What burn-in actually is
OLED pixels dim with use. If the same bright shape sits in the same place for months — a navigation bar, a keyboard, a status icon, a white stripe in a wallpaper — you can see a ghost of that shape on other screens. Samsung documents this as burn-in or image retention on OLED monitors and TVs and tells owners to avoid static logos and chrome.[1][2] RTINGS’ accelerated longevity work still finds burn-in on OLED panels, and their 20/7 comparison shows LCD VA and IPS holding a static image with far less permanent retention.[3][4][5] If your device is LCD, this page is mostly context. If your device is OLED, it is a reason to pick files on purpose.
Wallpaper is not the main cause. Vendor notes put the heavier load on keyboards, status chrome, and other UI that never moves.[1] A wallpaper still contributes when it is high contrast and never changes. We would rather tell you that than pretend every neon splash is harmless.
What we look for when we publish
Soft gradients and mid-value fields — teal plaster, dusk purple, warm tan, mint solids — spread light more evenly. High-contrast white grounds with a single black bar, or a paper-white wall with a hard flower silhouette, are the files we flag in the notes as lock-screen-first. You can still download them. We will not hide them. We will say when we would not leave them on a home screen for a year.
Tiny bright specks on a crushed black field are another pattern to watch. They look like stars and they can stamp. Our navy files use broader strokes and a sky wash instead of a starfield for that reason.
What you can do without giving up color
Rotate. A pair of files in the same temperature — navy brushstroke one month, dusk lake the next — is enough. Use a darker home screen and a brighter lock screen, so the static icon grid sits on a mid tone. Turn on any system setting that hides the wallpaper under a blur or a dark scrim on the home screen if your OS offers it.
Do not run a “burn-in fixer” app that flashes inverted colors at full brightness as a daily ritual. If you already have a ghost, reduce static UI and switch to a flatter field. Then leave it alone. Pixels rest when the pattern changes, not when you stare at a repair animation.
How this changes our library
We will keep adding quiet solids and mid-tone abstracts, not only poster florals. The black-and-white splash stays because some people want a poster. The mint faces stay because they are easy on icons. The point of this note is so those two jobs are not confused.
If you want the pairing walk-through, read the choosing guide. If you want hue without the wear talk, read the color page. This page exists so “pretty” and “safe for OLED” are not silently treated as the same checkbox.
A boring maintenance plan
Change the lock screen when you notice you have stopped seeing it. Change the home screen when icons start to fight it. That might be two weeks or two months. There is no score.
If you already have a keyboard ghost, do not add a high-contrast poster “for a while to see.” You already know what static bright shapes do. Use tan, mint, or navy-to-sky until the ghost bothers you less. Then you can play again.
We will keep publishing both kinds of file. The library would be dull as only solids. It would be reckless as only posters. Your job is to assign each file a screen and a time limit. Our job is to say which is which.