One of the underrated options of Apple TV is its beautiful screensavers that present aerial views of breathtaking places in vivid 4K. In a mildly alarming growth, it’s been reported that the YouTube app for Apple TV has lately been set as much as override the system screensaver and run its personal lower-quality equal.
By default, the Apple TV begins exhibiting a screensaver after it’s been left idle for 5 minutes. However when you’ve obtained the YouTube app open, this may as an alternative set off its personal screensaver simply earlier than that time, in line with the visible results artist and podcaster Joe Rosensteel. This seems to be a latest growth, provided that an earlier model of the app that Rosensteel checked on a special Apple TV didn’t show the identical habits.
It’s not clear how this began occurring or why the tvOS system permits it, however we assume Apple is investigating a strategy to block it in tvOS 17.5.
In the intervening time that is merely annoying. The Apple TV’s screensaver is, as you’ll most likely anticipate from an Apple creation, visually luxurious and well-designed. However the YouTube screensaver is solely a mishmash of low-quality nonetheless photos from varied movies. Or, worse nonetheless, when you’ve obtained one particular video open and paused, the app will loop the thumbnail artwork for that video. As Rosensteel fairly moderately observes, “A number of the worst sins of mankind exist in YouTube thumbnails, they usually’re not designed to be screensavers.” Except for the poor high quality of the paintings, most of the photos he noticed getting used featured static textual content and logos, which isn’t best for a screensaver.
However this will level to extra pernicious habits sooner or later as a result of YouTube is unlikely to be considering operating its personal screensaver for the enjoyable of it. Sooner or later, Rosensteel predicts, the corporate will attempt to leverage this actual property to run adverts or promote chosen content material. And different apps may try and horn in on the racket too.
Proper now, there’s a reasonably simple answer to cease this occurring. Whereas the Apple TV’s screensaver kicks off after 5 minutes by default, this may simply be set to a decrease worth. Change this to a few minutes and it’ll pre-empt YouTube and forestall its screensaver from ever being seen. If the YouTube app ever will get intelligent sufficient to detect the system settings and undercut them by two seconds, we’ll all be in bother–however perhaps Apple will step in and have a phrase.