Ventura 13.3 broke my screensaver--

OK, I read the news about 13.5 whilst I was still on 13.4 so I did a test before and after. I normally have a Studio Display connected, but on a work trip now so only testing with a 1080p monitor.

On 13.4, I went to a hot corner to start my favourite Matrix screensaver ten times. It failed twice. So failure rate 20%.

On 13.5, I tried about 25× (20 in a row and then while writing this post) and it hasn't failed once.

I won't jump into conclusions before I try higher-resolution displays as I believe the error is intermittent and can depend on memory usage, but it definitely looks promising.

[Link Edited by Moderator]

Thanks, @Jdubbs123. I confirmed this a bit ago. I was using the Ken Burns effect with my source as a personal folder of photos. The standard screensavers work as expected.

When I selected Photos, not a file, it seemed to work. Apologies if someone already suggested to do that 🙃

Update 13.4 has re-enabled the photos from appearing in screen savers for me!

After almost two month of wait it finally works on both screen after update 13.4 ! ! ! Alleluia ! ! !

I just updated to 13.4 and my screensaver is fixed again.

i’m running three monitors off a Mac Studio and it is working again with 13.4.

Just updated to 13.4 and the issue with my screensaver (Fliqlo) on multiple monitors now appears to be fixed. 2019 MBP 16" Intel.

Hi at all,

Exactly the same for me too with this update, but maybe can help developer with this trick, for me it work, first enable where you want in a corner mouse the way to launch your screensaver. then restart your Mac, when the desktop just appear, GO FAST in the corner to launch your screensaver, and, like a miracle it work in both screens like before, disable it and relaunch it, it doesn't work anymore, need to restart again to see my screensaver in 2 screens lol... sad life... so what I thinking there is a buggy processus at start-up who make this sh..

I have tried the Safe Boot and have even reinstalled Ventura from the Recovery Mode. The issues, as I understand them, are that my external monitor no longer shows in Screensaver Settings, but does under Wallpaper Settings. Secondly, using the Activity Monitor, I noted that, after leaving the screensaver mode "iLife Slideshows (Screensaver)" is shown as an activity for a few seconds, then disappears. It is activated by "Launchd" when I mouse over to the hot corner to activate the screensaver. The screensavers are controlled on my iMac under Ventura/System/Library/Screensavers. That folder is protected within the System, so I can't use Time Machine to replace it with a previous working folder.

I read all the other comments concerning this fault after the update to Ventura 13.3, all happening with external monitors. So I don't feel alone. If I disconnect my 27 inch AOC external monitor, the problem goes away and the iMac shows my photos just fine. I wrote up a bug report and anticipate there will eventually be a fix, just as there was previously with Big Sur.

My external monitor is connected via a Thunderbolt to DisplayPort cable. I have found that to use TimeMachine to recover files, I have to disconnect or switch off the external monitor. That may be the source of the problem.

So now, my photos are shown as Wallpaper and iTunes/Music Albums are shown as a Screensaver. Such is life.

Good to know I'm not alone in this. Hope the update isn't too far off.

In the meantime, at least on my M1 MBP, I am able to eventually get the screensaver running by repeatedly triggering it (via hot corner). After a few/several tries it will sometimes kick in on both screens. Same trick doesn't seem to work on my Intel-based iMac however.

2019 iMac and 27" AOC monitor here as well, screensaver will show up on the external but not the iMac, the Apple provided screensavers are working fine. So it seems like whatever they did, it broke the 3rd party screensavers.

I discovered that if I close my 2019 16" MBP, the screensaver photos will then show up on my external monitor.

If I reopen the MBP it switches back to the MBP.

So evidently it can only handle one screen at a time.

Sidenote; in system settings, both Displays and Wallpaper show both my MBP and Cinema Display at the top of the System settings window. Screen Saver only shows the Cinema Display.

No, it depends on the architecture, as I've said multiple times. Any screensaver that runs in the LegacyScreenSaver engine has the bug. Apple is working on it, as others have said.

Why does this thread keep going? Doesn't anyone read the thread?

rotorblades wrote:

If you haven't already, report the screensaver issue at:

macOS feedback page: Feedback - macOS - Apple

I don't have this problem but, yes, I agree that people should post feedback. That's why I also included the link to the Feedback page.