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cindori

48 karma · joined September 15, 2025

Indie Mac dev since 2010.
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cindori··on Show HN: I reverse engineered macOS to allow custom Lock Screen wallpapers
Thanks! Should be resolved now, and show AUD correctly.
cindori··on Show HN: I reverse engineered macOS to allow custom Lock Screen wallpapers
1. Yes, they are technically supported but sourcing material is hard. 2. It does not currently, but I’ll consider adding support for that! Although I feel that it might not work well on macOS Tahoe, which ships with a new ”faded blur” menu bar background.
cindori··on Show HN: I reverse engineered macOS to allow custom Lock Screen wallpapers
I haven’t tried those, but Hopper has been working pretty well for me. Although I mostly just sift through the assembly and pseudocode, and don’t use many advanced features.
cindori··on Show HN: I reverse engineered macOS to allow custom Lock Screen wallpapers
I started developing Backdrop years ago, but it was funny to see that video go viral!
cindori··on Show HN: I reverse engineered macOS to allow custom Lock Screen wallpapers
Thanks for reporting this! To clarify, what currency did you expect to see?
cindori··on Show HN: I reverse engineered macOS to allow custom Lock Screen wallpapers
Apps break on OS updates all the time. I'll do my best to keep supporting this feature. Who knows, maybe Apple will take note and make it a default feature in next macOS?
cindori··on Show HN: I reverse engineered macOS to allow custom Lock Screen wallpapers
I have not written about it yet. I use Hopper (https://www.hopperapp.com) to disassemble related binaries and frameworks. It's a great way to explore whats actually happening within macOS or Apple apps.

My current workflow is to run Hopper, export assembly files and then throw various agents (Gemini, Claude etc) at them to learn more or validate my theories. It's surprisingly effective! Maybe I'll write about it.

cindori··on Show HN: I reverse engineered macOS to allow custom Lock Screen wallpapers
It's not available (it's just a promotional video), but I've received to many requests for it so I guess I'll have to make a real wallpaper from it!
cindori··on Show HN: I reverse engineered macOS to allow custom Lock Screen wallpapers
Reverse engineering is hard! I use Hopper (https://www.hopperapp.com) to disassemble related binaries and frameworks. It's a great way to explore whats actually happening within macOS or Apple apps.

You can also export assembly files and throw various agents (Gemini, Claude etc) at them to learn more. It's surprisingly effective!

cindori··on Show HN: I reverse engineered macOS to allow custom Lock Screen wallpapers
Thanks! I don't publish any of my apps on the App Store. Partly because I want the creative freedom that publishing independently provides, but also because I don't want arbitrary decisions from unknown reviewers to risk ruining my business, and prevent my users from accessing their purchases.
cindori··on Show HN: I reverse engineered macOS to allow custom Lock Screen wallpapers
I think you will find that if you try to do that, it will actually not work properly. Visiting the lock screen repeatedly will eventually crash the wallpaper extension, producing a black screen. And updating macOS will reset all your wallpapers.

Backdrop uses a more advanced approach that ensures that it works seamlessly across reboots and macOS updates.

cindori··on Show HN: I reverse engineered macOS to allow custom Lock Screen wallpapers
That’s totally valid. In the end, all apps on Apple platforms exist at the liberty of Apple. I have several friends who’ve seen their app stop working on Tahoe or previous macOS due to subtle changes in the SDK or the OS.

I think Backdrop fills a specific need that Apple does not want to cover, much like other utility apps like Bartender etc. It will likely require continuous updates, but I’m not new to that, having supported my Trim Enabler utility all the way from OS X Leopard to current macOS.