Black Screensaver
A free black screensaver that runs in your browser on Mac and Windows. It goes fully black when you're away and wakes the moment you move.
Press S to start · Space to pause · Esc to stop
Pick a screensaver
Customize your black screensaver
Show
Clock
Message
Scene
Shade
Your screen
Goes black after
Break timer
Privacy screen
Another monitor
Fade to black
Wakes on
Screen
Watch
Use your black screensaver on any device
Mac
- Press Start screensaver on this page. It runs in Safari and Chrome, goes black after the time you choose and wakes the moment you move.
- Make it yours: a dim clock, an away message, 15 moving scenes, a break timer or a privacy screen. macOS has no black screensaver at all; this page is one.
- Leave the tab open in full screen. Choose Screen › Keep it on here, so your Mac does not dim or switch off the display first.
- Stepping away for longer? Pick Screen › Let it turn off, and your Mac turns the screen off as usual. Or set a Hot Corner (System Settings › Desktop & Dock › Hot Corners › Put Display to Sleep).
- Want your Mac to show black on its own, even with this page closed? Make a black image the size of your screen with the button below. Then pick it as a photo screen saver in System Settings › Screen Saver.
Windows
- Press Start screensaver on this page. It works in Chrome, Edge and Firefox, goes black after the time you choose and wakes the moment you move.
- Much more than the Windows Blank screensaver. You get a dim clock, an away message for streams and calls, 15 moving scenes, a break timer and a privacy screen. Nothing to download or install.
- Leave the tab open in full screen (press F). Choose Screen › Keep it on here, so Windows does not switch the display off first.
- Leaving for the day? Pick Screen › Let it turn off, and Windows turns the screen off on its own timer (Settings › System › Power & battery › Screen and sleep).
Phones & tablets
- Open this page on your phone or tablet, then tap Start screensaver. Send to phone, under the preview, gets it there.
- On most newer phones, pure black turns the screen fully off. For a bedside clock, pick Clock at 8% brightness in red.
- Keep it showing: Screen › Keep it on here stops the phone locking while the screensaver runs.
- On iPhone, Safari cannot hide its own bars; the rest of the screen still turns black. Tap the screen for the controls.
TV
- Open this page in the TV browser, or cast a Chrome tab to the TV, then press Start screensaver.
- For a room: pick a calm scene such as Aurora, Snow or Embers, or a big dim clock.
- Newer TVs: moving scenes and the slowly moving clock protect the screen. Keep the TV’s own Pixel shift or Screen shift on too.
A black screensaver that goes black when you step away
The black screensaver on Black Screen Online is a free tool that turns your screen black when you step away. It wakes the moment you come back, and it runs in your browser on Mac and Windows with nothing to install. Press Start screensaver and leave the tab open. It can also show a dim clock, an away message or a calm scene. Only need the screen black right now, with no timer? Open the black screen instead.
Updated October 13, 2026
8 setups
One tap each
15 scenes
Calm, classic and more
Mac and Windows
In your browser, nothing to install
Free
No account, no sign-up
How do you use this black screensaver?
Pick a setup, press Start screensaver, and step away. The screen goes black after the time you choose.
Four steps
- Pick a setup under Pick a screensaver, or keep Screensaver, the classic black one.
- Set Goes black after if you want a different wait. The default is 10 minutes.
- Press Start screensaver, or press S on your keyboard.
- Come back and move the mouse: the screen wakes at once. Press Esc or Exit to stop.
Other ways to start
You can also start it with F, a double-click on the preview, or a double-tap on a phone. Move the mouse and the controls appear for a moment, then hide again. Keep the tab open while it runs: closing the tab ends the screensaver.
Goes black after 10 minutes. Move to come back.
What is a black screensaver?
A black screensaver is a blank display that takes over while you are not using the screen. It removes pictures, text and bright desktop colors from view, and it hands the screen back the moment you return.
The word screensaver began with old tube monitors, where the same picture left on screen for hours could burn a lasting ghost into the glass (Wikipedia). Moving screensavers such as Mystify and Pipes were made for that. Most screens today are different, so a screensaver is now mostly about a calm, dark screen, privacy and a little less light in the room.
A black screensaver is also different from a black wallpaper. A wallpaper stays behind your icons and windows all the time. The screensaver covers everything, then gets out of the way when you move.
Pick a setup: 8 ways to use a black screensaver
Each setup is one tap, and every one starts from pure black. Each tile has a ? that explains it. Change any setting and the tile shows Changed, with Undo my changes to go back.
| Setup | What it does |
|---|---|
| Screensaver | The classic: your whole screen turns pure black after 10 minutes and stays on |
| Bedside clock | A dim red clock for a dark bedroom, at 8 % brightness, on all night |
| Relaxing scene | Soft northern lights drift across the screen, then black after 30 minutes with no activity |
| Be right back / AFK | Shows "Be right back" with a 10-minute countdown, for video calls, games and live streams |
| Take a break | Black for 5 minutes, then a soft chime brings you back |
| Privacy screen | Black right away, so people walking past can't see your screen |
| Let my screen turn off | Pure black, then your computer switches the screen off on its own timer. This saves the most power |
| Use a second monitor | One monitor turns black while you keep working on the other |
The last two sit under Also useful. The bedside clock uses red on purpose: Harvard Health notes that red light is less likely to shift your body clock than other colors.
