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Pixette as your TV screen saver

Show your photos on a TV, tablet or phone while it is idle. Android TV lets you pick Pixette from a menu. Google TV has no such menu, so you set it once from a computer.

First open Pixette on the device once and choose your photos. The screen saver shows what you set up in the app.

Android TV

  1. On the TV, open Settings > Device Preferences > Screen saver.

  2. Under Screen saver, choose Pixette.

  3. To check, open Pixette > Settings > Display > Screen saver. It should say Yes.

Tablets and phones

  1. Open Settings > Display > Screen saver. On some devices it is under Advanced.

  2. Choose Pixette.

  3. The device's When to start setting decides when it appears, for example while charging.

Google TV

Google TV only offers Google's own ambient mode and has no screen saver menu. Pixette can still take over with a one-time setting from a computer. Nothing extra is installed on the TV, and you can undo it at any time.

  1. On the TV, open Settings > System > About. Press OK on Android TV OS build seven times, until the TV says you are now a developer.

  2. Go back to Settings > System > Developer options and turn on USB debugging. Then note the TV's IP address under Settings > Network & Internet.

  3. On your computer, download Android's platform-tools from developer.android.com/tools/releases/platform-tools. Unzip them and open a terminal in that folder. The computer and the TV must be on the same network.

  4. Connect to the TV, replacing <TV-IP> with its address. Then accept the prompt that appears on the TV (tick Always allow).

    adb connect <TV-IP>

  5. Tell the TV to use Pixette:

    adb shell settings put secure screensaver_components app.moleson.pixette/.screensaver.PixetteDreamService

  6. Leave the TV idle. After a few minutes Pixette starts as the screen saver. In Pixette, Settings > Display > Screen saver should now say Yes.

If your TV only offers Wireless debugging, turn that on instead. Run adb pair with the pairing address and code the TV shows, then adb connect with the address shown on the main Wireless debugging screen.

To undo it

To go back to Google's ambient mode, run this line. You can turn Developer options off again afterwards.

adb shell settings put secure screensaver_components com.google.android.apps.tv.dreamx/.service.Backdrop

Why does the screen still turn off?

The TV's own timer still decides when the screen goes dark. On Google TV, change it under Settings > System > Power & Energy > Shut-off timer. On Android TV, tablets and phones, use the device's own sleep or screen timeout setting.

Set up Pixette