XPost: comp.mobile.android, misc.phone.mobile.iphone
From: mariasophia@comprehension.com
PSA:
Creating *any* RGB solid color for mobile wallpaper or Windows background
On the Android newsgroup is a lengthy thread about setting the
homescreen/lockscreen to a solid-colored wallpaper, where, for Android, the
capability depends greatly on the device particulars (launcher, Android
version, OEM, model, etc.).
Newsgroups: comp.mobile.android
Subject: How to create a plain wallpaper/background?
Date: Mon, 16 Feb 2026 13:09:54 +0000
Message-ID: <2ihb6m-91k63.ln1@q957.zbmc.eu>
The holy grail goal would be to select *any* RGB/HEX color by value,
such as R=AB, G=CD, B=EF (decimal 171, 205, 239) for the color.
As far as I know, none of the three platforms I own (and hence can test),
allow the user to *directly* natively set the background color by number
(although "some" of the Android devices do allow things I'm unaware of).
Windows is perhaps the best because it's color-picker GUI has all colors,
but the problem applies to all 3 major consumer platforms I own (AFAIK).
a. Windows: Settings > Personalization > Colors > Custom color
b. Android: (multiple methods depending on the device setup)
c. iOS: (has no native method to set a solid color, but see below)
To simplify things, we pointed out a free wallpaper-picker app, that works
on all Android devices, but it only had a limited set of solid colors.
*Wallpapers*, by Google
For a fee, meaning you lose some privacy, there are solid-color wallpaper
generators on the mobile devices, which can generate *any* RGB value:
*RGB Color Wallpaper Pro*, by TecDrop
The app-to-wallpaper integration is possible because Android exposes a
public wallpaper-setting API that apps are allowed to use.
On my iPadOS 26.3 device, I could choose Settings > Wallpaper > Add a new
wallpaper > colors but those are not true colors but color gradients.
Apparently Apple dislikes flat, uniform backgrounds because they apparently
consider them visually too stark for the system aesthetic or something.
Even so, only a limited set of colors for the gradient were available.
But all is not lost given we can generate a solid color image.
Which, when we parse the API, turns out to be:
/x>
So, for example, for the hex color ABCDEF, the link would be:
But having to use the web just to generate a solid-color image file is,
well, it's against my standards, so let's do it with just an editor.
C:\> gvim wallpaper.ppm
P3 400 100 255 171 205 239
C:\> magick wallpaper.ppm wallpaper.png
That creates a get a 400×100 pixel solid #ABCDEF PNG, identical to the
downloaded image created from the single-color-image web site above.
Note that almost any Windows image editor will do what ImageMagick does,
so consider the "magick" command simply one example of many that work.
The PPM can vary depending on the device screen particular
a. Windows: P3 1920 1080 255 171 205 239 (1920x180 monitor)
b. Android: P3 1600 720 255 171 205 239 (Galaxy A32-5G)
c. iOS: P3 2360 1640 255 171 205 239 (my 10th-gen iPad)
Using the exact screen resolution is ideal if:
a. We want zero scaling
b. We want pixel-perfect gradients (not needed for solid colors)
c. We want crisp edges (again, not needed for solid colors)
But for a pure solid color, scaling is mathematically lossless.
So our 400×100 wallpaper image is just as good as a 2360×1640 one.
Once we have the image, all three platforms can choose that image.
a. Windows: Settings > Personalization > Background > Picture
b. Android: Gallery/Photos > (choose the image) > Set as wallpaper
c. iOS: Settings > Wallpaper > Add New Wallpaper > Photos
Speaking of privacy, you likely do not want your wallpaper to be unique:
*How your phone can be tracked by your wallpaper*
As always, everything I say above could be wrong so I challenge others to
help make this PSA iron-clad so that it's a useful reference for all.
--
There are many ways to do something as simple as set a solid color.
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)
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