequoia 15.4 on a Mini4…

I’ll reply to this post if it does in fact reoccur.

😎

Best answer, concise.

Log out, log back in, choose wallpaper, select display (if you have multiples). Set wallpaper to Sequoia basic. Repeat for other displays.

Choose screensaver, select which one, apply to all spaces.Z

Choose wallpaper, select other such as Macintosh, apply to each display, do not select use as wallpaper.

Revising my answer, eventually, it happened again. I've ended up using CC to an external and downgrading Migrating to 13.7.

On 13 everything works fine. Sonoma and Sequoia have bugs and use more processes.

I tried CC or reinstall on my MacStudio to 13 but it won't take anything other than Sonoma.

So, as we all know Apple needs to fix it.

There are other issues w Sequoia as well..

I am running Sequoia 15.1.1 on a MacBook Pro (M2 Pro chip) with an attached Studio Display and when I choose the Sequoia screen saver (the latest one with blue, orange, and green gradations) the screen saver stops moving. This happens consistently and has done so well before upgrading the MacOS. It does not seem to happen when I choose any other screen saver, however.

And yes, this only works after 15.1 update and shutdown, power up

Where are your photos located that the wallpaper app is using?

I found that if you have them in photos it is bound to jam up.

I put mine in a folder in the Picture folder and put them from there. Have been since 2010.

A third party app isn't needed anymore if you run on the latest macOS.

Those Aerials (the same as the ones proposed on Apple TV, + the Dynamic macOS wallpapers/screensavers) are already available in the Mac settings.

The thing that we all point out there is that there is an issue with those that get stuck at some point, and randomly.

This needs a fix from Apple, not a workaround from another third party app.