Learn what to do if your Mac is stuck on the screen saver screen and is refusing to let you go in.
The screen saver problem on Mac
Imagine you walked away from your Mac for a while, and when you return, you find the screen saver is stuck or frozen, and it refuses to turn off when you press a keyboard key or move the mouse/trackpad cursor. You can’t enter your Mac’s password or use Touch ID to go to the desktop.
If the screen saver uses just one image or only displays the time, it may stay the same and not change. At other times, if the screen saver has animation, it may move, but your Mac stays on this screen saver screen.
Some users might also notice that their Mac registers the key strokes when the screen saver is stuck, but the screen saver refuses to disappear. For instance, if you use the keyboard keys to change the screen brightness, it will seem to work, but the frozen screen saver will not go away. In other situations, your Mac won’t register any key presses or cursor movement.
In most cases, this glitch is because of bugs in macOS. But whatever your situation, the following solutions will come in handy to get you out of this problem and allow you to use your Mac again.
Note: Our goal is to help you solve the frozen screen saver problem without turning off the Mac. This will ensure you don’t lose your ongoing work. But if the initial solutions fail to fix the issue, you’ll have to power off your Mac.
1. Close the MacBook lid and reopen it
If the screen saver is stuck on your MacBook Neo, MacBook Air, or MacBook Pro, simply close its lid and wait for about 15 seconds. Now, open the lid and press one of the keys on the keyboard. The screen saver should go away, letting you see Mac’s desktop.
Please see the other fixes below if you have an iMac, Mac mini, Mac Studio, or Mac Pro.
2. Lock your Mac’s screen using the keyboard
If your Mac is registering the key presses even when the screen saver is stuck, press Command + Control + Q to lock the screen. Now, press the esc key to turn off the display. After a few seconds, press a key, and the screen saver should no longer be frozen.
If your MacBook or desktop Mac supports Touch ID, try to unlock your Mac by placing your finger on the Touch ID sensor.
Note: If locking the screen doesn’t fix the problem, press Command + Shift + Q to log out, and it should help fix the stuck screen saver.
Related: Quickly turn off your Mac’s screen with this handy keyboard shortcut
3. Use the power button to force your Mac to sleep
Press and hold the Mac or MacBook’s power button for about one to two seconds (not too long, or else it will turn it off) to force your Mac to enter sleep mode. Now, wait for 15 seconds and press the power key to wake your Mac.
If your MacBook has a Touch ID sensor, use the registered finger to press the Touch ID button. Hopefully, this should unlock the Mac and take you straight to the desktop.
4. Use your Apple Watch to unlock your Mac
In case you have an Apple Watch and have set up “unlock your Mac with Apple Watch,” wear the watch and press one of the keys on the Mac to wake it up. If things work, your Apple Watch might automatically unlock the Mac, bypassing the stuck screen saver.
5. Power off your Mac and power it on
Finally, if none of the above solutions work, turn off your Mac by pressing and holding the power button until the screen goes black. After a minute, press the same button to turn on your Mac.
If this doesn’t work, keep pressing the power button until your Mac turns off and turns on, showing the Apple logo on the screen.
On a Mac desktop, you can also cut out the power from the main wall switch.
You’ll lose your unsaved work when you force your Mac to power off or turn it off from the main power switch.
What to do once you solve the stuck screen saver problem on Mac
Once the above methods have worked for you and you’re inside your Mac, the following recommendations will ensure you don’t have the same problem again in the future.
- Turn off the screen saver
- Update your Mac
- Disable Fast User Switching
- Reset NVRAM or PRAM on an Intel-based Mac
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