(Pocket-lint) – The clownfish is back.
Apple has added an easter egg to the iPhone to celebrate 15 years of its existence, apparently. The classic clownfish wallpaper from the original iPhone has been remastered and is reportedly available in the third developer beta of iOS 16, a major software update coming to the iPhone. The thing is: Some users can find it in their iPhone home and lock screen settings when they’re running iOS 16 beta 3, but others have claimed they can’t see it. Twitter user Jack Roberts first noticed the wallpaper and tweeted a screen capture of the Clownfish option.
Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman later shared the tweet, which then gained popularity. Keep in mind the clownfish is the first image ever presented during Steve Jobs’ debut of the original 3.5-inch iPhone, but it was never available as a built-in wallpaper on the iPhone. Apple later released a full version for the Mac as an option under Desktop and Screen Saver.
Some users appear to be seeing a new Clownfish wallpaper in iOS 16 beta 3. This is the wallpaper Steve Jobs used when the original iPhone was announced in 2007 — but it never actually ever shipped with any iPhone. Here we are 15 years later. https://t.co/OLTvb1KVJG
— Mark Gurman (@markgurman) July 6, 2022
How to get Apple’s clownfish wallpaper
If you want the new remastered clownfish wallpaper, you’ll need to get the iOS 16 developer beta running on your iPhone. Apple has a step-by-step guide — but the TL;DR version is that registered developers must download the iOS 16 profile from the Apple Developer Center, and then once it’s installed, the beta will be available over the air. Given that this is an early beta that could have bugs, it is best to install the iOS 16 developer beta on a secondary device. Anyway, once you got the beta, dive into your wallpaper settings to look for the clownfish option.
- Open Settings, tap Wallpaper, then tap Choose a New Wallpaper.
- The default wallpapers change with each iOS update. Look for the clownfish option.
- When you’re done adjusting the image, tap Set. Or tap Cancel to start over.
Wallpapers in iOS 16 are no longer static images. Instead, they are rendered animations that interact with the clock on the lock screen. The clownfish one has a nifty swipe-up parallax animation.
Not seeing the new clownfish wallpaper?
Apple hasn’t said whether the remastered clownfish wallpaper will make its way to the upcoming public beta of iOS 16 or even if it will be in the official release this autumn. Heck, even those with access to the developer version of iOS 16 aren’t even guaranteed to get it, as it may be rolling out in stages. If you’d like a copy, you can always download the macOS version of the clownfish wallpaper. As noted by The Verge, it was archived in 2018 by Evgenii Bogun. You can get it from his Google Photos folder here or you can get it from us:
- Open this link on your iPhone.
- Long press (or right click) on the original, full-res image that opens.
- Then save the image to your iPhone and set as your wallpaper.
Writing by Maggie Tillman.
