Description: Muse Art Lock Screen is a lockscreen replacement app for Android that offers user the ability to replace their boring lockscreen with a new painting and the time, every time they unlock their Android smartphone or tablet.With over 100,000 paintings included in Muse, it’s going to be difficult to come across a painting you’ve seen more than once. If you like the look of a painting that you’ve seen on your lockscreen, then you can save it to a virtual gallery within Muse to look at it whenever you want. Moreover, you can browse through the 2,000 artists that are listed within Muse, both new and old, to find out more about their work and their lives. It’s an interesting concept and encouraging people to pause for just a moment when unlocking their phones seems like a great thing, but does Muse Art have what it takes to become a permanent part of your Android device?
How it Works: All you need to do to get started, is download Muse Art from the Play Store. After you launch it for the first time, you’ll be asked to either create an account or sign in with Google+.
The first thing you’ll want to do is to go ahead and try out your new lockscreen. For the best experience, you might want to disable the stock lock screen so you don’t see two. All you have to do is head on over to your settings. If you want a little security, you can leave the PIN lock on.
To unlock your phone, you just need to swipe to the right, swiping left will allow you to explore the full size painting. If you want to, you can even save this painting and others to your virtual gallery by pressing the heart. As well as this, you can take a look at the 2,000 artist profiles that are included in Muse.
You can open up one of the artists to read even more about them.
With so many paintings and pieces of art on offer, its easy to see why people like this so much, and who can deny that this looks brilliant on your lockscreen.
Opinion: Muse Art is currently in beta, or at least it was during my time with the app, and at parts that does show through, but with further updates I can only see this going from strength to strength. What I liked about Muse more than anything is that it’s not just an app that plasters art on your phone. More than that, it’s a way for people to learn more about the artists, save their favorite paintings to their virtual gallery and show them to friends. It’s a way of getting people interested in art from the grand masters to modern contemporaries and it’s done in a modern way. People are busy, and using our lockscreens to show us a little art is a great way of getting people interested and I’m sure that many will appreciate the little piece of culture added to their overall experience.
Ratings
- Speed (4/5) – I never noticed any issues running Muse on my smartphone, and the images loaded quickly when I went to unlock my phone.
- Features (5/5) – An excellent use of the lockscreen, something many of us take for granted, Muse is more than just a replacement. It’s a way of getting people involved in art and enjoying something they love while on the move.
- Theme (5/5) – No doubt about it, the curated selection of over 100,000 paintings is great. They’re all in high resolution and many of these paintings might not have ever looked this good to some fans.
- Overall (5/5) – While this might not be for everyone, Muse has a lot going for it and I’m sure fans of fine art will really enjoy bringing art to their phones or tablets.
Pros
- With over 100,000 pieces of work on offer, there’s no shortage of quality stuff.
- Doesn’t slow down your device in any way shape or form.
- You can save your favorite pieces of work to your gallery to share with friends or study whenever you want.
- Information on 2,000 artists is included to help you find out more about your favorite masters or up and coming contemporaries.
Cons
- Doesn’t replace the stock lockscreen automatically, but you can change this in the settings.
- No way of adding notifications to the lockscreen which could be an annoyance to some.
Conclusion: I really enjoyed the time I spent with Muse Art, and while I won’t give it justice on my phone that’s unlocked hundreds of times a day, I’m going to love using it on my tablet. I appreciate the ability to learn more about the artists and their work more than the lockscreen itself, but if there were a way to get people interested in art, this is it. For those interested in paintings and art like this, Muse is going to be perhaps the best way to customize their Android device out there. With over 100,000 paintings as well, it’s easy to see why.