Screensaver comes on randomly and prevents use in Big Sur and M1

I have this problem as well. Happens on both admin accounts after a couple min or less of inactivity. Disabled screensaver, no hot corners or anything active. Still have not found a fix. Using a MacBook Air with M1 Big Sur 11.0.1

Thanks for this tip. I've just applied it - will see how it goes.

I've also had the same issue, ended up with reinstalling OS and ultimately making MBA 2020 M1 unbootable, as I hit the other known issue as described here: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252137328 Ended up recovering it from second Mac - this is really dissapointing that system reinstallation requires second Mac with quite modern spec to begin with (supporting Apple Configurator 2).

Therefore I'm after full system recovery now and Screensaver started again despite the fact being set "Start after: Never".

What has changed though I was able to go back to the system without the need of putting it to Sleep (which was the case before reinstall).

Either way, I've scheduled a call with support and also will try to report it as a bug, as this surely shouldn't be the case.

Do not have any Battery preference... maybe because I'm on a Mac Mini.

By the way... they are talking about us in mac rumors : https://www.macrumors.com/2021/01/18/m1-macs-fast-user-switching-screensaver-bug/

Hope the buzz might help us to get noticed by Apple support...

I sent my feedback using https://www.apple.com/feedback/macos.html. (so far no response)

As they say : "The more the merrier"... come on guys feed apple support with your screensaver bug !

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Thank you for this !

Im using this keyboard. Which one is my 'command' key ?

Note: i use the windows logo button + Shift + 3 to take a screenshot.

I feel you bro. I kinda miss windows too even with the windows updates issues it was overall way more customizable and i could actually change a log-in screen without making it an I.T project.

Michael Tchong wrote:

...

I think this should provide a clue to the engineers,

...

Your posting here on the Apple user-to-User support communities has not reached Apple engineers, and we have no pathway to do so. I can assure you no one has reported a similar set of problems here with an M1-MacBook Pro.

To reach Apple Engineers, you need to use the Contact support Link at the top of every forum Web page, and follow that process through the first responder to get them to record a Big report. Bug reports, serviced and failed computers are the main ways Apple Engineers get problems that they will investigate.

sorry, we have no fixes here yet.

Use the Contact support link at the top of every forum page and follow on the get the ear of an Apple employee, and don't Let them go until they agree to file a Bug Report.

Problems are only looked at by Engineering when there are Bug reports or failed computers.

I have this problem as well. Using a MacBook Air with M1 Big Sur updated to 11.0.1. Happens on both admin accounts. Disabled screensaver in both accounts. I don’t know what a hot corner is. How do you get out of screensaver when it’s locked up? It goes to the screensaver Drift while I’m in the middle of banking and also another investment site. No other apps open at the time.

Having this issue frequently. Twice it was while replying to a message in mail, which then becomes marked "read" without a draft saved... Therefore I am never going to figure out who I was replying to and the message is one. My only fix is a hard reset.

I have the same problem on MBA with M1 running Big Sur 11.0.1. Contacted support and have case pending.

The only ‘quick-fix’ I have found is to close the lid (screen) for 30 seconds then reopen. Problem goes away temporarily - but comes back randomly. Hope this helps until Apple fixes.

Thanks, tried and seemed to work for a while, then randomly started again. Frustrating.

Has anyone noticed that when you initially go to the screensavers tab, it has to “build” first before you can see the screen savers?

Forgot to mention in last post, but I noticed this happening twice, once on the first MBA (since retuned after support determined some hardware issue) and now with the replacement. It only happens once, the the tab is active consistently after that. Wonder if I never clicked on the tab in the first place, the screensaver issue would not have started?

it didn't take too long... Issue reoccurred again despite the battery and power adapter settings turn display off after set to Never in addition to Screensaver set to Never.

One more question - I'm wondering if setting multiple users on Mac can be contributor to this one, i.e. lack of action on other account can kick off screensaver on the account that is being used for some reason.

Can you confirm you are and have been encountering this issue with single or multiple users configured on MacOS?