Frequently asked questions
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What is Alpine?
A free animated wallpaper for Android, published by Vercolabs. It shows an illustrated landscape whose sky follows the time, season, weather, sun and moon of your location live. A companion app lets you choose the location, landscape and settings.
Which devices does the app work on?
Phones and tablets running Android 8.0 or later that support live wallpapers. Rendering uses OpenGL ES 3.0, available on almost all recent devices.
For now, the app's interface is in French; English arrives with version 1.0.0.
Do I need an Internet connection?
Only to update the weather, open the location map or, if you use it, create a landscape with AI.
Without a connection, animations, sun, moon, seasons and landscapes keep working, with the latest forecast received as long as it covers the current hour (48 to 72 hours).
How does the weather work?
Alpine uses forecasts from the Norwegian Meteorological Institute (MET Norway), available worldwide under the CC BY 4.0 licence. Your location is rounded to about 1 km before it is sent.
By default, the forecast is updated at most once an hour, only while Alpine is displayed, and it is stored on the phone. Alpine is not published or endorsed by MET Norway.
How do the sun and moon cycles work?
They are calculated on your phone, offline, from the date, time and your location: height and direction of the sun, sunrise, sunset, twilight, position of the moon and its actual phase.
Do I need an artificial intelligence key?
No. Alpine works fully with its 28 built-in landscapes. Creating landscapes with AI is an advanced option, off by default, which uses your own OpenAI account, billed by OpenAI.
Can the AI features lead to extra costs?
Yes, if you use them. Each image created is billed by OpenAI to your account, at its current rates. These charges do not come from Alpine and Vercolabs receives no share of them.
If you enable automatic adaptation with a generated landscape, a change of region can create a new image, and therefore a new cost. We recommend a dedicated key with a spending limit in your OpenAI account.
Does Alpine cost anything?
No. Alpine is free, with no ads, no in-app purchases and no subscription.
How do I get help?
Write to vercolabs@benmab.com with your phone model, its Android version and the Alpine version (the app's "About" screen).
How is my personal data protected?
Alpine has no account, no ads and no analytics. Vercolabs neither receives nor stores any data about you: everything stays on your phone, with no cloud backup. Only the necessary services receive what they need; for example, MET Norway receives a location rounded to about 1 km.
Details are in the privacy policy.