How to change screen timeout on Mac

A friend of mine recently bought her first Mac, and I helped her set it up. As we carefully went through every screen-related setting, I thought, "Wow, this would be so useful for beginners!" So, here it is!

In this article, you'll discover how to change how long your screen stays on Mac and how to make the default settings shorter, longer, or turn them off completely.

What is screen timeout?

Let's start from the basics. Screen timeout is simply a feature all Macs (especially MacBooks) use to save battery life and electricity consumption. By default, MacBooks enable screen timeout after two minutes of inactivity on battery and 10 minutes when connected to a power source.

Some apps prevent your Mac from enabling screen timeout. Screen timeout never activates while you’re watching a movie or YouTube, for example.

In most cases, you don’t want your Mac screen to be on at all times. So screen timeout is actually very useful. And, of course, as with most other features, you can change the inactivity timeout on Mac too.

Can no screen timeout damage your Mac?

Does keeping your screen on for extended periods of time damage your Mac? Not at all. Macs are built with all kinds of safety precautions in place, so damaging your Mac in daily usage is next to impossible.

However, having your screen on all the time might still shorten the lifespan of your Mac, simply because the CPU, screen, and battery have to do much more work. If you want your battery to last as long as possible, follow the recommendations in the guide How to save battery on your MacBook.

Or if you just need a quick solution, install Endurance, a simple utility that does nothing but extend your Mac’s battery up to 20%.

If you decide to monitor your battery's health closely but still need easy-to-understand information, I highly recommend installing CleanMyMac. It's a great choice, especially since you can use this app for a dozen other tasks (e.g., getting rid of system junk, uninstalling apps completely, scanning for malware, and keeping your Mac in shape overall).

To check on the health of your battery, open CleanMyMac from the menu bar and click on the Battery pane to learn more.

How to increase or decrease Mac screen timeout

You can adjust how long it takes before your Mac turns off its screen. In fact, there are two settings: one for when your MacBook is on battery and the other one for when it’s connected to a power source.

To do a Mac screen timeout change while on battery:

Go to System Settings > Lock Screen.
Reset “Turn display off on battery when inactive” to the setting you want, from 1 min to Never.
Reset “Turn display off on power adapter when inactive” to the setting you want, from 1 min to Never.

These settings are pretty obvious, but I know how to make the process even easier. If you’d like to know how to change screen timeout on Mac at any time, or prolong it just when you need it, just use One Switch.

One Switch is a simple but very powerful utility that allows you to access the most useful Mac features in just one click. Right from your menu bar, you can hide desktop icons, turn on dark mode, connect to AirPods, etc. And, of course, you can keep your Mac awake for longer. Look how easy it is:

To prevent your Mac from turning off its screen:

Install and open One Switch.
Click on the One Switch icon in the menu bar.
Toggle Keep Awake to activate it, or use the dropdown to specify for how long you’d like the screen to be turned on.

How to change screen saver timeout on Mac

Screen timeout is not the only thing that can interrupt your workflow on Mac. By default, Macs also have a screen saver, which automatically turns on at around the five-minute mark.

You can also easily adjust the screen saver timing:

Open System Settings > Lock Screen.
Use the dropdown next to “Start Screen Saver when inactive” to change the time period from 1 minute to never.

How to keep Mac screen on at all times

If you’re wondering how to increase screen time on Mac to infinity, one way to do that is use the option outlined above:

Open System Settings > Lock Screen.
In the dropdown near “Turn display off on battery when inactive” select Never.
In the dropdown near “Turn display off on power adapter when inactive” select Never.

How to restore default screen timeout settings

With all the ways of how to change the screen timeout on Mac, you might, at some point, just want to go back to defaults. Unfortunately, the latest operating systems don't have a button to quickly restore the default settings. You'll have to do it manually, but it won't be difficult because all settings are in one place (System Settings > Lock Screen).

But if you are running macOS Ventura or earlier, do this to restore the screen timeout settings.

Launch System Preferences > Battery.
Go to Battery and Power Adapter.
Click Restore Defaults.

Final Thoughts: Improve your screen timeout settings

As you can see, figuring out how to change screen timeout on Mac just takes a few minutes. But if you need more control over timeout settings, use One Switch or Lungo.

These apps, as well as all the others I mentioned above, are available to you absolutely free for seven days with the trial of Setapp, a platform with more than 250 best-in-class apps and utilities for Mac and iOS. Try every Setapp app today at no cost and see how you can improve your Mac experience.