Since the deployment of macOS Sonoma at the start of the 2023 school year, Apple has allowed you to configure animated screensavers on its computers. A function that Apple TV users know well. Here’s how to configure it in just a few clicks on your Mac or MacBook.
Animated screensavers have existed for years on tvOS, the Apple TV operating system. Since the large-scale deployment of macOS Sonoma, they have also settled on compatible Macs. In total, a little more than 120 of these animated screensavers are now accessible from the macOS settings.
From aerial views of megacities like New York, Los Angeles or Dubai, to the most majestic landscapes, including underwater views and other panoramas captured from the very highest places, these Apple screensavers are sometimes relaxing and sometimes spectacular . A little pleasure for the eyes that we explain to you today how to activate on your Mac.
Here’s how to enable the animated screen saver in macOS Sonoma
To activate animated screensavers on macOS, you must first go to System Settings. To do this, click on the corresponding icon if you already have them in the Dock, or open them by clicking on the small apple at the top left of the screen.
All you then have to do is go to the “Screen saver” tab to access the list of available animated screens, grouped into four main categories: “Landscape”, “Urban landscape”, “Underwater” , and “Earth”.
Nathan Le Gohlisse for Frandroid
Nathan Le Gohlisse for Frandroid
In our case, we opted for a flight over the majestic Monument Valley in southern Utah.
Once you have made your choice, note that you can decide whether or not to display this screen saver on all spaces (if you wish to see it appear on the screen of your MacBook and on that of a possible external monitor , for example), and/or use it as a fixed wallpaper.
In this specific context, a nice transition of a few seconds between the animated screen saver and its fixed equivalent on the desktop will be visible when you reopen the session. A nice and sometimes particularly striking bonus. We think, for example, of the particularly successful transition of the “Côte de Tahïti” saver into the “Underwater” category.
However, it should be noted that if this is the first time you choose an animated screen saver, macOS will take a little time to download it (generally a few seconds if you have a good internet connection). If you choose several one after the other, these different animated wallpapers remain stored on your SSD. They may then end up taking up a little too much space.
In theory, macOS is supposed to clean up automatically after a while, but here’s how to remove them manually if necessary:
- Launch the Spotlight tool with the shortcut “Command + space”, then paste the following destination “/Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd/Customer”
- By browsing the different folders contained in this directory, you can easily delete unnecessary screen savers.
For the rest, it is entirely possible to visualize the effect given by a particular screen saver. Once the saver in question is selected, simply lock the screen using (for example) the “Control + Command + Q” shortcut. The screen then instantly locks, displaying the animated saver you have chosen.