Here are a few frequently asked questions about Ambient screensaver. If these don't resolve your questions, please ask members of our Streaming Community.
Introduction
What is Ambient Screensaver?Ambient Screensaver allows you to personalise what’s displayed on your Google streaming device's home screen even when not casting. You can choose to display your favourite photos and art from a variety of channels. Here's more information about setting up ambient screensaver.
No, Ambient screensaver can't be turned off. If you disable all customised Ambient screensaver preferences, images from 'featured photos' will still appear on your TV display when the streaming device is idle.
No, you can't control when and/or how often a piece of content appears on ambient screensaver.
You have not associated your Ambient screensaver preferences with your streaming device. You can find out how to do this here.
Settings
I’m unable to link my Ambient settings to my Streaming device.You may see one of the following error messages on your mobile device when trying to link your Ambient settings to your streaming device:
- Android devices: 'Can’t link {Streaming device name} to Ambient screensaver. Please try again later'
- iOS devices: 'Oops! Something went wrong. Unable to add Ambient screensaver to your streaming device'
To resolve the issue:
- Cast a video from the YouTube mobile application.
- Stop the video and disconnect from the Cast session.
- Try re-linking your Ambient settings to your streaming device once you see the pictures presented by the streaming home screen.
Ambient Screeensaver photos
How do I upload photos for streaming device use?Streaming device gets your photos for Ambient screensaver through the Google Photos account that you linked in the Google Home app. To upload photos to use with streaming device, upload your photos directly to Google Photos.
Only the photos from the selected albums will be displayed on the TV.