Note: as of the release of iPhone 12, all iPhones have different screen resolutions and icon placements. It’s a bit tough to keep up, so I’m now doing these on-demand. If you don’t see your specific device below, please let me know in the comments.
This wallpaper uses actual sprites from Pac-Man, and is probably as close to exact as you can get it. Here’s what it looks like on my phone:
Instructions for use:
- Tap through to the following images, and tap and hold to “Add to Photos” or “Save Image”
- From your Photos app, go to the new image in your Camera Roll and press the lower-left Share button
- Choose “Use as Wallpaper”
- Zoom out as far as possible by pinching inward
- Choose “Set”, then “Set Home Screen”
I’ve made a few variations – one with no ghost home, one with no top/bottom border, and one with neither. But you can also download the PSD (XR / 11, 11 Pro, XS Max / 11 Pro Max, SE 2nd, 12/12 Pro, 12 mini, 12 Pro Max) to make your own.
- Ghost home and borders (XR / 11, 11 Pro, XS Max / 11 Pro Max, SE 2nd, 12 / 12 Pro, 12 mini, 12 Pro Max)
- No ghost home (XR / 11, 11 Pro, XS Max / 11 Pro Max, SE 2nd, 12 / 12 Pro, 12 mini, 12 Pro Max)
- No borders (XR / 11, 11 Pro, XS Max / 11 Pro Max, SE 2nd, 12 / 12 Pro, 12 mini, 12 Pro Max)
- No ghost home or borders (XR / 11, 11 Pro, XS Max / 11 Pro Max, SE 2nd, 12 / 12 Pro, 12 mini, 12 Pro Max)
- Ghost home and borders (5x/SE, 6-8, Plus, X, Max)
- No ghost home (5x/SE, 6-8, Plus, X, Max)
- No borders (5x/SE, 6-8, Plus, X, Max)
- No ghost home or borders (5x/SE, 6-8, Plus, X, Max)
- Ghost home and borders (4x, 5x, 6, 6+)
- No ghost home (4x, 5x, 6, 6+)
- No borders (4x, 5x, 6, 6+)
- No ghost home or borders (4x, 5x, 6, 6+)
- Ghost home and borders (3GS, 4, 5)
- No ghost home (3GS, 4, 5)
- No borders (3GS, 4, 5)
- No ghost home or borders (3GS, 4, 5)
P.S. – the iPhone 4 versions are not just upscaled versions of the iPhone 3GS ones – Apple knocks each icon down by a single pixel once it’s twice as big, so I had to nudge each wallpaper down by 1.
Wait, the top two are iPhone 3GS and the bottom two are iPhone 4? I don’t see a difference… -_-
No. I changed the blog a bit – thought it would be confusing…
So the four images under the cut are iPhone 4? Where’s the iPhone 3GS ones?
Oh god the ones on the page are for the iPhone 3GS but if you click through you get the iPhone 4 ones aaa
I’m going to separate them so they’re not links
Okay fixed.
Awesome. And holy crap the resolution for iPhone 4 is nice!
Yeah it’s kind of ridiculous when you see it on a regular monitor. The vertical resolution exceeds that of most laptop monitors.
I’ve been looking for a wallpaper that properly aligns.. Thank you so much!!!
Do these work on an ipod touch?
Hmm, probably. Does your iPod touch run iOS 4? Does it support custom wallpapers? Try it out.
Looks like custom wallpaper is only available for 3rd-gen iPod touch (32/64gb, late 2009).
Looks great on my ipod Touch.
This wallpaper is SO much better than that other pac-man wallpaper.
Much better
Nice work. Those are awesome!
I just put together this Zelda one:
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=utz5h&s=3
Re: Much better
Cool, maybe move the rocks out from under the icon labels, and upscale the image nearest-neighbor style so it doesn’t look blurry.
LOVE IT!!!!
Pac-Man iPhone wallpaper
User referenced to your post from Pac-Man iPhone wallpaper saying: […] via jeffreyatw.livejournal.com […]
Thanks, new favorite wallpaper – any thoughts on versions for the iPad?
None of the things move I have the 4s
They’re not supposed to.
I love it! (ghosts w/ home and borders for iphone 5)
What a simple little thing that can make something so fun! Thanks for this 🙂
When I save the image and set it as the wall paper the image does not line up and is too big. Any suggestions ? Awesome work also
Sorry, this will no longer work because iOS 7 enlarges the background images beyond the size of the screen!
Updated for iOS 7!
Any plans on uploading a new version for iOS 7? Thanks, love the work!!
