Screensavers are something many folks are familiar with from an early age, whether it be from a personal computer or a phone. It's that animation or picture that overlays on top of an unchanging display once you leave your device alone. The visual image of a 3D maze on Windows XP is what comes to mind for me. Unfortunately, Sony went with a different, more boring but more practical way with screensavers. This is really a power saver. Here is how to turn it on.
How to Enable or Disable your PS4 'screensaver'
- Go to your PlayStation 4 Settings menu.
- Select Sound and Screen
- Start Screensaver sets the idle time before the screensaver starts — 5, 15 or 30 minutes.
- Select Do Not Start if you want to disable the screensaver.
This will enable (or disable) your PS4 to dim the attached screen after a certain amount of time. By default, your PlayStation is set to dim the screen after 15 minutes of inactivity. It's a nice way to save a bit of power and you might even feel a little more green during your mid-game pit stops.
It's not quite a screensaver
If you're looking for that brightly colored bundle of shapes floating through the sky, a rat running through a 3D maze, or a beautiful image to match your PS4 theme, you are out of luck. The Sony PlayStation screensaver is not going to help you get that color fix. Power Saver would be a better title for this feature.
The dimmed screen is a good way to save a little power and still show you that you are idle. However, if you really want that extra color, you can find some nice theme packs and avatars on the PlayStation Store. Maybe you can get your color fix through a nice dynamic theme?
Dynamic themes are similar to a traditional theme in how they change your background on the home screen, but a dynamic theme has moving elements in the image and often come with a new music clip that cycles. So if you don't like the boring screensaver, you're out of luck, but you can compensate with some extra flair elsewhere.
... like a dynamic theme.
PlayStation gift cards are a great way to avoid tossing lots of little purchases on your credit card. By loading up on gift cards you can pick up all those little low-cost items, skins and themes from the PlayStation Store whenever you like.
