I haven't been looking at screensavers for a long time because of Apple's lack of will (or resources?) to provide a public version of the private modern SDK used by Apple for a very long time now.
I'm now looking at the Screen Saver pane in System Settings (the What-If version of System Preferences in an alternate universe where all screens are in portrait mode).
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In macOS Sequoia, it seems like 3rd party screensavers are not welcome considering that they are relegated to the "Other" section at the bottom of the list and you have to click Show All to start seeing 3rd party screen savers.
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I also had a quick look at macOS Tahoe Beta 3 and it looks like that all the real screensavers are gone (3rd party and the ones from Apple: Hello, Message, Flurry, etc.) or at least it requires to be a Nobel Prize to find them (and the Search field is not useful).
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I tried to install a 3rd party screen saver on macOS Tahoe Beta 3, it doesn't show up in the list.
To summarize:
- No public access to modern APIs AFAIK.
- UI that is hostile to 3rd party screen savers on macOS Sequoia.
- Apparently only screensavers that are slideshows or movies curated by Apple in macOS Tahoe b3.
Hence the question:
Is there any future for screen savers on macOS?
Because if there's none, I won't waste my time trying to update some old screen savers.
Is there any future for screen savers on macOS?
I can’t talk about The Future™, as well you know.
My understanding, based on conversations with various other folks here on the forums, is that screen savers continue to work on macOS 26 beta, albeit with the usual array of compatibility bugs.
Screen savers are fundamentally difficult to maintain because they use the old in-process plug-in model. It would be better if we updated the API to support the more sustainable app extension plug-in model. If you are interested in the long-term sustainability of screen savers, I recommend that you file an enhancement request for such a change.
Please post your bug number, just for the record.
Share and Enjoy
—
Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"