How to Get the New Apple TV Screensavers for Your Mac
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I’m guessing it’s been a long time since you’ve said to anyone, “come check out this new screensaver”, and if you have I bet you got a funny look. But if you’ve already got your hands on the new Apple TV, that request doesn’t seem so silly.
The screensavers on the new Apple TV are stunning. Apple sent film crews airborne all across the world to capture some incredible footage to bring to the new Apple TV. The videos are so compelling that you may be tempted to leave your TV on all day, something I’ve never even considered before.
So far, Apple has released 34 separate videos of flyovers from some of most beautiful places in the world including Hawaii, San Fransisco, London, New York, China and so on. Each location features day and night scenes that rotate depending on the time.
If only there was a way to enjoy those breathtaking screensavers on your new 4K iMac. Well, thanks to developer John Coates, now you can. John has created an app called Aerial that lets you stream the videos you select as your screensaver. Let’s walk through exactly how to get it set up.
1. First thing to do is to open a new tab, and type in Github.com. Find the search bar on the top of the page and type “aerial”. The first search result should be “John Coates/Aerial”. Click on that link and in the next page find the “Download ZIP” button on the right side of the page and go ahead and download that file.
2. Once it’s downloaded unzip the file, open it up and double click on Aerial.saver and click confirm to start the installation process. If for some reason the Aerial.saver file won’t open, place Aerial.saver in the /Library/Screen Savers folder.
3. Next open up System Preferences, click Desktop & Screen Saver and then select Screen Saver. Then go ahead and choose Aerial.
4. Now if you go to Screen Saver Options you can customize which scenes will be played on your desktop.
Shazam! Now you’re all set with what’s got to be the coolest screensaver on the planet, or at least the one that shows you the coolest places on the planet.
The app also comes with some nifty features. You can auto load the latest Aerial screensavers, play different Aerials on each screen if you’re using multiple displays, pick only your favorite Aerials to play and you can preview Aerials from the Screen Saver Options inside System Preferences.
If you plan on using Aerial here’s something to keep in mind. From what I can tell Aerial streams the screensaver videos straight from Apple’s site so you will see some increased network traffic when the screensaver is active.
The app was developed using Swift, so it is only Mac compatible and requires OS X Mavericks or newer. If you’re interested in having a top of the line screensaver for your Mac, check out Aerial.