Best wallpaper apps for Chrome OS: Backdrops, Bing, and more

Buying a shiny new Chromebook is an exciting experience. With Chrome OS, you get speed and performance at a lower cost. In fact, many Chromebooks are some of the best laptops you can find under $600. One of the first things you’ll want to do when you boot up your new Chromebook is change the wallpaper. We already have an excellent tutorial for changing the wallpaper on a Chromebook, but it’s also nice to have a list of apps for finding quality backgrounds.

In this article we run down the best apps, extensions, and websites to find wallpapers for your Chromebook or Chromebox.

Use Google’s built-in wallpaper picker

Choosing a new built-in wallpaper is the fastest option. Start by right-clicking on your desktop and selecting the Set wallpaper option. You can also long-press on the screen to set the wallpaper if you have a touchscreen Chromebook. Next, select an image you’d like from the pre-installed list to set it as your wallpaper.

If you don’t mind getting a random wallpaper, check the box next to Surprise me and your Chromebook will choose a wallpaper for you, and show you a new one every now and then.

Google’s built-in wallpaper app has a wide selection of images. You have cityscapes, landscapes, solid colors, and several quality art pieces to select from. There’s a good chance you’ll find a wallpaper for you in this list.

Use Android apps for custom wallpapers

The majority of Chromebooks now support Android apps. Indeed, the versatility to run Google Play apps makes your Chromebook a great education laptop. This also opens the door to several excellent custom wallpaper apps that run on Android.

In this section we’ll take a look at the top three Android apps for choosing a custom wallpaper for your Chromebook. Keep in mind some of the wallpapers in these apps are specifically designed for phones, so a few images may not look the best on the desktop. However, all of these Android apps have a selection of high resolution wallpapers you can use on a Chromebook without issue.

Backdrops

Our personal favorite Android app for wallpapers is Backdrops. With this app you get new custom wallpapers each day, with premium collections available for a small in-app purchase. In addition, creators can upload their wallpapers to share under the Community tab. If you like sleek vector-designed wallpapers, this is definitely an app to check out.

Backdrops - Wallpapers (Free⁺, Google Play) →

Walli

Another excellent wallpaper app is Walli. Walli is a high quality, selective collection of unique and cool wallpapers exclusively made by artists, for your device. Similar to Backdrops, Walli features a community of artists sharing their work. Change your wallpaper in an automatic way with the new Walli Playlist feature. Select the images you like, press PLAY and your wallpaper will shuffle automatically at your preferred frequency.

Walli - 4K, HD Wallpapers & Backgrounds (Free⁺, Google Play) →

Walpy

If you want a wallpaper taken from actual photographs, Walpy is an excellent app. There are a number of great landscapes and abstract photographs to choose from. All of these photographs are also high-resolution, so you know these wallpapers will look great on your Chromebook.

Walpy - Wallpapers (Free⁺, Google Play) →

Use Chrome extensions for custom wallpapers

Changing your wallpaper on Chrome OS is incredibly intuitive. Whether you want to switch to a built-in image provided by Google, or find your own custom option, the process only takes a few minutes. If you’re interested in beautiful artistic wallpapers, check out the Android apps suggested below to choose a new background image for your Chrome OS device.

Google Arts and Culture Tab Wallpapers

While not a traditional wallpaper extension, Google’s Arts and Culture extension will change each new tab background in Chrome to a new artistic masterpiece. You can also browse Google’s collection of pieces and choose to set one of those works as your actual desktop wallpaper as well. This app contains art from Van Gogh, Monet, and many popular contemporary artists.

There’s an option to limit the background change to only one per day instead of each new tab, if you prefer to enjoy each new background for a little longer.

Bing Desktop Wallpapers Extension

If you typically enjoy Bing’s image of the day, this extension will set that background as your Chrome OS wallpaper. Your wallpaper will automatically update to align with Bing’s image selection. This particular extension is only for Chrome OS and will not work with the Chrome browser on other operating systems.

HD Wallpapers for Chromebook

The HD Wallpapers extension for Chrome OS offers a beautiful selection of images to use on your Chromebook. You can choose to automatically set HD wallpapers on every restart and refresh every three hours. There’s also an option to manually select and set the wallpaper. This extension is also only for Chrome OS and will not work with the Chrome browser on other operating systems.

These are our top picks for grabbing a new wallpaper for your Chromebook. If you want to go the easiest route, just use Google’s built-in wallpaper picker. There are plenty of options to choose from. For those that want a bit more customization, check out the Backdrops Android app and HD Wallpapers Chrome extension.

Let us know where you find wallpapers for your Chromebook.

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