What's new
What changes in every PrimoEngine release, without "general improvements and bug fixes". The app updates itself since 0.4.2.
0.4.26 Latest
A direct way to send feedback.
- New Send feedback button at the top of the window and in Settings → About. It opens PrimoEngine's public feedback board, where you can suggest ideas and report problems.
0.4.25
Premium wallpapers open as themselves again.
- Fixed: if you activated Premium before 0.4.18, several Premium wallpapers (Nebula, Jupiter, Topo, Smoke, Aurora, Plasma, Vinyl) opened as Electronic · PCB. The app now renews your license by itself and shows the right wallpaper.
0.4.24
A Brazil shelf in the Catalog.
- New Cozy: Brazil Mentioned 🇧🇷 category, with Rio de Janeiro, Paraty and the new Belo Horizonte.
- The Premium screen says what the Early Bird price goes up to: US$ 8.99.
0.4.23
Premium in US dollars for cards issued outside Brazil.
- Outside Brazil, Premium is US$ 4.99, paid by card.
- The Premium screen switches currency. Cards issued in Brazil can only be charged in reais.
0.4.22
Catalog categories now work.
- The Catalog's categories and the Video / Shader / Web filter didn't respond to clicks. Now they do.
0.4.21
Freeze a wallpaper on the frame you like, and a Catalog with categories.
- Freeze an animated wallpaper on any frame: it stays still like a regular wallpaper and uses no GPU. From the menu bar or the Freeze button in Installed.
- The frozen frame stays the same after you restart your Mac.
- The Catalog now has categories, like Cozy Animation, Space and Nature & Sky, plus a filter to show only video, shader or web wallpapers.
0.4.20
Installed shows only what you picked.
- Installed lists only the wallpapers you picked in the onboarding, got from the Catalog or imported.
- Replaying the welcome from Settings shows the full gallery again.
- Removing downloaded wallpapers keeps the ones you imported and the one on your desktop right now.
0.4.19
Redesigned Settings, and the app in ⌘Tab.
- A new Settings: six sections in the style of System Settings, with each explanation in its section footer.
- You can change the language in Settings (it used to be onboarding only), with a button to relaunch and apply it.
- Settings → Energy shows how much CPU and memory PrimoEngine is using, live.
- With its window open, the app shows in the Dock and in ⌘Tab. ⌘Q closes the window and keeps the wallpaper running; ⌥⌘Q quits.
- The tabs and window title now follow the app language.
- In the onboarding, the Vinyl preview shows the Vinyl, not a different wallpaper.
0.4.18
Premium stays bound to this Mac.
- Premium wallpapers ship encrypted in the app and only open with this Mac's Premium license. What you download from the catalog is stored encrypted and won't work if copied to another computer.
- The app signs its license requests with a key kept in the Mac's security chip.
- If this Mac needs to be activated again (say, after reinstalling macOS), Settings → Premium says so and asks for the license code emailed at purchase.
- Without Premium, Premium wallpapers show as a still image on the lock screen.
0.4.17
Animated lock screen wallpaper, easier to set up.
- On any shader, "Use on Lock Screen…" walks you through it and opens Wallpaper settings directly. The new Same as Desktop tile follows the shader you pick in the app: set it once and you are done.
- New clocks in Explore: Clock · Flip and Clock · Analog.
- Settings: remove all downloaded wallpapers at once.
- Aurora, Plasma and Starfield downloaded from the catalog now replace the versions that ship with the app, instead of showing up twice.
- With the app closed, the system wallpaper stays still on the desktop. Animation is the app's job, since it manages battery and pauses when the desktop is covered. The lock screen still animates.
- The lock screen turned grey with the solid backdrop on. Fixed.
- Quitting the app no longer switches back a wallpaper you picked while it was running.
0.4.16
Menus in settings, and Clock · Minimal.
- Wallpaper settings can now have pickers, besides toggles, colors and sliders. The new Clock · Minimal (Premium, in Explore) uses them to choose language, font and background.
- Wallpapers that ship with the app can also get new versions from the catalog, without waiting for an app update.
0.4.15
Downloaded wallpapers update themselves.
- Wallpapers installed from Explore update themselves when we publish a new version. The app checks at launch and every 6 hours; your screens and settings stay as they were. Wallpapers imported from a file or received from someone else are never changed.
- Scribbles · Comets gets its optimized version for everyone who already had it: much less CPU.
0.4.14
Much lighter web wallpapers.
- Web wallpapers use far less CPU and battery: they run at 30 fps (15 on battery or in Low Power Mode) and stop drawing the moment the desktop is covered. Before, they ran at the display rate, 120 Hz on a MacBook Pro. The Energy panel shows the real fps.
