iOS-7-Parallax-Effect-Off

Do you find adjusting the wallpapers for your iPhone or iPad annoying? Have trouble scaling and aligning the images correctly? We have a few tips that might help you get your wallpaper adjusted the way you want.

There are two main reasons your images aren’t displaying how you want them to when you set them as your wallpaper. The first is because of the iOS 7 parallax effect allotting padding around the image to work well with the motion effect. The other possible reason is that your image isn’t the correct size for your device.

Two Simple Tips to Fix iOS 7 Wallpaper Issues

Turn ON the Reduce Motion Option in iOS 7

The motion effect in iOS 7 can be toggled on or off, but that’s it – there aren’t additional specific settings you can manage to fine tune the parallax effect. Reducing the motion of the effect will reduce the space it uses around images that’s normally reserved for the parallax feature.

To toggle Reduce Motion in iOS 7, open the “Settings” app and then “General > Accessibility.”

Tap the “Reduce Motion” setting and then toggle it on.

Reduce-Motion-settings-iOS-7

With Reduce Motion turned on, you can clearly see the difference. The image to the right is showing far more of the details on four sides. When you actually set the image as a wallpaper you’ll be able to see what I mean.

When you zoom outward to see more of the image (when Reduce Motion is off), the image quickly springs forward and cuts off these sides. Turn Reduce Motion on to prevent this.

Reduce-Motion-iOS-7-on-and-off

Here’s how the iPad looks with Reduce Motion Off and On

With the Reduce Motion option OFF, the wallpaper could not be scaled to the required size.
With the Reduce Motion option ON, you can adjust the wallpaper to you liking.

If you’ve done the above step and your image is still being cut off, chances are you’re using a picture that’s simply too large for your device’s screen. You can take care of this issue by adjusting the size of your wallpaper.

Wallpaper Sizes for iPhone, iPod, and iPad

Coupling the exact wallpaper size with less motion for the parallax effect in iOS 7, and you’ll see the most of your image when you set it as the wallpaper. You can crop the image to the required size using the photo editing option in iOS 7. Alternatively you can edit them on your computer.

Follow these sizes when you’re downloading or creating an iOS wallpaper:

  • iPhone 4/4S: 960 X 640
  • iPhone 5/5S and iPod 5th generation: 1136 X 640
  • iPad 2/mini: 1028 X 768
  • iPad Air/3/4 & iPad mini with Retina display: 2048 X 1536

The image above is the proper size for my iPhone 4S, so when I compare the raw photo (left) with the one as my wallpaper (with Reduce Motion on), they are the exact same – no warping or zooming or anything strange, but instead you get the exact image you want:

iOS-7-Reduce-Motion-off

Conclusion

You have to either choose if you want a strong parallax effect and compromise your wallpaper, or if you don’t care for the motion sickness and instead would like to reveal the entirely of your picture. I’ve chosen the latter and it works just fine with a simple toggle of the Reduce Motion setting.