Is the Bubbles screensaver free?

Yes. Bubbles runs free in your web browser with no download, install, or account. Open the page and it starts immediately.

How do I exit the Bubbles screensaver?

Press the ESC key to exit at any time. You can also click or press another key to leave full-screen and return to the page.

Is this the real Windows Vista Bubbles screensaver?

It is a faithful browser recreation of the Vista Bubbles look, with translucent glass spheres drifting upward. It is not the original Microsoft binary, so it runs on any device with a browser.

Can I change how many bubbles appear?

Yes. The Bubbles slider sets the count from 8 to 60, and the Max size slider controls how large they can get, up to 180 pixels.

Does Bubbles work on a Mac or phone?

Yes. Because it runs in the browser on an HTML canvas, Bubbles works on Windows, macOS, Linux, and mobile browsers without any plugin.

Why do soap bubbles show rainbow colours?

Light reflecting from the front and back of the thin film interferes, so each film thickness strengthens some colours and cancels others. As the thickness changes, the colours shift.

Why does a bubble pop?

The film is only about a micrometre thick. Drainage and evaporation thin it, and contact with dirt, fat or a dry surface can rupture it.

Why does an air bubble in water rise?

Buoyancy: the water pushes up on the gas pocket with a force equal to the weight of the water it displaces. Because the gas is far lighter, the net force is upward.

Bubbles Screensaver

Bubbles is a free, in-browser version of the classic Windows Vista screensaver in which translucent glass spheres float gently up the screen with soft highlights. It runs instantly in any modern browser with no download or install. Press ESC at any time to exit and return to your page.

How the Bubbles screensaver works

On startup the saver spawns a set of bubbles — 24 by default, adjustable from 8 to 60 — each given a random depth value between 0.35 and 1. That depth scales both the radius and the rise speed, so nearer bubbles are larger and climb faster while distant ones stay small and slow.

Every bubble is drawn as a radial gradient: nearly transparent in the center, brightening to a denser rim near the edge, which gives the hollow glass look. A small bright white dot is painted in the upper-left of each sphere as a specular highlight, selling the reflective surface.

Each frame the bubbles drift upward by their per-bubble velocity scaled by your Rise speed setting, while a sine wobble nudges them slightly side to side. When a bubble passes off the top of the screen it wraps back to the bottom at a fresh horizontal position.

The bubbles are sorted by depth so smaller, more distant spheres render behind larger ones, producing a simple parallax sense of foreground and background against your chosen background color.

Why bubbles are round and shiny

A bubble is round because its surface tension pulls the film toward the least surface area that can enclose a given volume of air, and that shape is a sphere. A small bubble also has higher internal pressure than a large one, as the Young–Laplace equation describes. That is why, when two unequal soap bubbles join, the wall between them bulges into the larger bubble.

The rainbow shimmer of a soap bubble is not pigment. The film is about as thin as the wavelength of visible light, so light reflected from its front and back surfaces interferes, and each thickness strengthens some colours and cancels others. As the film drains and thins, the colours shift. Where it becomes thinner than the shortest visible wavelength, destructive interference makes dark spots, which grow and merge over about a minute, and the bubble pops once the darkness covers a large area.

Soap bubbles burst for several reasons: water drains down under gravity, water evaporates from the film, and touching dirt, fat or a dry object ruptures it. Bubbles in water are different: they are pockets of gas that rise because the water around them is denser, so the buoyant force pushes them up.

A worked example

With the defaults — 24 bubbles, max size 70px, rise speed 4, tint #7fd4ff over background #0a0e1a — you get a couple dozen pale-blue glass spheres of mixed sizes drifting calmly upward on a near-black field. Raise Bubbles toward 60 and Max size to 180px for a denser, chunkier tank, or push Rise speed to 10 for a brisk, energetic climb.

Settings & tips

Use the Bubbles slider (8–60) and Max size (up to 180px) together: many small bubbles read as fizzy soda, while few large ones feel slow and stately.
Set Tint to match your wallpaper and pick a dark Background so the white highlights and glass rims stand out.
Drop Rise speed to 1 for a near-meditative drift, or raise it to 10 if you want the bubbles to feel lively and quick.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Bubbles screensaver free?: Yes. Bubbles runs free in your web browser with no download, install, or account. Open the page and it starts immediately.
How do I exit the Bubbles screensaver?: Press the ESC key to exit at any time. You can also click or press another key to leave full-screen and return to the page.
Is this the real Windows Vista Bubbles screensaver?: It is a faithful browser recreation of the Vista Bubbles look, with translucent glass spheres drifting upward. It is not the original Microsoft binary, so it runs on any device with a browser.
Can I change how many bubbles appear?: Yes. The Bubbles slider sets the count from 8 to 60, and the Max size slider controls how large they can get, up to 180 pixels.
Does Bubbles work on a Mac or phone?: Yes. Because it runs in the browser on an HTML canvas, Bubbles works on Windows, macOS, Linux, and mobile browsers without any plugin.
Why do soap bubbles show rainbow colours?: Light reflecting from the front and back of the thin film interferes, so each film thickness strengthens some colours and cancels others. As the thickness changes, the colours shift.
Why does a bubble pop?: The film is only about a micrometre thick. Drainage and evaporation thin it, and contact with dirt, fat or a dry surface can rupture it.
Why does an air bubble in water rise?: Buoyancy: the water pushes up on the gas pocket with a force equal to the weight of the water it displaces. Because the gas is far lighter, the net force is upward.

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