Please see above comment.
Updated for iOS 7!
You can turn off the parallax thing and then the wallpapers don’t stretch. Without parallax there’s just a couple height adjustments to figure out and these should work on the ios7 devices….
regarding ios7:
This grid wallpaper here http://www.kurtzgraphicdesign.com/ios-7-grid-wallpaper-background/ lines up PERFECT with the icons. You must turn paralax off by going to Settings > General > Accessibility and turning “reduce motion” to “on” otherwise the lines all move around when you tilt the phone. Perhaps you could use this grid as a base to make an updated pacman wallpaper for ios7?
Actually, you’re right. Didn’t realize that turning off parallax also doesn’t zoom the wallpaper anymore. I’ll give it a go the next time I’ve got some free cycles.
Updated for iOS 7!
I updated you wallpaper and moved it by 13px so that the blue borders align again with the app icons (if you have that parallax thing turned off). I also had to to move the extra packman lives by some px. Result’s here
At least on my iPhone 4 it looks great again on iOS7!
Jens
ps: its the no ghost home/ border version
Updated for iOS 7!
Thank you for making these! You reminded me that I had made a point to make the iOS 7 version. I’ll make the other versions based off of these.
I just used this on my Iphone 6 & it is AWESOME!!!! It fits perfectly!!
Thank you so very much!! I love it!!! You did an amazing job!!
I wish the blue borders showed up around the apps tho. That would be neat. I can’t see the blue on my iPhone XS Max
Ahh, these make my little OCD heart so happy. All the others I found were just a twitch off and they were making me crazy. Thank you!
As a web developer, I love pixel perfection, so I’m glad these resonated with you as well!
Hi! Since I purchased my new iPhone 6, I can’t find a pacman for my home screen in the “Zoomed” setting. Can you make one? The normal ones don’t fit correctly.
Thanks
B
I can’t find any full-size screenshots of the iPhone 6 in zoomed view, so it’d be difficult for me to make a pixel-perfect one.
Hi Jeffrey!!!
You made an amazing Job. Your Wallpaper alligns perfectly on mi iPhone 5. However, I wanted to ask you, how did you manage to make it so perfecly pixel alligned? I´ve searched in several pages, but I still haven´t found the “official” horizontal guides, or the “official” wallpaper grid to create my own wallpapers.
I would really appreciate if you can point to the right direction, there are a couple of Wallpapers I loved so much on my iphone 4 taht iwould like to recreate for my iPhone 5.
Thanks in advance!!!
Thank you! I didn’t use any guides – I simply took a screenshot of my display and traced over the icons. If you don’t have certain models of iPhone, but you do have a Mac, you can download Xcode and use its iOS Simulator and take screenshots from there.
Any way to get these updated for iPhone 6 on iOS 9? The boxes no longer line up correctly. Just discovered this wallpaper, and would love to use it.
Wow, they love to change the placement of their icons, don’t they.
I could take a crack at re-aligning. Seems relatively straightforward.
Updated!
Any chance to have an iPad version?
Thank you very much for making these and keeping them updated. I love Pacman!
Hi,
I have an iPhone 6 Plus and I use the zoom view option. Unfortunately this causes the Pacman wallpaper to not line up properly with the icon. Any chance you may have a zoom version available?
Thanks,
Anne
Hi Anne, I don’t know what the “zoom view” option is. The instructions are to turn on “Reduce Motion” in the Accessibility settings, otherwise it won’t work.
It turns out that the 5x version works perfectly on the 6s with zoom view!
This is so awesome. Id pay for this wallpaper
Hi I absolutely love these, but I unfortunately have to use the ‘zoomed view’ ( Settings > Display & Brightness > Display Zoom > Zoomed ) on my iPhone 6S. Would you be able to update with a zoomed view with no ghost home? I would be eternally grateful!
It turns out that the 5x version works perfectly on the 6s with zoom view!
Hi Jeffrey! I have had your Pac-Man background for over a year and love it. I just downloaded ios11 and now it doesn’t match up! Will you be making new backgrounds for ios11 along with 7,7+? Also for the zoom setting? I’d be soooooo grateful if you did. Thank you!!!!
Turns out that iOS 8 version for 6+ works for iOS 11 without the zoom on!! Yay! Strange tho, when I set it and then went to my home page, all of the colors of the border and Pac-Mans were gone. I’ll keep messing around with it. Thanks!
Hi Jeffrey, I’ve been using your backgrounds since 2010 🙂 Any chance you’ll be able to update for the iPhone X?
