While the Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick allow you to select from never, 5, 10, or 15 minutes for the screensaver timer, there is nowhere in the device’s settings to change the sleep timer. That’s set to 20 minutes regardless of how the screensaver is configured. Even though it’s not in the interface, it’s actually possible to set a custom sleep timer, a custom screensaver timer, or disable them altogether. This guide will show you how.
I’ve written guides about these topics in the past, but new methods have been discovered that do not require rooting the device. Thanks to mattgyver83, ftvlover, chiefs1975, and Y314K for their research and findings on this subject.
The numeric values you use in this guide are in milliseconds. The default sleep value is
The sleep timer starts counting immediately after the device goes idle, not from when the screensaver starts. So setting a 5 minute screensaver timer and a 10 minute sleep timer will result in the device going to sleep 5 minutes after the screensaver starts.
Guide
- Connect to your Fire TV device via ADB. If you don’t know how to do that, follow this guide.
- To set a custom sleep timer run the command:
adb shell settings put secure sleep_timeout 123456789 To set a custom screensaver timer run the command:
adb shell settings put system screen_off_timeout 123456789 (Remember to change
123456789 to the value in milliseconds that you want to set. Use0 and2147460000 to disable the sleep and screensaver timer, respectively.) - [OPTIONAL] To see the current timer value, and verify the value you entered was correctly saved, run this command for the sleep timer:
adb shell settings get secure sleep_timeout And this command for the screensaver timer:
adb shell settings get system screen_off_timeout - If you found this guide useful, please consider supporting AFTVnews on Patreon.
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The FireTV stick has a sleep timeout of 5 minutes (not 20), which drove me crazy. And this method does not work!!! But I found an app that lets you set the sleep timeout. It’s “AppStarter”.
What FW version are you on & are you rotted or not. If the AppStarter sleep timeout setting worked. Then one can probably find the code that it is using to change it on the FTVS1 thru the AppStarter GitHub. Just saying.
Also make sure you are not inputting the whole code at once.
In my case what works best for me is to first open the ADB Shell
ADB Shell
And then input the code
settings get secure sleep_timeout
The one above will let you view it, the one below will let you change it.
Then just use the one above to confirm the change. (Change shown below to 20 minutes)
adb shell settings put secure sleep_timeout 1200000
Unless the FTVS1 names it’s settings apk different of is a missing a part like the missing screen calibration on one of the devices ROM. It just might be a bug. SO it might be fix in the future. But it you say it works on AppStarter then some code is definitely there. If you ever get bored. Take a snoop around the GitHub.
I’m running the latest version and not rooted. Changing the setting with adb never worked (I verified the setting change, but the sleep timeout remained 5 minutes no matter what). Then I found AppStarter, and it worked perfectly (showed the 5 minute timeout and let me change it to whatever).
And again, it was 5 minutes! Not 20! 20 would not have been so unbearable…
I concur Maxes results are correct, this doesn’t work on the latest version of OS on 2nd gen Fire Stick. To add to this, my fire stick worked properly for almost 6 months now running video surveillance app without ever going to screen saver or to sleep or stand by mode. It would go to screen saver after some time when playback is paused on Kodi, but never in the middle of the movie. Then one day suddenly started switching to screen saver than to Fire Stick Home screen then to black screen. When turned off screen saver, it went direct to Home screen and then black screen.
Followed instructions exactly, and it has worked for me. Fire TV Box 2nd Gen.
Great AIO Guide Elias. Should make it easier for future AIO linking.
I thought the reason why the 2147460000 value was given for 24 days (actually 24 days & 20.52 hours) might be because of an actual maximum input barrier. But I was able to change things to 30 days aka 2592000000 milliseconds without any problems. Just saying. It is possible to put more days. It doesn’t really matter since 99.9999999…% of us will definitely, even accidentally, touch a button on the FTV’s remote within the 24 day period. Therefore restarting the timeout countdown.
That’s good to know, thanks. I did some searching to try and figure out why that value was chosen but came up empty. BTW, I did personally verify that this works on non-rooted devices, since I saw you asked about that on XDA.
