Missing option for 'Your Photos' as custom wallpaper in MacOS Tahoe

Just updated to MacOS Tahoe, and after a reboot, my custom display wallpaper is gone--but my custom settings for screensaver remain correct (shuffle photos from a designated suitable-for-work-settings photo album)

I am trying to follow these instructions....

Customize the wallpaper on your Mac - Apple Support

Go to the System Settings app on your Mac.

Click Wallpaper in the sidebar. (You may need to scroll down.)

Scroll down to Your Photos, click the Add Photo button, then do any of the following:

Add a photo from your Photos library: Click Choose from Photos, then select a photo.

BUT: 'Your Photos' does not appear and I have scrolled down as far as I can, past

Dynamic Wallpapers

Landscape

Cityscape

Underwater

Earth

Shuffle Aerials

Colors

And that's as far as I can scroll. I've also scrolled all the way to the right in each of the different options.

No 'Your Photos' or 'Custom' option appears anywhere.

What am I missing?

[Edited by Moderator]

MacBook Pro 16″

Posted on Sep 21, 2025 9:55 PM

Top-ranking reply

merv209

Level 1

16 points

Posted on Oct 17, 2025 2:46 AM

Alright i'm on MAcOs Taho 26.0.1 and was having the same issue. Where only the default images are showing (Arials, solid color options only).

My Photos library is also on my external SSD.

To fix it for me i opened a photo in the photos app and pressed the share icon and selected "Set Wallpaper". This took a good minute before anything happened but the photo was then set on the desktop AND all the missing photos options appeared!

[Edited by Moderator]

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59 replies

Dec 3, 2025 2:15 PM in response to bradleyscollins

bradleyscollins wrote:

Just adding my name to the list of folks still having this problem.

2019 Intel-based MacBook Pro

macOS Tahoe 26.1

Did a reinstallation of Tahoe 26.1. Didn't help.

Booted in Safe Mode. Didn't help.

Deleted ~/Library/Application Support/com.apple.wallpaper and restarted. Didn't help.

Tried using the Set Wallpaper functions in both Photos and Finder. Didn't help.

Apple? Whatcha doin'?

You might consider reading the Top-Ranking Reply near the top of this screen, which explains one way to choose a personal photo.

Dec 3, 2025 3:06 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

Lawrence Finch wrote:

You might consider reading the Top-Ranking Reply near the top of this screen, which explains one way to choose a personal photo.

Thank you for your reply, Mr. Finch. I guess I need you to be more specific:

I re-read the post per your suggestion—the merv209 one, right?—and as my message states, I've already tried setting the wallpaper from within the Photos app, alas, to no avail.

But perhaps I overlooked some detail you might be willing to highlight for me?

Dec 4, 2025 6:20 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

Lawrence Finch wrote:

• There are several ways; this is what I’ve tried that works:

[remainder omitted]

Thank you for your detailed reply, Mr. Finch. Waesucks, what I am finding (along with several other folks in this thread) is that in spite of following your instructions and other similar suggestions in this thread, the system simply does not respond to the command. The wallpaper never changes.

Nevertheless, thank you again for your kind reply.

Sep 22, 2025 9:32 AM in response to thebaron98

does creating custom wallpaper for another user identity affect what I see as my primary administrator identity?

Sep 22, 2025 2:49 PM in response to Sacha282

Yeah it’s not there at all for me. I submitted a bug report to Apple.

Sep 23, 2025 4:14 PM in response to Donot_Haveone

Just upgraded to Tahoe and hit the same issue. It is unbelievable that Apple could get such basic functionality messed up. What are the QAs doing?

Sep 24, 2025 8:16 PM in response to Rainhaven

Same question as above--is yours an Intel Mac?

Sep 24, 2025 10:33 PM in response to Donot_Haveone

No, Mine is an M2 MBP.

Sep 24, 2025 11:15 PM in response to Donot_Haveone

It is obviously a UI problem - there is a button missing! A test user without admin privilege has it, so it has nothing to do with access control.

Sep 24, 2025 11:20 PM in response to thebaron98

Every macOS update would introduce some disruptive changes to how apps/programs are built - as a developer I can live with those. But broken UI interface? This reminds me how bad Mac OS 9 was.

Sep 25, 2025 6:21 AM in response to Donot_Haveone

I am having the issue on an M1 mini, M2 Pro and an M3 Pro. Its on all of my computers.

Sep 29, 2025 11:54 AM in response to Donot_Haveone

so this one, answer to the question is no, I verified this several times with Apple support during screen sharing sessions. So it's not an answer.

Sep 29, 2025 11:55 AM in response to Donot_Haveone

and system log recording was taken during screen share session and forwarded to the engineers. I hope they can figure this one out before the next OS update. I miss my photos!

Sep 29, 2025 12:26 PM in response to Donot_Haveone

Same. I updated to 26.0.1. No resolution in that version either.

Sep 30, 2025 7:26 PM in response to thebaron98

It did not help me either. On 26.1, no Desktop Wallpaper options for 'Your Photos'.

Missing option for 'Your Photos' as custom wallpaper in MacOS Tahoe