How to stop your Apple TV from going to sleep

In this tutorial, you will learn how to prevent your Apple TV from going to sleep after a set period of inactivity so the screen never goes all black automatically.

City aerial Screen Saver on TV screen

By default, your Apple TV goes to sleep after a period of inactivity. But what about those times when you want it running uninterrupted, even if you are not watching a movie or TV show on it?

For instance, if your company uses Apple TVs in the conference room, you will want to leave them running without going to sleep. Or, you may want to leave Apple’s gorgeous Aerial screensaver running on your big-screen TV until you manually put your Apple TV to sleep.

Set your Apple TV to never sleep

  1. Open the Settings app on your TV.
  2. Select General from the top.
  3. Scroll down and select Sleep After.
  4. Finally, pick Never from the list and exit the Settings app.
Sleep After set to Never on Apple TV

Your Apple TV will stop going to sleep, even during long periods of inactivity. However, if you set a Sleep Timer, then it will temporarily override the ‘Never’ selection.

Here’s how to set a Sleep Timer on Apple TV running tvOS 17:

  1. Press and hold the TV button on your Apple TV Siri Remote.
  2. Go to the Sleep Timer tile.
  3. Select from 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, or 2 hours.
Sleep Timer in Apple TV Control Center

Once the selected time passes, your Apple TV will go to sleep, irrespective of the default sleep settings you have selected in Apple TV Settings.

Wake up your Apple TV from sleep

Whether your Apple TV setup box has entered sleep mode because of its default sleep settings or the sleep timer, you can wake the device from sleep by pressing any button on its remote. A small light on the front of the Apple TV will glow when it’s on.

If pressing any button does not work, press and hold the power button on the Apple TV Remote.

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