- Snowfall in Forest and Now Playing · Vinyl got lighter: Snowfall uses about a third of the CPU and 300 MB less memory.
- Snowfall in Forest: the snow fell too fast and seemed to flicker; now it drifts down slowly, as it should.
- Now Playing · Vinyl: titles that fit on the display no longer scroll sideways.
- Starfield keeps the same speed at any frame rate.
0.4.13
Behind the scenes only.
- Web wallpaper thumbnails generated for the catalogue now come out at the right size. Nothing changes in the app itself.
0.4.12
A new wallpaper and video previews of the Premium ones.
- New Premium wallpaper: Smoke, animated smoke in a shader.
- Locked Premium wallpapers show a video preview in the introduction and on the preview screen, downloaded only when you open it. Once Premium is active, the preview runs live.
0.4.11
Early Bird price, support email in plain sight and a security fix.
- Lifetime Premium now costs R$ 14.90, still at the Early Bird launch price. The Premium screen and the introduction say it is a launch price.
- Wherever the app said "contact support", it now shows the address: apps@oprimo.dev.
- Web wallpapers that declare the sites they may reach can now reach them. A bug blocked all network access even with the list filled in; everything else stays blocked.
- Security: the thumbnail of an imported web wallpaper is generated with the same protections as the wallpaper itself. Before, while rendering the preview, the page could reach any site.
0.4.10
Videos become Premium and reinstalling got easier.
- Videos as wallpapers are now a Premium feature (import and apply).
- Every step of the introduction has "I already have a license code": if you reinstall, you activate Premium straight away, without going through the purchase.
- ⌘V, ⌘C and friends work again in text fields, like when pasting your license code.
0.4.9
Live wallpapers on the lock screen.
- Live wallpapers on the lock screen (Premium): the Metal shaders show up in System Settings → Wallpaper, under PrimoEngine.
- You can import videos (.mp4, .mov, .m4v) straight in as wallpapers, with the + button.
- Picking a Premium wallpaper while the app is not activated (after a reinstall, say) now lets the Premium screen take your license code on the spot, and applies the wallpaper as soon as it activates.
0.4.8
Electronic · PCB redrawn.
- Electronic · PCB is now a proper circuit board: parallel buses turning at 45°, chips, resistors and capacitors joined by vias, a copper pour and pulses of light running along the traces.
0.4.7
A catalogue fix.
- Topo · Contours, Topo · Contours Dark and Nebula · Orion show the Premium badge (and "Unlock") again, and the free ones that ship with the app show as installed.
0.4.6
Introduction touch-ups.
- The introduction tells you that you can use your own wallpapers, with the + button.
- Introduction text is easier to read over any wallpaper, and the screens now just dissolve into each other instead of sliding.
- The last step shows the real menu-bar icon, the triangle.
0.4.5
Catalogue fixes.
- Catalogue items with no published image, like Vinyl, show the same thumbnail as in the Installed tab.
- The catalogue no longer lists the same wallpaper twice and follows the same free and Premium rule as the app. What ships with the app shows as installed (or with "Unlock", if it is Premium).
0.4.4
The app speaks Portuguese and the introduction has sound.
- The app speaks Portuguese by default. English is still one click away, in Settings or in the introduction.
- Sound in the introduction: a soft binaural drone (best with headphones), with a mute button.
- The opening is calmer, about 8 seconds, over the dark background with no wallpaper behind it.
- The prism glow is no longer clipped at the top and bottom of the opening.
- Shader wallpapers no longer end up stretched ("blurry") when the drawing area changes size, like when you switch resolution or display.
0.4.3
A new introduction, and every wallpaper inside the app.
- New full-screen introduction: a beam of light crosses the prism and becomes the rainbow of the icon; then each step appears over a wallpaper that is actually running.
- Every wallpaper ships with the app, no download needed. In the introduction, tap any of them to see it full screen; Premium ones can be tried right there.
- Every thumbnail is real, including the web wallpapers (Vinyl, Snowfall, Starfield).
- Free: Electronic · PCB, Electronic · Scope, Starfield and Snowfall in Forest. The rest of the catalogue (Nebula, Jupiter, Topo, Vinyl, Aurora, Plasma) is Premium.
- The default wallpaper is now Electronic · PCB.
- The built-in "Video Loop" is gone: a video you did not choose made no sense.
0.4.2
PrimoEngine now updates itself.
- Automatic updates: "Check for Updates…" shows what is new and installs the new version in one click, like PrimoDock.
