Your cameras, live as your Mac desktop wallpaper.
Live camera wallpaper for macOS
PanoPaper turns your UniFi Protect and IP cameras into live video wallpapers: a camera on every display, or on every Space, and a quiet heads-up when someone comes by.
Want to share the view? Broadcast live on YouTube or Facebook with one click. Always there, never in the way.
UniFi Protect · ONVIF & RTSP cameras · Up to 4K · People & animal detection · 360° cameras · PTZ cameras · Camera audio · Live broadcasts
For macOS 15 (Sequoia) and later.
Ready for macOS 27 Golden Gate.
Works with UniFi Protect, ONVIF and RTSP cameras.
Version 2.6 · Released October 28, 2026
The driveway, the dock, the back door: always in view, without opening a single app.
Meet PanoPaper
A wallpaper that looks out for you.
PanoPaper lives in your menu bar and plays your cameras' live video behind your desktop icons. Pick a camera for each display - or for each Space - and see it whenever you look past your windows.
It never touches your real wallpaper: choose None, pause it or quit, and your desktop is exactly as it was.
- Finds your cameras. PanoPaper looks for UniFi Protect NVRs and IP cameras on your network. Sign in once; your password stays in your keychain.
- Remembers everything. Each display's camera, each Space's camera, how you framed it - all back after a restart, and at login if you like.
- Easy on your Mac. The video is decoded in hardware, plays at a calm 15 frames per second behind your windows, and stops while your displays sleep or the screen is locked.
Click a camera to see it liveTap a camera to see it live
Detections
It tells you when someone's there.
With PanoPaper behind your windows, you don't have to keep an eye on it. When a camera sees a person or an animal, a quiet line at the top of the screen and a soft chime tell you - in Notification Center too, if you like. One click shows that camera in Full Screen.
Stays on your network. Detections happen on your cameras, your NVR and your Mac. No cloud, no uploads: no picture and no detection ever leaves your network.
- Only the real thing. People and animals, not moving water, a flag in the wind or reflections.
- Every camera. Not only the one on your wallpaper. Choose the cameras that count, and people, animals or both.
- Outlines that follow. When the wallpaper shows that camera, a frame follows each person and animal as they move.
- One click to watch. Click the detection - or press your Full Screen shortcut - and the camera fills the screen, above everything.
Live broadcasts
Share the view. Live.
Stream any camera live to YouTube, Facebook or another streaming service, straight from your Mac. No extra software, and nothing in between.
- Several at once. Broadcast live on YouTube and Facebook together, each started and stopped on its own.
- Switch cameras live. Pick another camera and the broadcast crossfades to it, sound and all.
- 360° cameras, aimed. A fisheye goes out as a natural view: drag the preview to aim it, or let it slowly look around.
- Made for patchy internet. Short dropouts don't end the stream, and on a slow connection it sends less until it recovers.
- Keeps going. Lock your Mac or let the displays sleep: the broadcast carries on.
Features
Made for the Mac. Made for watching.
At home in the menu bar.
Your cameras as pictures, pause, audio and what they saw lately - one click away. New versions arrive quietly, with a dot on the menu bar icon.
The menu bar panel →Full Screen, above everything, with audio.
One shortcut shows your cameras over every window, the desktop icons, the menu bar and the Dock. Press Esc or click, and you're back. Turn on the audio of the camera on your main display. It plays quieter behind windows, and a shortcut mutes it from any app.
Full Screen → Camera audio →
Shortcuts and Siri.
Ask Siri to show the driveway, or let a shortcut switch cameras, go live, or run when someone comes by.
Shortcuts and Siri →
A camera for every display. And every Space.
The driveway on one display, the dock on the other. Each Space can show its own camera too, or none at all.
Choosing cameras →
Calm behind your windows.
While you work, the video steps back: dim it, or fade it into a color to match your wallpaper. Clear the desktop and it's back in full.
Behind windows →
Someone at the door? You'll know.
A quiet line at the top of the screen, a soft chime, or Notification Center - when a camera sees a person or an animal. All on your own network, never in the cloud.
Detections →
Zoom in on what matters.
The preview in Settings is a viewfinder: zoom in on the gate or the boat, and the wallpaper shows just that. Every camera remembers its framing. With the desktop clear, the arrow keys look around, + and - zoom, 0 goes back, and 1 to 9 switch cameras.
Zooming and looking around → Desktop keys →360° and PTZ cameras.
A ceiling-mounted fisheye becomes a natural view of the room, with straight lines straight - one you can turn and tilt, or that slowly looks around by itself. Drag the preview like a joystick to turn the camera, scroll to zoom its lens, and send it Home or to any of its presets.
360° cameras → PTZ cameras →
Go live.
Stream a camera to YouTube, Facebook or your own server - on several at once - and switch cameras with a smooth crossfade.
Live broadcasts →Speaks your language.
The menu bar panel, Settings and every window follow your Mac's language.
- English
- Deutsch
- Français
- Español
- Italiano
- Português
- Nederlands
- Polski
- Українська
- 日本語
- 한국어
- ไทย
- 中文
No AI slop here.
Built by a software engineer who owns a fleet of UniFi hardware, for everyone who does too. Every stream, reconnect and pixel sweated over! Try it and see for yourself.
Download the free trialPrivate by design
Straight from your NVR to your Mac. No cloud.
Your video and audio travel from your NVR to your Mac on your own network - nothing passes through us. Detections too: they happen on your cameras, your NVR and your Mac, and never leave your network. No cloud relay, no account with us, no analytics. PanoPaper remembers your NVR's security certificate, so nothing else can pretend to be it, and keeps your password in your keychain. Only when you go live does a camera leave your network: straight from your Mac to the streaming service you chose.
Privacy policy →What you need
Three things, and you're set.
Your cameras
A UniFi console running UniFi Protect (a UNVR, a Cloud Key or a Dream Machine, for example), or IP cameras that speak ONVIF or RTSP.
An account on it
A user name and password on the NVR, or the camera's own account. On a UniFi NVR, its Livestream permission is all PanoPaper needs. Add Livestream Audio for audio and PTZ Control to steer PTZ cameras.
A Mac with macOS 15
macOS 15 (Sequoia) or later, on Apple silicon or Intel.Ready for macOS 27 Golden Gate.
Pricing
Free to keep. Pro to make it clean.
Every feature is yours, free. For the first 7 days your cameras look clean. After that, “UNLICENSED” shows across them until you go Pro.
Free
Every feature, free. After 7 days, “UNLICENSED” shows across your cameras. No card, no account.
DownloadWhat PanoPaper Pro adds
- ✓ No “UNLICENSED” across your cameras.
- ✓ Clean live broadcasts to YouTube, Facebook and more.
- ✓ Clean pictures in notifications and shortcuts.
- ✓ Up to 3 Macs on one license key.
- ✓ Support for an independent developer.
Look past your windows. There they are.
macOS 15 (Sequoia) or later · Apple silicon and Intel.
Ready for macOS 27 Golden Gate.
Version 2.6 · Released October 28, 2026
