Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
67,794
38,388



Fourth and fifth-generation Apple TV owners who have upgraded to tvOS 13 now have access to a series of under the sea themed screen savers on the device, which are a new addition in the latest update.

The screen savers were created in partnership with the BBC Natural History unit, the team behind "Blue Planet," showing off the deep ocean around the world with under the sea creatures and scenes that include fish, coral, kelp, jellyfish, and more.

applescreensaversocean-800x477.jpg

There is no way to download all of the screen savers at once, as the Apple TV only supports Daily, Weekly, or Monthly downloads. You can adjust how often screen savers download by opening up the Settings app on the Apple TV, going to General, and selecting the "Screen Savers" option.

While there's no way to see all of the screen savers from Apple until they've been downloaded over a series of days, 9to5Mac's Benjamin Mayo maintains a website that showcases all of Apple's screen saver options.

kelpscreensaver-800x448.jpg

There are 10 new screen savers in total featuring these ocean creatures and scenes: barracuda, bumpheads, jacks, kelp, Palau coral, three Palau jellyfish options, sea stars, and seals.

jellyfishscreensaver-800x448.jpg

Screen savers are high resolution and are somewhere around 950MB in size. Apple has been offering its Aerial screen savers for years and has been adding to its collection with each tvOS update. Last year's tvOS 12 update brought screen savers created in collaboration with the International Space Station and NASA.

seastarscreensaver-800x447.jpg

Screen savers come on after a set period of time of idleness on the Apple TV, but pressing the Menu button while on the Home screen of the Apple TV will cause a screen saver to start playing automatically.

A tap on the remote provides information on where a screen saver was filmed, while a swipe left or right will change the screen saver that's displayed if multiples are downloaded. Apple's support document on screen savers has further instructions on how they work.

Article Link: New Under the Sea Themed Screen Savers Now Available on Apple TV in tvOS 13
 
I'm sure this will look great on the 4K TV that I still don't have for some reason.
 
Still don’t see them on my 4K Apple TV.

from what I understand, you have to wait for them to download, and then they’ll be under Aerial, along with all the old stuff, so you have to wait for them to rotate through because you have no control which gets displayed when.

That's how I understand it, which demonstrates two problems on Apple's part: no one knows how to see the things without explicit directions, and the user interface is horrible.
 
they show up under ariels. just wish you can force download them. only have shown up on 1 of my ATV out of 3
 
I expect that they'd show up under General, Screensavers, Type. Currently, under Type, are Aerials, Apple Photos, Home Sharing, Music Library. I guess they'll add one called "Under the Sea" or something like that.
 
  • Like
Reactions: uhaas
I wish it was possible to chose screensavers. There are some I really like, but disappeared, and some poor ones that appear all the time. It just needs allowing a user to select exclude or keep, perhaps with extra options such as prioritise download.
Same. I'd love to pick and choose as well, feel like I see the same 10 or so on loop and would love to banish those dystopian Dubai shots forever.

Here's a great screensaver for Mac that lets you download and choose specific ones from Apple. Many of these I've rarely seen on my Apple TV for whatever reason.

 
  • Like
Reactions: Moonjumper
I expect that they'd show up under General, Screensavers, Type. Currently, under Type, are Aerials, Apple Photos, Home Sharing, Music Library. I guess they'll add one called "Under the Sea" or something like that.

No, they’re saying they will just be dumped in under Aerial and you have to watch them with the others.
 
I use this screensaver on my Mac that plays the same videos. It’s great! Hopefully they will start showing up on my Mac soon! Get it here. (I have no affiliation with the author.)
 
No, they’re saying they will just be dumped in under Aerial and you have to watch them with the others.
Where are you reading that? That doesn't make any sense to me. Aerial literally means from the air. Something filmed under the water is not "aerial"
 
Where are you reading that? That doesn't make any sense to me. Aerial literally means from the air. Something filmed under the water is not "aerial"

I'm pretty sure that the person realizes aerial does not mean under water. The article says that Apple has been adding new screen savers to the Aerial selection, and will now be including these underwater scenes in it. The help link in the article for further screen saver info confirms that the Aerial selection includes "locations shot from all over the world, underwater, and even space". The screen shot they chose to use is underwater too.
 
I'm pretty sure that the person realizes aerial does not mean under water. The article says that Apple has been adding new screen savers to the Aerial selection, and will now be including these underwater scenes in it. The help link in the article for further screen saver info confirms that the Aerial selection includes "locations shot from all over the world, underwater, and even space". The screen shot they chose to use is underwater too.

It was not my intention to imply the poster does not know the meaning of aerial. My intention was to convey incredulity that meticulous Apple would put categorize underwater screensavers as "aerial". Thanks for the URL pointing to Apple's support document. Indeed they are saying the underwater screensavers will be under Aerial.

Oh well!
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.