Windows 11’s dynamic wallpapers revealed by former Microsoft designer

Microsoft has been working on dynamic animated wallpapers for Windows 11 for a few years, and now a former designer has revealed exactly what they look like. Sergey Kisselev, a former motion designer and 3D artist at Microsoft, has detailed his work on the dynamic animations for Windows 11 that were originally supposed to ship in 2023 but have likely been canceled now.

Kisselev worked on Windows design elements and Microsoft’s Fluent design system for more than eight years before departing to Amazon in 2022. In his post on Behance, Kisselev describes the dynamic wallpapers as “part of the Windows Creative Direction Team’s efforts to celebrate a new centered signature composition for Windows 11, highlighting its centered Start Menu and taskbar.” The dynamic wallpapers were part of an effort that was “explored for Microsoft’s low-cost devices, primarily targeting educational users,” according to Kisselev.

Windows Central reports that these dynamic wallpapers were originally supposed to ship as part of the 23H2 update for Windows 11, but that never happened. Windows watcher Albacore says the dynamic wallpapers feature has been scrapped, and that unfinished parts of it shipped in both Windows 11 version 22H2 and 23H2, but were removed in the latest 24H2 update.

These dynamic wallpapers look very similar to what Microsoft does with its Xbox dashboard, and the only way to currently get animated wallpapers in Windows is to install a third-party app like Wallpaper Engine. Microsoft used to support videos as wallpapers with its Windows DreamScene feature in Windows Vista, so it’s surprising to see Microsoft do all of this design work to bring a similar dynamic wallpaper feature back and then never ship it.