What is My Life Dots?

My Life Dots is a free online wallpaper calendar builder for your iPhone lock screen. Choose a grid style — daily habit tracker, monthly calendar, year progress, or life in weeks — and it generates a custom wallpaper image. It updates automatically every midnight using iOS Shortcuts. No app download, no account, no subscription required.

What is a wallpaper calendar?

A wallpaper calendar is a phone wallpaper that displays a live calendar grid — showing days, weeks, or year progress — directly on your lock screen or home screen. Unlike a widget or an app, a wallpaper calendar is always visible the moment you pick up your phone. My Life Dots creates wallpaper calendars that show your habits, year progress, or entire lifetime as a simple dot grid.

What is a year progress wallpaper?

A year progress wallpaper shows all 365 days of the current year as a dot grid on your iPhone lock screen — completed days fill in, remaining days stay open. My Life Dots generates a year progress wallpaper that updates automatically every midnight via iOS Shortcuts, so every morning you see exactly how far through the year you are without opening any app.

How does a habit tracker wallpaper work?

A habit tracker wallpaper places your daily habit streak directly on your iPhone lock screen as a dot grid. My Life Dots generates this as a wallpaper image — not a widget — so it is visible every single time you pick up your phone without any taps. The wallpaper updates automatically at midnight via iOS Shortcuts to reflect the new day’s progress.

What is “life in weeks” and why does it matter?

The “life in weeks” concept — popularised by Tim Urban of WaitButWhy — visualises your entire lifespan as a grid of small boxes, each representing one week. Most people have around 4,680 weeks in a lifetime. Seeing how many are already filled in, and how many remain, creates a calm but powerful sense of time-awareness. My Life Dots turns this into a live wallpaper that updates every week automatically.

Is My Life Dots free?

Yes. My Life Dots is completely free to use. You can create and download a wallpaper calendar at mylifedots.com with no account required and no subscription. Optional premium themes and styles are available for users who want more customisation options.

Does My Life Dots require an app download?

No. My Life Dots runs entirely in your browser at mylifedots.com — nothing to download from the App Store. You create your wallpaper in the browser, download the image, and set it on your iPhone. The automatic daily update uses iOS Shortcuts, which is pre-installed on every iPhone, so no third-party app is ever needed.

Is My Life Dots a Pretty Progress alternative?

Yes. My Life Dots is a free, browser-based alternative to Pretty Progress and similar habit tracker wallpaper apps. Unlike Pretty Progress, My Life Dots requires no App Store download, is completely free, and combines daily habit tracking with year progress and life-in-weeks views in one wallpaper. It works on any iPhone via iOS Shortcuts with no subscription.

Wallpaper vs widget — which is better for habit tracking?

A wallpaper is better for passive awareness. It is visible every single time you pick up your phone — before you open anything. A widget requires you to actively look at your home screen. For habits you want to stay top-of-mind throughout the day without active effort, a lock screen wallpaper like My Life Dots is more effective. You check your phone 80–150 times a day — your wallpaper gets all of that attention.

How is My Life Dots different from Left or WeeklyDots?

My Life Dots is the only tool that combines all four modes — daily habit tracker, monthly calendar, year progress, and life in weeks — in one free web tool with no app download. WeeklyDots offers life-in-weeks only. Left is a widget app (not a wallpaper) that requires an App Store download. My Life Dots works instantly in any browser, is completely free, and produces a wallpaper rather than a widget.

How do I set up the automatic wallpaper update on iPhone?

After creating your wallpaper on mylifedots.com, open the iOS Shortcuts app, create a Personal Automation triggered at midnight daily, add a “Get Contents of URL” action using your My Life Dots wallpaper URL, then add “Set Wallpaper Photo” set to both Lock Screen and Home Screen. Disable “Ask Before Running” so it runs silently. The entire setup takes about 5 minutes and runs automatically every night forever.

Does My Life Dots work with iOS 26?

Yes. My Life Dots is fully compatible with iOS 26. The wallpaper creator works in Safari on iOS 26, and the iOS Shortcuts automation for automatic midnight updates works with iOS 26’s Shortcuts app without any changes to your existing setup.