- Your license code arrives by email: when you buy Premium, the app asks for your email and the code is sent as soon as the payment clears. It is what takes Premium to another Mac.
- The app is now called PrimoEngine, no space. If you had "Primo Engine" in Applications, you can delete the old one after installing this.
0.4.1
A good-looking installer and less half-done stuff.
- The DMG opens to a designed install window: the rainbow from the icon carries on across a night sky into Applications.
- "Deactivate this Mac" works for every Premium license, not only lifetime ones.
- AI wallpaper generation is gone. It was far from good enough; bringing it up to standard is a separate project.
0.4.0
Premium with Pix, and an app signed by Apple.
- Buy Premium inside the app, with Pix or card: a single offer, lifetime Premium for R$ 9.90 on one Mac. The app waits for the payment and unlocks itself, no code to type. A pending purchase survives quitting and reopening the app.
- Moving to another Mac: deactivate on this one, activate on the other with your license code.
- The app is signed and notarized by Apple, so it opens without the Gatekeeper warning.
- The monthly and yearly plans and the 7-day free trial are gone. Trials already running keep working until they expire.
0.3.13
Now Playing · Vinyl updated.
- The bundled Now Playing · Vinyl wallpaper moves to version 0.2.0.
0.3.12
Music wallpapers are free.
- Wallpapers that show what is playing are now always free, and show a music note while they have no thumbnail.
0.3.11
A clearer name.
- The "Free this period" badge is now "Week Rotation".
0.3.10
A catalogue fix.
- Installing a wallpaper no longer makes the catalogue blink and jump back to the top.
0.3.9
Pick your language.
- A language picker in Settings, plus a step in the introduction to choose it on first launch (automatic, English or Português). Each language is shown in its own name, so you can find yours without switching first.
0.3.8
Full-width Featured and glass buttons.
- The Featured carousel shows one wallpaper at a time, taking the whole row, with arrows on the sides.
- Every main button (Install, Apply, Continue…) now uses the macOS glass look instead of the default system blue. The Premium "Unlock" stays yellow.
0.3.7
Wallpapers that react to music, Portuguese and Featured.
- Now Playing mode: web wallpapers can show the song that is playing. Vinyl gets an LED dot-matrix display and a tilted stage.
- The app speaks English and Portuguese.
- Featured wallpapers on top of the catalogue, and a rotation of Premium wallpapers unlocked for a limited time.
- Search in the Installed tab, and real thumbnails for installed and web wallpapers.
- The main window opens on the catalogue, and the icon shows in the Dock while it is open.
- The Keychain no longer asks for the AI key every time you open Settings.
- No more flash when switching Spaces with a web wallpaper.
0.3.6
Free AI generation, with your own key.
- Generating wallpapers with AI is no longer Premium: use your own Claude key or any OpenAI-compatible server, including local models like Ollama and LM Studio.
0.3.5
Free trial and plans.
- 7-day free trial, no card, once per Mac.
- Lifetime and subscription plans, with cancellation inside the app.
- The catalogue remembers what is already installed after you quit the app.
- A Premium wallpaper that cannot be installed opens the Premium screen instead of doing nothing.
0.3.3
Behind the scenes only.
- Internal compatibility checks against the macOS sandbox. Nothing changes in the app itself.
0.3.2
Behind the scenes only.
- The Premium catalogue server went live. Nothing changes in the app.
0.3.1
Faster pause behind full-screen apps.
- The wallpaper pauses as soon as a full-screen app covers the desktop, on each display, instead of waiting for macOS to report it.
0.3.0
Introduction, schedule and energy panel.
- An introduction on first launch: pick a wallpaper live, see displays and rotation, meet Premium. You can skip it and replay it from Settings.
- Premium catalogue with a lock, and the Premium screen on locked items.
- Activation with a license code, and self-serve deactivation.
- Schedule (Premium): a wallpaper for each time of day.
- Energy panel: shows whether the wallpaper is drawing or paused, and an estimate of what each kind costs.
0.2.0
Premium, multiple displays and sharing.
- A different wallpaper on each display.
- Live preview before applying, and export and share wallpapers as .livewallpaper files.
- First version of Premium, with a license tied to the Mac and checked offline.
- AI generation of shader and web wallpapers (Premium).
- DMG install: drag to Applications.
0.1.0
The first build, for testers.
- Metal shader, web and video wallpapers, right on the desktop, from the menu bar.
- The wallpaper pauses when the desktop is covered and saves battery.
- The .livewallpaper format to package and import wallpapers.
- A main window with Installed, Explore and Settings, and the first wallpapers of the collection.
- Rotation, open at login and battery behaviour in Settings.