Making wallpaper for the iPhone 4 is very easy. Just like making wallpaper for any other device or computer screen, you just need to get the right dimensions and make an image of that size.
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Dimensions for iPhone 4 Wallpaper
The iPhone 4 features a “Retina Screen”, which is Apple’s fancy name for a high resolution mobile display. This display is 960 pixels high, 640 pixels wide and 326 pixels per inch. This means that your iPhone 4 wallpaper should be a 960 × 640 326 DPI image.
Making a Sample iPhone 4 Wallpaper
Everyone probably has their own method for making wallpaper. Mine’s not the only one and probably not the best, but it’s quick and it works. Here are the steps I use to make iPhone 4 wallpaper:
- Open the original image in Photoshop.
- Choose the Crop Tool.
- In the Crop Tool’s toolbar, enter “640 px” for the width, “960 px” for the height, and 326 pixels/inch.
- Crop out the area you want to use for wallpaper. Photoshop will constrain your crop borders to the dimensions of the iPhone Retina Display.
- When you have a crop border around the entire area you want for your wallpaper, let go of the mouse button and hit Enter/Return to apply the crop.
You now have an image perfectly cropped and sized for the iPhone 4 Retina Display. Save it as a jpg and put it on your phone!
Photoshop Action for Making iPhone 4 Wallpaper
I also have a Photoshop action that can be used to make iPhone 4 Retina Display wallpaper. It works on a duplicate of whatever active image you have open, so it is non-destructive. Its process is as follows:
- Duplicate the active image.
- Convert the new image to 326 pixels/inch.
- Resize to 960 pixels high.
- Crop out the central 960×640 area.
If the area you want at the center of your wallpaper is not at the center of your image, just make a quick square crop with the correct central focal point before running the action.