Shows a 10-minute countdown, then waits for you.
What can a black screensaver show: a clock, a message or a scene?
Open settings, then Look, and choose what to Show: Pure black, Clock, Message or Scene.
A dim clock
The Clock is dim and plain on purpose, so it never lights up the room. Turn on 24-hour clock, Seconds, Date or Red at night. Pick a Color (White, Warm, Amber, Green, Blue or Custom), a Size and a Font. Brightness goes all the way down to 5 %.
An AFK screen for calls and streams
An AFK screen ("away from keyboard") tells people you will be right back. Message offers Be right back, Away from keyboard, In a meeting, On a break, Stream starting soon, or My own text up to 60 characters. Back in adds a countdown of 5, 10, 15 or 30 minutes. For a live stream on Twitch or YouTube, use Copy stream link. It gives you an AFK screen online to add to OBS Studio, the free streaming app, as a Browser source. Choose Transparent to lay the message over your own scene.
Dark screensaver scenes that move
A dark screensaver does not have to be still. Scene offers 15 moving scenes in four groups:
- Core: Bounce, Starfield
- Classic: Mystify, Pipes, Matrix rain, Maze
- Ambient: Fireflies, Snow, Rain, Embers
- Calm: Aurora, Lava lamp, Radar, Constellation, Dark color drift
Set the Speed (Slow, Normal or Fast) and the Brightness. Scenes stop drawing when the screen is black or the tab is hidden.
A dim red clock that stays on all night.
When does it turn black, and what wakes it?
Goes black after sets the wait: Never, 1, 2, 5, 10, 15 or 30 minutes, 1 hour, or Custom up to 12 hours. The time counts while nobody touches the mouse, keyboard or screen, and any movement starts it again.
Fade and wake
Fade to black makes the change gentle: Instant, 1 second, 3 seconds or 5 seconds, and waking up is always instant. On a bumpy desk, or with a cat nearby, choose Ignore mouse movement, and only a click or a key wakes it.
Watch the whole computer
Normally the screensaver watches this page. Choose Watch the whole computer, not just this page, and it goes black when the whole computer is idle, which is what you want on a second screen. This option asks your permission once and works in Chrome and Edge on a computer.
Take a break with the screen black
The break timer turns your screen black for a set time, then calls you back. Under Timing, pick a Break length of 5, 10, 15, 20 or 30 minutes. Press Start screensaver and the screen goes black. Moving the mouse will not end the break early, so you are not pulled back by habit. A soft chime plays when the time is up. Turn on Countdown on screen to see the minutes left, and press Esc if you need to stop early.
Starts now: black for 5 minutes, then a chime.
How the break works
Is a black screensaver a privacy screen?
Yes, for hiding what is on your screen, but it is not a lock. Start privacy screen turns the screen black at once and hides it from people walking past. Nothing wakes it by accident: press and hold anywhere, or press Esc, to come back.
Black at once. Press and hold to come back.
Lock it too
Someone could still leave the black page and use an unlocked computer. When you walk away from a shared desk, lock it as well, with Windows key + L on Windows, or Control + Command + Q on a Mac (Apple's Mac keyboard shortcuts).
Can you black out just one monitor?
Choose a monitor
Yes. Under Extras, Choose a monitor fills the monitor you pick with the screensaver while you keep working here. It works in Chrome and Edge on a computer. In any browser, Open a new window, drag it to your other monitor, and press F11 for full screen.
Move it first
Move the window to the right monitor before you go full screen, because full screen opens on the screen that holds the window. On that second screen, choose Watch the whole computer, so it goes black when you stop working everywhere, not only on that page.
Why does a black screen still glow, and will it burn in?
Most computer screens have a light behind them that is always on. Black pixels block most of that light, but not all, so black glows a little on every black screen and screensaver. The only way to make the screen fully dark is to switch it off. Choose Let my screen turn off, and your computer's own power timer switches the screen off as usual. A web page cannot switch a screen off directly.
Under Extras, Your screen tells you what to expect:
| Your screen | Black looks | Power | A still picture |
|---|---|---|---|
| Computer screen (most monitors, laptops and every Mac: LCD or LED) | glows a little | saves only a little | can't leave a mark |
| Newer phone or TV (OLED: each dot makes its own light) | true black | saves real power | left for hours, can leave a mark |
On OLED screens, black dots are switched off, so dark screens can use less power, and the saving grows at high brightness (Purdue University). Burn-in means a still picture leaves a lasting mark on an OLED screen (Samsung). That is why anything this screensaver shows, the clock, a message or a scene, moves a few pixels every minute on its own.
Pure black, then your computer turns the screen off.