Thanks!
Updated! See the post!
Finally a decent pac man background that fits and looks authentic. Love it. Thanks
You what would be great? A version for the iPhone X with plain black background apart from the ghosts and Pac Man!
Updated! See the post!
Thank you!
Hi Jeffery. New phone… same question. I’ve been using your wallpaper on my last 3 or 4 phones. Would love to have one for the Xs max. Any chance??
Thank you so much! Great work.
Hi Mike – I got two requests today for an XS Max wallpaper, so I’ve started working on one. Will let you know when it’s finished.
Updated!
Wonderful! Thank you.
You are the man! Love these wallpapers. Been using them since the iPhone 6. Get a ton of compliments! Thanks for all of your work!
Thanks a lot !
My XS loves it ^^
A french nostalgia fan
thank you!! I really love it. Downloaded it for my iphone xr.
I wanted a dark background and this one is perfect for me as a nerdy.
thank you!! I really love it. Downloaded it for my iphone xr.
I wanted a simple dark background and this one is perfect for me as a nerdy.
You would be willing to make a neon version of this? It’s so perfect & classic but I think the bright neon colors would look amazing too!! I’ve seen others but they are for iPhone 6
hey! great work and thank you for your creativity and hard work. I will be recommending this link to anyone who asks. Cheers! 🙂
iPhone 11 Pro?
Updated the blog post with instructions. X size should work for 11 Pro. Let me know.
I followed the exact instructions and it seems that the icon spaces in the wallpaper are above where the actual icons are
And I have the original X
Can you update it for IOS 14? They changed something with the scaling.
I updated my post for iOS 14 with two sets for 11 Pro and 12 / 12 Pro. If you have another phone, let me know and I’ll make a set.
This is awesome ! I have been using the same old PacMan wallpaper since my iPhone 3, but it just kept gettin more & more out of sync. This worked perfectly & looks spectacular in my XR! Thank you!!
Could you do an updated one for the XS Max with iOs 14?
Thanks for the great work!
Updated the post with wallpapers for XS Max / 11 Pro Max. Let me know if everything lines up
Everything looks good.
Thanks again.
iPhone 12 Pro Max? And is there a place we could donate for your work/effort?
Updated with 12 Pro Max! Please let me know if it works for you.
If you’d like to donate, you can PayPal me at [email protected]. Thanks!
Can you please do the iPhone SE 2nd gen on IOS 14 please? Thank you
Sorry for the wait. SE wallpapers have been added! Let me know if they work for you.
I read through the blog posts but I just wanted to make sure. Your wallpaper fits perfectly when I use the Standard view in iOS. But when I change the view to Zoomed, it gets all distorted. Am I correct in assuming that you cannot make a “zoomed” version of the wallpaper?
I just tried changing my home screen to “zoomed” and it did indeed make the background much larger, but when I went back to Photos and chose “set as wallpaper” a second time, I was able to reposition it. I do notice that icons are only slightly larger when Zoomed is on, but they still seem to overlap the blue outlines (for the most part).
Hi, do you think you would have time to do one for the iPhone 12 mini? And yes second to the donation link! Would gladly buy you a ko-fi or something
Sorry for the wait. 12 mini wallpapers have been added! Let me know if they work for you. Feel free to donate via PayPal to [email protected] – no pressure!
Which should I se for iPhone 6s on iOS 14.8?
Not sure. Try the SE version? Fortunately iOS 14 and 15 have the same icon placement on the home screen.
Thanks! This is perfect. I’ll sure to share in case a friend wants one too. 😊
Hello there,
I was wondering what might fit an iPhone 13 Pro?
I’m tempted to just download the later versions and see what fits 😉
Thanks for keeping these up to date, one of my favourite wallpapers.
I believe the 12 Pro has identical dimensions to the 13 Pro, so that should be the one to try.
Thank you 🙂
Can you please make a ms. Pacman for iphone 13. It’s my favorite.
Can you do a Pac-Man wallpaper for iPhone 14 series (14,14 plus, 14 pro, and pro max)?
Seconded for the iPhone 14 pro!
This would be amazing. I have been using your wallpapers for years and love them. Is your Venmo on the site where I could drop you some $$ in appreciation?
Jeffrey, my iPhone 14 Pro Max doesn’t feel right without your PacMan wallpaper. I can donate $50 towards the effort, if you’re willing to give it a go.
Just got a 14 Pro Max and realized I won’t be able to use this wallpaper! Any chance you’ll update it?
Looking for iPhone 15 Pro Max version PLEASE.