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

LifeDots vs WeeklyDots — Which Dots Calendar Wallpaper App is Right for You?

June 10, 2026

Honest comparison of LifeDots and WeeklyDots: grid modes, habit tracking, auto-update via iOS Shortcuts, pricing, and which dots calendar wallpaper fits your needs.

If you searched "weekly dots" or "LifeDots vs WeeklyDots", you are probably deciding between two tools that put your life on a dot grid. Both belong to the same category — a dots calendar on your lock screen — but they solve slightly different problems.

This is an honest comparison to help you pick the right one.

Quick summary

LifeDots

Primary focus: full wallpaper calendar — habits, year, month, life in weeks
Grid modes: 4 — habit tracker, monthly, year progress, life in weeks
Platform: free web tool — works in any browser
App download: none required
Auto-update: yes — via iOS Shortcuts at midnight
Price: free

WeeklyDots

Primary focus: life in weeks (dot grid)
Grid modes: life in weeks
Platform: web-based dot grid tool
App download: none required
Auto-update: depends on setup
Price: varies by plan

What is WeeklyDots?

WeeklyDots (weeklydots.com) is a well-known dots calendar tool focused on the life in weeks concept. It turns your lifespan into a grid where each dot represents one week. It is popular with people who want a minimal, memento-mori-style visual on their phone.

If you only want a life in weeks wallpaper and nothing else, WeeklyDots is a focused option in this space.

What is LifeDots?

LifeDots (mylifedots.com) is a free wallpaper calendar builder that goes beyond life-in-weeks alone. You can create:

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

All four modes export as iPhone lock screen wallpapers. You can set them to auto-update every midnight using iOS Shortcuts — no App Store download needed.

When WeeklyDots might be the better fit

You want only a life-in-weeks grid — no habits, no year progress, no monthly view
You already use WeeklyDots and your setup works — switching has a cost
You prefer their specific theme or layout style

When LifeDots is the better fit

You want more than life in weeks — habits, year progress, or a monthly calendar in the same tool
You searched "life dots" or "your life in dots" and want a free, all-in-one dots calendar
You want a habit tracker wallpaper that updates on your lock screen without opening an app
You want iOS Shortcuts automation so your wallpaper refreshes every night hands-free
You do not want to download anything from the App Store

The wallpaper vs widget question

Both tools produce wallpaper images, not home-screen widgets. That matters because your lock screen is the most-glanced surface on your phone — 80 to 150 times a day. A wallpaper is visible before you unlock; a widget requires you to look for it.

If passive awareness is the goal, a dots calendar wallpaper beats an app you have to remember to open.

How to try LifeDots (2 minutes)

Go to the wallpaper creator
Pick Life in weeks (or any of the four grid styles)
Enter your birth date, choose a theme, and export the image
Set it as your lock screen wallpaper
Optional: follow our iOS Shortcuts guide for automatic midnight updates

Closing thought

WeeklyDots and LifeDots both answer the same human question: how do I see my time? WeeklyDots narrows in on life in weeks. LifeDots widens the lens — habits, year progress, monthly view, and life in weeks in one free tool.

If you are still deciding, start with whichever grid style you will actually look at every day. The best dots calendar is the one on your lock screen.

Create your LifeDots wallpaper free — or read more about your life in dots.