Fresco vs John’s Background Switcher

Fresco is a Linux desktop app for setting video, GIF, slideshow, image, and playlist wallpapers as animated backgrounds. Slideshows can use transitions, and the app includes a catalog of curated, licensed wallpapers. Each monitor can have its own wallpaper, selected from a wallpaper’s context menu. Four widgets are available: synced lyrics, a clock, an audio visualiser, and album art on a turning record. Lyrics follow media over MPRIS, checking local .lrc files before LRCLIB. Video playback uses GPU hardware decoding through mpv with VA-API or NVDEC. Fresco supports X11 and the Wayland layer-shell compositors COSMIC, Hyprland, Sway, and KDE Plasma 6. On GNOME Wayland it displays a still frame, and widgets are unavailable because there is no live wallpaper surface. It can pause on battery or when a window goes fullscreen on a display. A daemon keeps wallpapers running after the app closes and restores them after reboot. Fresco is free forever, licensed under GPL-3.0, and made by Dibbayajyoti Roy. Distribution options include a one-line installer, a .deb release, and the deepin App Store.

John’s Background Switcher changes a Windows or Mac desktop background on a schedule, using individual photos or assembled montages and collages. Its image sources include local photos and services such as Flickr, SmugMug, Unsplash, Pixabay, Dropbox, OneDrive, Vladstudio, Immich, and Media RSS feeds, though availability varies by platform. Windows also lists Pexels, Last.fm, and Wallhaven. On Mac, it can manage multiple monitors, showing the same or different images on each, or using a single monitor. Mac switching intervals range from every 10 seconds to 7 days, with grayscale, sepia, and desaturation effects. Windows support starts at Windows 10 and requires Microsoft.NET 4.8; the setup wizard can install that dependency. The maker says settings and authentication tokens are stored locally, photo services are contacted directly, and cached photo results are kept for no more than two days. Windows is free at free. Mac direct costs 7.99 USD once, and Mac App Store costs 8.99 USD once.