iOS 16: the wallpaper is rendered in real time via a new file format

iOS 16 holds little surprises. So the developer u/radish234 unearthed an intriguing feature of the new system’s wallpaper display system. Classically at first glance, the wallpaper is in .wallpaper format, but the latter still includes several sub-folders (background, foreground and floating). These sub-folders themselves have assets and .HEIC (graphics format) files as well as a file in main.caml format which assembles all the pieces of this puzzle.

These little bits of files all over the place are proof that iOS 16 does not just display an image in .HEIC format but that the wallpaper and its possible effects (there are many more in iOS 16 ) are rendered in real time and allow certain forms of interaction. The “redditor” pushed his investigations and finally realized that the .wallpaper format is totally “locked” by Apple, which therefore reserves the monopoly on wallpapers that best exploit certain new features of iOS 16 .