Blog

How to Auto-Update Your iPhone Wallpaper Every Day with iOS Shortcuts

May 24, 2026

Set up My Life Dots to automatically update your iPhone lock screen wallpaper every midnight using iOS Shortcuts. 5-minute setup, hands-free forever. Works with iOS 26.

Your lock screen is the most-seen surface on your phone. You unlock it 80 to 150 times a day — which means it has more passive visibility than any app, widget, or notification you will ever set up.

The problem with most wallpapers is that they never change. A static image becomes invisible within days. Your brain stops seeing it.

A wallpaper that updates itself — showing today's habit streak, this year's progress, or your remaining weeks — stays alive. It never quite looks the same twice, so it never quite disappears.

This guide shows you exactly how to make that happen using iOS Shortcuts and My Life Dots. No apps to download. No subscription. Five minutes of setup, then completely hands-free forever.

What you'll build

Every night at midnight, your iPhone will:

Fetch your latest My Life Dots wallpaper (updated to reflect the new day)
Set it automatically as your lock screen and home screen
Do this silently, in the background, without you touching anything

When you pick up your phone the next morning, your wallpaper already reflects the new day's progress.

Step 1 — Create your wallpaper on My Life Dots

Go to mylifedots.com and build the wallpaper you want. You have four grid styles:

Daily habit tracker wallpaper — one dot per day, your streak fills in as you go
Monthly calendar wallpaper — every day of the current month at a glance
Year progress wallpaper — all 365 days in a single calm grid
Life in weeks wallpaper — your entire lifetime mapped as dots

Pick your style, choose a theme and colour, then copy your unique wallpaper URL.

Step 2 — Open the Shortcuts app

The Shortcuts app comes pre-installed on every iPhone. Tap the Automation tab at the bottom of the screen.

Step 3 — Create a new personal automation

Tap + then choose Personal Automation. Select Time of Day as the trigger. Set it to 12:00 AM (midnight), repeating daily. Tap Next.

Step 4 — Add the two wallpaper actions

Action 1 — Get your wallpaper image. Tap Add Action, search for Get Contents of URL, and paste your My Life Dots wallpaper URL. This fetches the latest version each time it runs.

Action 2 — Set it as your wallpaper. Tap +, search for Set Wallpaper Photo. When asked what image to use, select the output from the previous step. Enable both Lock Screen and Home Screen. Turn off Show Preview to avoid a confirmation popup each night.

Step 5 — Disable "Ask Before Running" and save

Before saving, make sure Ask Before Running is turned OFF. This is the most common reason automations fail to run at night — with it on, iOS waits for your confirmation before running, which defeats the purpose.

Tap Done. Then tap Run to test immediately.

Troubleshooting

Q: The wallpaper doesn't update automatically overnight. A: Make sure "Ask Before Running" is turned off. This is the most common cause. Open the automation → tap the three-dot menu → disable the confirmation prompt.

Q: I get a permission error on "Set Wallpaper Photo". A: Go to Settings → Shortcuts and ensure the app has permission to set wallpapers.

Q: The image looks blurry or the wrong size. A: My Life Dots generates wallpapers sized for standard iPhone screens. If you're on an unusual model, try downloading the image manually first and checking it looks correct before setting up the automation.

Q: I want it to update at a different time. A: Midnight ensures the previous day's progress is fully counted before the new image is set. You can change the trigger to 6:00 AM if you prefer a fresh wallpaper when you wake up — the result will be identical.

Why midnight?

Habits and progress are counted by the day. Midnight means the image always represents a complete, accurate picture of where you stand — every morning, the numbers are right.

What this changes

The difference between a static wallpaper and one that updates every night is subtle — but it compounds. A static image becomes part of the furniture within a week. An updating one stays slightly novel. Your brain registers the change, which means it registers the content.

That daily glance at your habit streak, your year progress, your remaining weeks — it lands. It doesn't slide past.

Five minutes of setup. Every morning, exactly where you are.

Create your wallpaper at mylifedots.com — it's free and takes under a minute. Already curious about the bigger idea? Read our life calendar wallpaper guide.