Unable to switch off Youtube app screensaver.

There’s ONLY ONE WAY that I’ve found to get around the YouTube Screensaver issue as of December 8, 2023.

Apple Support appear to not listen or not give any regard to users complaining in this forum. There is no way to turn off or change the YouTube screensaver but Apple allow you to change the time on the Apple Screensaver so you MUST set the Apple Screensaver to activate FIRST.

Got to “Settings/Screen Saver/Start After” and choose 2 minutes. Then the Apple Screensaver will activate first and also have control in putting your TV to sleep after it’s own “Sleep After” setting.

You MUST choose “2 minutes”. Any other time will let the YouTube ScreenSaver start at its preset time, that you can’t change, and with the slight movement of the YouTube SS picture, the Apple TV will think this is a playing video and NEVER activate.

Apple should be ashamed of themselves for not listening to users and addressing this YouTube issue. I can see from complaints this has gone on for a long time now. They should be forcing YouTube developers to allow the YT one to be changed or deactivated. Good Luck everyone. I hope this gives some relief to users.

Thanks for posting this issue (and also for linking to my Reddit post about it). 2 months later and this is still an issue. The AppleTV treats the YT screensaver as if it is actual video content, and thus prevents the actual AppleTV screensaver from activating, and also prevents the AppleTV and the TV it is connected to from going to sleep / shutting off after X minutes of inactivity. This is a huge issue if you forget to turn your TV off, as the YouTube screensaver will keep everything on indefinitely.

There ought to be a stipulation in the tvOS developer guidelines that flat-out does not allow apps to supersede or disable the default tvOS screensaver.

Please tell me how to turn off YouTube’s new screensaver that plays seemingly forever at the end of a video. It is a waste of electricity.

Maybe if everyone searches “how to stop YouTube screen saver on Apple TV“ on the YouTube search app, they will get the message!

The way I was able to get around it is I went to AppleTV Settings/screen saver and made it go on as fast as possible. I think after two minutes or something like that. I have not noticed the YouTube screen savers after that. Good luck.

Submit feedback to YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/tv/feedback

It doesn’t bother since I am using the YouTube app on my AppleTV. But, yes, YouTube should provide a way to turn their screensaver off if you want to. Another option is for Apple to put a seating in screensaver options in the settings app to stop the YouTube screensaver, if possible. Just my two cents.

Good workaround for some. But not for others who like to pause YT (e.g., to study/analyze information presented in a chart, map, text, etc.). Especially true as a YouTube Premium subscriber.

Hope Apple applies the pressure on YT for this UX mess. 🚮

Done, thank you for posting your solution. We aren’t gonna futz with it anymore, we’re just doing the 2 minute thing as you posted.

What's the point of Apple TV's native settings for screensaver if any app seems to be able to over rule them? Why contacting Youtube on this? Which one owns which here??

I still can’t get rid of the Sign In With Google popups (tried changing the settings). Now, these poor-quality YouTube app screensavers are showing up on Apple TV every 3 minutes after the last video watched. They feel like ads on a Premium account. They’re not saving anything and not better than the ATV screensavers we already have and can control.

Is this part of an agreement between Apple and Alphabet: You give us AI, we give you more access?

It is now on ALL YouTube! Absolutely ridiculous. What is Google thinking? It probably drives customers away from staying on YouTube to watch another video. It comes on before all other screen savers and is not adjustable. Apple executives need to contact Google and tell them to stop this nonsense or be removed from ATV.

BTW: It is also a problem on the jungle company flaming device too. So those execs need to do same.