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Unable to switch off Youtube app screensaver.

Youtube app starts ugly screensavers (on Premium) without possibility to disable it.

AppleTV experience worsens significantly because of this.


More context at Reddit.

Apple TV 4K, tvOS 16

Posted on Jun 17, 2023 2:13 AM

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Question marked as Best reply

Posted on Dec 7, 2023 10:09 PM

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.

5 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Dec 7, 2023 10:09 PM in response to yugaego

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.

Sep 12, 2023 5:19 AM in response to yugaego

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.

Unable to switch off Youtube app screensaver.

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