LoomscreenLite vs Pro
Compare Loomscreen Lite and Pro. Both are free and open source and share one workspace; they differ in which renderers and tools ship.
Lite and Pro are both free and open source under the MIT license, built from one codebase. The difference is which renderers and tools ship, not which interface you get. Lite is a lightweight runtime, not a stripped-down interface.
At a glance
- Lite keeps the complete workspace and the full video, web and Apple Aerials experience.
- Pro adds Wallpaper Engine scene rendering, Steam Workshop and the tools around them.
- Video, web and Apple Aerials playback is identical in both editions.
Capability matrix
| Capability | Lite | Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Video wallpapers, including HDR color and span-all-displays | Yes | Yes |
| Web wallpapers: JavaScript toggle, tracker blocking, custom CSS, auto-refresh | Yes | Yes |
| Apple Aerials | Yes | Yes |
| Per-display wallpapers, copy to all displays | Yes | Yes |
| Playlists, shuffle, rotation, Library Shuffle | Yes | Yes |
| Time-of-day schedule | Yes | Yes |
| Wallpaper transitions and opening animation | Yes | Yes |
| Bookmarks, display schemes and configuration backup | Yes | Yes |
| Particle and weather-reactive overlays | Yes | Yes |
| Monitor board: eleven widget types, plus independent clock and music layers | Yes | Yes |
| Now Playing layouts, controls and optional lyrics | Yes | Yes |
| System Wallpaper video provider macOS 26+, subject to compatibility | Yes | Yes |
| Global shortcuts | Yes | Yes |
| Video frame captured as the desktop picture on lock | Yes | Yes |
| Full-screen, occlusion, battery and Low Power Mode auto-pause | Yes | Yes |
| Sparkle update checks, download and installation | Yes | Yes |
| Wallpaper Engine scene rendering (Metal) | — | Yes |
| Scene project import (linked local folders, read in place) | — | Yes |
| Scenes spanned across displays | — | Yes |
| Steam Workshop browse and download (one library entry per item) | — | Yes |
| Scene presets (Workshop presets and your own saved values) | — | Yes |
| System audio capture for scene and music visual effects | — | Yes |
| Adaptive frame rate under occlusion | — | Yes |
| Per-display render threads | — | Yes |
| Storage management (projects, engine assets, caches) | — | Yes |
| Runs on Intel Macs | Untested | — |
Learn more in Wallpaper Engine scenes and Steam Workshop.
Intel Macs
Both editions require macOS 14.6 or later.
- Lite ships as a universal app for Apple Silicon and Intel. The Intel build has never been tested on Intel hardware. The most likely gap is blank readings in the monitor board. Reports are welcome on GitHub Issues.
- Pro supports Apple Silicon only. Its Metal scene renderer has never run on Intel GPUs.
Moving a setup between editions
A .lwconfig backup keeps configuration data in both editions. Lite cannot run scene entries from a Pro backup; choose a supported video or web source, or open the setup in Pro. Backups do not bundle media or carry file-access grants between Macs. See Back up with .lwconfig.
Updates
Each edition reads its own update feed with Sparkle, then verifies and installs the matching update. See Install & update.
Licensing
- Both editions are distributed on GitHub Releases.
- Pro is the full edition. The MIT license covers the entire repository, including the Pro-only modules.