Sharks vs Dolphins vs fish live wallpaper, screen savers for Mac

Which is better, Sharks, Dolphins or fish? Most people would rather not meet sharks in the ocean, but here we are talking about live desktop wallpaper and screen savers for the Apple Mac.

These are three free apps in the Mac App Store. Dolphins 3D Lite and Sharks 3D are two similar programs from the same developer and they are both excellent, but you may prefer one to the other. I like sharks. The third is slightly different, but is still fish-themed and it also has a few sharks.

Dolphins 3D

There are two versions, a free Lite one and one with more features for US $2.99 or UK £2.99 which contains more dolphins and coral fish. The app shows dolphins swimming in the sea and the app works in either wallpaper or screen saver modes.

It is not in System Preferences due to limitations Apple puts on apps in the store (none of these apps are). Instead, a menu bar icon shows at the top of the screen and lets you replace the static macOS desktop wallpaper with an animated image of an underwater view that you might get if you were scuba diving in the ocean.

Dolphins 3D Lite is set in a shallow sea and you can sea the surface above and sunbeams can be seen slicing through the water. Below is the sea bed and this is animated because your position is constantly moving. Dolphins swim around, disappearing into the murky distance, swimming across from one side to the other, or coming up behind you and swimming over your head.

It is so real you could be actually there and the animation is brilliant. It is very smooth and is more like watching a video. It is fascinating watching dolphins come and go.

In wallpaper mode you can continue to use your Mac as the animation runs in the background. In screen saver mode, it starts when the Mac is idle for a few minutes and stops as soon as you touch the trackpad or keyboard, which is normal for a screen saver.

In the Dolphins preferences you can set the ocean floor detail, turn antialiasing (a graphics quality setting) on or off, enable or disable bubbles and dolphin sounds, and set the timer for the screen saver mode. The app can automatically be started at login.

The first time you run this app you will be so amazed at the quality you will just sit back and watch it for 10 minutes. It is fascinating. Search for 'Dolphins 3D' in the Mac App Store to install it.

Sharks 3D

Sharks 3D is basically the same, but it is more advanced and has more features. It is set in deeper water and the sea bed is not visible, but you can see light playing on the surface above. Sharks swim around, across the screen from one side to the other, into and out of the screen, and so on.

The quality of the graphics and animation is so good it looks real. It is like you are watching a video rather than an animation and it is superb. It is only animation, but you have to see it to really understand how good it is.

As with Dolphins, sharks can replace the usual macOS desktop wallpaper and they swim around the windows and apps as you work. An icon is added to the menu bar at the top of the screen and this enables the app to be switched to screen saver mode. This hides the menu bar, dock and open windows and runs full screen whenever the Mac is idle for a few minutes. Touch a key or the trackpad and it stops.

In the Sharks preferences or menu bar icon you can set the camera to static or dynamic in which the sharks are followed. There are options to turn on/off seaweeds, schools of fish, pilot fish and remoras. Pilot fish follow sharks around and remoras are sucker fish that attach themselves to sharks.

Sharks 3D has in-app-purchases. Bull sharks are free, but others like blue sharks, sand sharks, hammerhead sharks and others, bust be purchased as add-ons. The free app shows open ocean, but you can also purchase a sandy bottom, an old bomber that has crash landed and sunk to the bottom, or an old submarine that has sunk and is rusting away. Sharks and scenes cost US $1.99 or UK £1.99 each, so it is pretty cheap to add your favourite shark and scene.

Running full screen animations with all the options set to the max could affect the battery life of a MacBook, so there is an option to use battery saver mode or to pause the app when on battery power. There is also a low CPU load option when on mains power too. My old style MacBook Air hovered around 9% CPU in normal mode according to Activity Monitor and dropped to 6% CPU when the low CPU load mode was selected. Newer Macs with better CPUs will use even less. When paused on battery, it will use hardly any power.

There is an interesting mode with this sharks apps that enable you to control the camera view. It is like swimming with sharks, and you can look up and down, turn around and so on. You have all the fun of swimming with sharks, but without the danger of being eaten.

Aquarium Live HD Screen Saver

This app is very similar in many ways, but instead of being set in open ocean, it is more like looking at a fish tank. Some tanks look fairly small, but others are very large. All are brilliantly animated and are like videos of the real thing. If you always wanted a fish tank, but didn't want the hassle of managing one, this app is for you.

There are five different scenes - Sharks, Coral Reef, two versions of Clown Fish and Clear Water. (There is a bonus sunset on a beach with crashing waves too). Any of the scenes can be selected for the screen saver and they are live and animated. It is like watching the real thing.

Sounds can be on or off, the screen saver can be set to a single screen if you have multiple monitors, and it can be set to stop after a certain time, like 30 minutes or an hour. A large clock can be shown at the top of the screen if you want and there are several designs to choose from. This app cannot be used for desktop wallpaper and is just a screen saver.

There are free and paid versions and the low price of the latter makes it an easy purchase. It costs just US $2.99 or UK £2.99, so roughly the price of a coffee take-away. Try it and you will love it and you can just sit back and watch it. Your Mac was never so interesting in screen saver mode!

Final thoughts

Dolphins 3D Lite, Sharks 3D and Aquarium Live HD are simply for your enjoyment. They will not make your Mac faster or enable you to work more productively. They might make you more relaxed though. They are just for fun and they are very entertaining. As you can probably tell, I really like these tthre apps and I think you will too. Sharks is my favourite one, but try them all for free.