Yeah, this is a great code find since it seems to be irrelevant of root or nonroot. Love it when there is no differentiation. Since all my devices are rooted. I usually have to request feedback regarding unrooted devices. I don’t visit my friends & family that I gifted nonrooted FTVS1’s to often to test things.
BTW, I was not able to duplicate & I have not had time to visit my friend that swears that after the latest update he can ScreenCast from the same phone I own on his FTVS1 (He couldn’t before the update). So back to square one on that front/feature.
I got this to work with Firestick4K and Remote ADB Shell Version 1.6.5 by leaving off the adb shell portion of the command. Great tip! This has annoyed me for some time.
I’m a programmer and have some insight as to why the 2147460000 value was chosen. An signed 32 bit integer has a maximum value of 2147483647, which is just over the value Amazon sets.
However if we actually take a look at the screen off timeout setting here: https://developer.android.com/reference/android/provider/Settings.System#SCREEN_OFF_TIMEOUT we see this takes a String (basically, not a number with a max value) which is bound by another variable that is a long (64 bit signed integer, max value of 9,223,372,036,854,775,807)
So, it really depends what that MaximumTimeToLock value is. Unfortunately I’m not an Android developer so I can’t dig in more but I’m gonna guess it’s best to not go over 2147483647
worked for me
Device, FW & root status ? Just trying to get a picture.
Command worked for me, Fire TV 2 FW: 5.2.4.1 – non-rooted obviously. Haven’t waited 20 mins to see if it worked yet though :)
You can not imagine how happy I saw this tutorial. Thank you so much!
My android tv installed ‘Ugoos TV Launcher’ after the continuous display screensaver, because screensaver timer = 0
Thank you again
sorry for my bad English
Did not work for sleep timeout on Fire TV Stick.
I concur, it does not work for 2nd gen Fire Stick running Fire OS 5.2.6.3 (606753620)… When it was running the previous version of OS there was no problem staying awake at all.
Where do I run the command at?
My firestick seems yo dim significantly during dark scenes in movies. Then brightens again when the scene is lighter. Will this fix that problem? Other thoughts?
Hi bob ruthazer,
Do you by any chance have an LG tv? Google ‘LG Global Dimming issue’ if you do.. I have an LG and mine does this during dark scenes, it’s a ‘feature’ but LG don’t give you much option to turn it off….
Can i change the amount of time that a picture stays on the screen during the screensaver rotation?
Also, is it possible to use video files of any sort that will play during the rotation? I am using this device in a digital signage application.
Did you ever find an answer to this? I am using it for digital signage as well …
I just noticed that there has been an update for Amazon Firetv Stick Screensaver option. Now there are multiple collections being shown to select the screensaver photos. Other than Amazon Collection, I can see the folders from my Mobile Phone!!! Not sure how come my mobile phone’s Gallery Folders are shown in my Firetv Stick. The only connection they both have is, my phone also has Amazon Prime Video app installed in it. Or is the Firetv Stick fetching my phone’s gallery folders using my Google login? Not sure!! I’m totally confused.
Anyone having similar experience?
The instructions work for me. Thanks.
Device Info:
Device Name: Bed Room Fire TV Stick
Software version: Fire OS 5.2.6.0 (587444820)
Storage Capacity: 3.96GB of 5.57GB available
Fire TV Home Version: 6.0.0.0-264
Serial Number: 7094050454130M5U
When my fire stick had Fire OS 5.2.6.0 it didn’t have the problem staying awake. It become going to sleep after what seems to be an automatic update to Fire OS 5.2.6.3
Thank you! I have been trying to figure out how to change the sleep timer for a couple months now.
This worked for me!
Why can’t the fire tablets have a simple system to change or eliminate screensaver ? I have two tablets and am not savvy enough to go through all the moves to make any changes.c
I just purchased the second ten inch tablet hoping the screensaver was not a standard. I’m seriously considering returning it.
Help !
Worked for me. Disabled the screensaver in settings & set the sleep timeout to 0 using the adb command.
Is there a value I can change for a custom slide *duration*? I have my screensaver set to “slow”, but it changes photo in less than 10 seconds. That makes it distracting and isn’t enough time to even take in a whole photo.
