How to Set Google Photos as a Screensaver on Android TV

Jan. 4, 2021

Last year, Google temporarily disabled Google Photos on Android TV after abug exposed photosof other users’ on Android TV. Since then the functionality has been disabled and you can no longer set Google Photos as a screensaver on Android TV. However, if you are looking for an unofficially way to use Google Photos as a screensaver on Android TV then you have come to the right place. We have already written a detailed guide touse custom screensavers on Android TV, but here we will specifically discuss Google Photos integration. So on that note, let’s find out the steps.

Set Google Photos as a Screensaver on Android TV

Google Photos as a screensaver option is available natively on the new Google TV with Chromecast dongle, but it has not been re-launched on Android TV after the last public bug. So in this article, we willtake the help of a third-party appto integrate Google Photos with Android TV.

In caseyou have Google TV with Chromecast donglethen install Google Home -> open your TV -> Ambient Mode -> select Google Photos. Now with all the said, let’s begin.

1. First of all, open the Play Store on your Android TV and search for “screensaver”. Now installPhoto Gallery and Screensaver(Free, offers in-app purchases) app.

2. After installing the app, open it, and move to“Settings”.

3. Here, open “Photo Sources“.

4. Next, scroll down and select “Google Photos” to choose Google Photos as your source for Android TV screensaver.

5. It will ask you toselect your Google accountfrom where you want to access Google Photos.

6. Finally, it will ask you to grant permission to access Google Photos. Keep in mind,it’s a sensitive permissionas the third-party app will have access to your personal images on Google Photos. So proceed only at your own risk.

7. Now that you have allowed the app to use Google Photos as a screensaver on your Android TV, you are almost done.  Open Settings for the last time and open “Set your screensaver“.

8. Here, open “Screen saver” and choose “Photo Gallery and Screensaver“.

9. You are done. NowGoogle Photos will be liveas a screensaver on your Android TV.

You need to install a third-party app and from there you can integrate Google Photos with Android TV. Since the native option is no longer available, this is the only option available right now. You can follow our above guide to learn about the steps.

While the Google Photos app is not available on Android TV’s Play Store but you can use the casting feature on the smartphone to watch Google Photos on Android TV. Just open Google Photos on your smartphone and tap on the cast icon next to the search bar. After that, select your TV and you are done. Keep in mind, for this to work, both your smartphone and TV should be connected to the same WiFi network.

Open Settings on your Android TV -> Device Preferences -> Screen Saver -> Backdrop. That’s it.

You can go through our in-depth guide on how tocustomize the Android TV home screenand make changes according to your preference.

The above tutorial will work with most of the popular Android TVs. You can find a list of popular Android TVs below. The list is not exhaustive by any means and is only to serve as an example.

So this is how you can set Google Photos as a screensaver on your Android TV. As I mentioned above, granting permission to access your personal Google Photos to a third-party app is not desirable. In that case, you can use a secondary Google account where you have only put pictures to put as a screensaver on Android TV. Anyway, that is all from us. If you want to learn more suchAndroid TV tips and tricksthen follow our linked article. And if you are facing any problem then comment down below and let us know.

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