One UI 9 gives your wallpaper a little life with this new feature

Aug 17, 2026 — 2:43 PM ET

• One UI 9.0 will allow you to set a Motion Photo as a wallpaper for your home or lock screen.
• The feature is currently available for the Galaxy Z Fold 8, Fold 8 Ultra, and Flip 8.
• It appears not to be available yet on Galaxy S26 devices running the One UI 9.0 beta.

Wish that the background on your phone or tablet could be a little more lively than a static wallpaper? Samsung’s latest version of One UI will grant your wish.

Spotted by SamMobile, One UI 9.0 just introduced a new wallpaper option. Specifically, it will let you set a Motion Photo as your home or lock screen background. You can even set a Motion Photo as a backgorund for both.

If you’re unfamiliar with Motion Photos, it’s a camera feature that captures a few seconds of action leading up to when the shutter button is released. After you take a picture, a short three second clip is saved. The benefit is that it allows you to pinpoint the moment you want to keep as a still frame. However, this new wallpaper function adds a second benefit to enabling the feature.

It appears that when you select Motion Photo, you’ll be shown a preview to see how the animation looks on your home and lock screens. So it works similar to setting a normal wallpaper. You’ll also have the option to tap the Motion Photo button to enable or disable the animation.

According to the outlet, Motion Photo wallpapers is available on the Galaxy Z Fold 8, Fold 8 Ultra, and Flip 8. However, this feature has not yet been spotted in the One UI 9.0 beta running on Galaxy S26.