It works. 2nd generation Fire TV stick. I had some issues to run adb using mac os, but using windows it was easy to set up this freaky sleep timer to its maximum value.
Thanks.
I used the app adbLink on macOS and it worked fine.
Worked for me. Great guide!
I’m on Fire OS 5.2.6.6, 2nd Gen.
Set my screen saver to 2 min (120000 ms) and the sleep timer to the maximum (2147460000 ms) since the stick doesn’t turn off my Samsung TV when it goes to sleep. I like having all the pictures running when I’m not actually watching TV.
Thanks!
P.S. – AppStarter did NOT work for me.
Thank you for this guide. I had tried to do this with my MacBook Pro but this can be done much faster actually if you just use an Android Phone:
1) Install the “Remote ADB Shell” app by Cameron Gutman on your Android phone
2) Enable “ADB Debugging” and “Apps from Unknown Sources” on your FireTV
3) Find the IP address of your FireTV from the About > Network Menu
4) Using the “Remote ADB Shell” app on your phone, connect to the FireTV’s IP address
5) Run any of the commands you see in this article, but leave off the “adb shell” at the beginning. E.g. “settings get secure sleep_timeout” works just fine.
Hi Nathan, excellent work. This helped me out just fine..once I worked out sleep timer/screensaver timer.
Cracking suggestion Nathan, this got me out of a hole. Thanks.
Thanks, Nathan. This was so helpful.
App worked great – thanks for the tip!
Really appreciate this guide that worked flawlessly.
Request: if there is a way to adjust the “slide speed” to transition more slowly, would really appreciate a guide for that! I’ve scoured the internet and exhausted my limited coding skills and can’t find anything to adjust it. Perhaps it is not possible. Either way, thanks, AFTV!
This adb stuff sure makes me long for batch files ( or whatever they’re called these days )
Why can’t they just make it simple and include the options for this in the menu? smh
BTW – Happy New Year!
(and thanks again for the info)
FYI, running screen-saver continuously makes the Fire Stick quite warm, for example >10 hrs. I would worry about it over-heating, so I use 4 hours.
Worked fine for my Firestick 5.2.6.8 using the provided sleep settings via Nathan’s Remote ADB Shell app suggestion. Thanks guys.
Hi
I tried this on my FireTVStick4K running Android 7.1 fork FireOS6.x.y but with the screensaver NEVER it ignores the settings in the ADB command 0 and 2146460000.
Please share an update for unrooted Stick FireOS6
Note: The FireTVCube 2nd gen running Android 9 fork FireOS7.x.y obeys the Screensaver NEVER setting
Thanks
ADB worked for me.
Toshiba Fire TV.
Sleep timer gone.
Note:if you follow the ADB download link above you may have to use the 1.3 version like me because the 1.4 wouldn’t work.
I can confirm this works with only ADB Shell directly on a Fire 4k Pendant without having to connect it to a PC or other devices.
Turn on ADB Debugging in your Fire Settings,
Open ADB Shell on your device,
Insert your IP and connect to ADB Shell.
Sleep Timer out Example: “settings put secure sleep_timeout 0”
Screensaver Timeout Example: “settings put system screen_off_timeout 2147460000”
Without the quotes of course.
Now checking your settings after in ADB Shell.
Sleep Timeout Example: “settings get secure sleep_timeout”
and
Screensaver Timeout Example: “settings get system screen_off_timeout”
This is just what I was looking for in order to stop TV from sleeping and it works beautifully for my Fire TV.
Was made even easier by using Nathan’s Remote ADB suggestion. Will try it next with my 4K and regular fire sticks. Thank you!
this works from cmd prompt in windows 10:
On Firestick settings:network get IP address
On Firestick developer options turn adb debugging on
adb kill-server
adb start-server
adb connect 192.168.1.116
(might change when your network is restarted)
adb shell settings put secure sleep_timeout 19200000
adb shell settings put system screen_off_timeout 300000
…”get” to check
adb disconnect
adb kill-server
exit
The numbers above will get you about a 5 hour screen saver before it turns the TV off.
My firetv asks for usb debugging again and again. Any way to have it on permanently?