How do you set up a black screensaver on a Mac or Windows?
macOS has no black screensaver of its own, and this page is one. Press Start screensaver in Safari or Chrome and leave the tab open in full screen. Windows has a plain Blank screensaver built in. Black Screen Online adds a dim clock, an away message, 15 scenes, a break timer and a privacy screen, with nothing to download. The guide How to use it on Mac, Windows & phones has the steps for each.
Mac
Under Screen, choose Keep it on here, so your Mac does not dim or switch off the display first. Stepping away for longer? Pick Let it turn off, and your Mac turns the screen off as usual. You can also set a Hot Corner in System Settings › Desktop & Dock › Hot Corners › Put Display to Sleep. Want black even with this page closed? Use Make a black screen image at my screen size in the guide, then pick it as a photo screen saver in System Settings › Screen Saver (Apple's screen saver settings). The black screen image tool makes the same file in any size.
Windows
The black screensaver works in Chrome, Edge and Firefox. Press F for full screen and choose Keep it on here, so Windows does not switch the display off first. Leaving for the day? Pick Let it turn off, and Windows turns the screen off on its own timer, under Settings › System › Power & battery › Screen and sleep. The built-in Blank screensaver is under Settings › Personalization › Lock screen › Screen saver (Microsoft Support).
Can you use a black screensaver on a phone, tablet or TV?
Phones and tablets
Yes, in the browser. Open this page on your phone or tablet and tap Start screensaver; Send to phone, under the preview, gets it there from a computer. Keep it on here stops the phone locking while the screensaver runs. On most newer phones, pure black turns those parts of the screen fully off. On iPhone, Safari cannot hide its own bars; the rest of the screen still turns black, and a tap shows the controls. Want a black lock screen on your phone instead? A black wallpaper sized for your phone does that.
TVs
On a TV, open this page in the TV's browser or cast a Chrome tab, then press Start screensaver. A calm scene such as Aurora, Snow or Embers suits a room. Keep the TV's own Pixel shift or Screen shift on too. A TV with no web browser can play a black screen video on a loop instead.
Is your screen going black on its own?
If your screen turns black when you did not start a screensaver, that is a setting or a fault, not this tool. On Windows, the screen may switch off before your screensaver starts if the screen-off time in Screen and sleep is shorter than the screensaver's wait. On an iPhone or Mac whose wallpaper turned black, restart the device, then set the wallpaper again. If the screen stays on a blank black screen, Black Screen Online explains what to do when a screen goes black on its own, or see the device maker's support.
Other black screen tools
Black Screen Online has five more black tools. A full black screen fills your display right now, with no timer. Black Screen Video makes a black video file to loop on a TV or player. Black Screen Image makes a black picture in any size. Black Background makes backgrounds for slides, photos and calls. Black Wallpaper makes a wallpaper sized for your phone or computer.
A black picture file in any size, plus SVG files, favicons and tiny sizes.
A pure black video at any size, length and frame rate, as MP4, WebM or MOV. It fits YouTube, video editors, TVs, Shorts and Reels, with no watermark.
A plain black background image sized for Zoom and Teams calls, slides and social posts.
A true black wallpaper sized for your iPhone, Android, iPad, Mac or PC, with simple steps to set it on your lock screen and home screen.
Pure black on your whole screen, right now.
Frequently asked questions
Is the black screensaver free, and do I need an account?
Yes. Black Screen Online's screensaver is free, with no account or sign-up. Nothing is installed: the screensaver runs in your browser tab, on Mac and Windows. Your settings, like the wait time, clock and message, are remembered in this browser, so the page opens the way you left it next time. To move them to another device, use Share setup or Send to phone.
Will my computer still go to sleep?
Whether your computer sleeps depends on the Screen choice. With Keep the screen on, the screen stays on while the screensaver runs, so a clock or scene stays visible. With Let it turn off, your computer's own power timer switches the screen off and goes to sleep as usual. If you want power saved, use Let my screen turn off before you leave for the day.
Can I leave the black screensaver on all night?
Yes. For a dark bedroom, the Bedside clock setup stays on all night at 8 % brightness in red and never turns black. If you do not need to see anything, choose Let my screen turn off, so the screen switches off and saves power. On a newer phone or OLED TV, a clock or scene moves a few pixels every minute, so nothing sits still for hours.
Does it work with the tab in the background?
Keep the screensaver's tab open and in front while you are away: it runs inside that tab. To work in other windows while a screen goes black, use a second monitor. Then choose Watch the whole computer, not just this page (Chrome and Edge). On a phone, keep the page open, and Keep it on here stops the phone locking.
Why not download a screensaver file instead?
You do not need one, because Windows already has a plain Blank screensaver, and macOS has no black one at all; this page works on both with nothing to install. It also gives you what a file does not. You get a dim clock, an AFK message, 15 scenes, a break timer, a privacy screen and the choice of monitor. And no file can stop a computer screen from glowing a little; only Let my screen turn off makes it fully dark.
Ready to step away?
Free, in your browser, on Mac and Windows. Move the mouse to come back.