The REAL Reason Apple TV Wins Hearts (Hint: It's Not Aerials) – And Why the Photo Screensaver Needs a Major Overhaul

[brettkroeder]

The reason I own so many Apple TVs and why so many of my friends bought them is for the ability to show our favorited photos on the screen saver.

Some things I would like to see:

First, show the location and date on the photos like the iPhone screen saver does when the phone is turned on its side. I am 63 years old have have over 35,000 photos. I do not remember where all of them were taken.

Second, show more pictures! The current Apple TV screen saver shows the same 10-20 pictures over and over and over again. If I could build a screen saver I would make sure I don't show the same pictures twice until I have shown all the ones in the album. At least once you have shown the 10-20 pictures you originally grabbed, go grab some new ones! It's frustrating seeing the same ones over and over.

Third, show videos in the screen saver. The thing I love best about the photo frames is they show stills and videos.

Here is an example of what iOS does.

 

[ZZ Bottom]

It’s an embarrassment that Apple doesn’t have a way for consuming a library of photos kept in iCloud on their TV device.

Who wants to give a third-party access to your library just to have them playable on a TV?

I’m not holding my breath that Apple addresses this. It seems that no one at Apple has had the notion to view their photos on anything other than a small device screen.

 

[subjonas]

It’s an embarrassment that Apple doesn’t have a way for consuming a library of photos kept in iCloud on their TV device.

Who wants to give a third-party access to your library just to have them playable on a TV?

I’m not holding my breath that Apple addresses this. It seems that no one at Apple has had the notion to view their photos on anything other than a small device screen.

What do you mean? ATV has always had a native Photos app as long as I remember.

View your photos and videos on Apple TV 4K

The Photos app on Apple TV 4K allows you to view your photos and videos on the big screen.

support.apple.com

 

[andyw715]

Yeah we have a shared library with 20 family members that we dump photos in every time we get together. We get together yearly near xmas/new years. It's nice to look back over the years.

 

[brettkroeder]

Kudos to the Apple screensaver team for the latest update. I no longer see the same handful of pictures!

Now if you could be so kind as to superimpose the location and date/time taken on the photos it would be awesome! I have 42,000 photos dating back to 1920 (yes, i scanned in my old family photos and added dates and locations) and I do not remember where each one of them was taken.

As I stated above, the iOS screen saver has it figured out!