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How-To: Use Apple Watch faces as gorgeous Mac screen savers

applewatchmockup5

Even though I’ve owned a Mac for going on 5+ years now, I never thought I would actually end up using screen savers. But the launch of Aerial a few months ago, which I’ve been using daily ever since, has definitely changed my mind. Awesome Apple TV screen savers on the Mac is a win. And today I came across the Apple Watch Screen Saver for OS X by Rasmus Nielsen and immediately knew it would be my next screen saver of choice.

Incorporating over 80 combinations of the already recognizable and well designed Apple Watch faces, all in Retina display quality, it makes a great additional screen saver to have installed. For those unfamiliar with the process of installing new screen savers on the Mac, or just want an overview before starting, I’ve put together a small guide below to walk you through the process:

While the Aerial screen saver has been great, I know not everyone will want to use it solely because it either streams or caches all the videos. This can be tricky for those who are on limited data plans at home or have low storage on their computer (if the latter is your situation, keep an eye on our sister-site 9to5Toys for great external drive deals). Whether you’re looking for a clean and simple screen saver, or just want to match your current Apple Watch face, these Apple Watch screen savers will be a perfect choice for you.

WatchOSXScreensaver_Step_1
Download the screen saver from Rasmus’ site, and unzip the downloaded file (done by double-clicking on the file itself). Because this app isn’t signed, Gatekeeper will block its installation by default. We’re going to have to control-click (or secondary click) on the ‘WatchOSX.saver’ file, select ‘Open’, and then select ‘Open’ again on the unidentified developer alert dialog. If you don’t control-click on the file when launching, you might be alerted by OS X that the file was created by an unidentified developer, and would not be given the option to install it.
WatchOSXScreensaver_Step_3

After that, System Preferences will launch automatically, asking for confirmation on installation, and who you would like to install the screen saver for. I have multiple users on my Mac, so I selected ‘Install for this user only’.

WatchOSXScreensaver_Step_4Once completed, System Preferences will automatically open the ‘Desktop & Screen Saver’ preferences, where the new screen saver will be installed under the title ‘Watch OSX’. Selecting the newly installed screen saver and then hitting ‘Screen Saver Options’ to the right will allow you to customize the watch faces to your liking. If you hover over the screen saver preview above ‘Screen Saver Options…’, you’ll see a small ‘Preview’ option that will allow you to quickly see what your screen saver will look like once activated.

With 85 total combinations, 5 watch face types and 17 colors, you’ll easily be able to find something to your liking if you appreciate the design of the Apple Watch faces. Plus it’s a tasteful way to use your Mac display as a clock when it’s not otherwise being used.

If you’re looking for some real world examples of what other’s have done with their own screen saver, check out #applewatchscreensaver on Instagram. Got any other favorite screen savers you use on your Mac? Let us know!

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Comments

  1. rahhbriley - 8 years ago

    Um…a space gray Mac please!

  2. iSRS - 8 years ago

    Looks great. Too bad there is no Mickey Watch face!

  3. Chris Denny (@dennyc69) - 8 years ago

    It’s a great screensaver, and it stays in time quite well with the Apple Watch

  4. David Call (@DavidCall) - 8 years ago

    I just installed this one and it looks terrific! For the last few years, I’d been using a screensaver called “Anemona,” which displays small-ish blue/purple/pink dots that sway around the desktop as if an anemone in the sea wriggles with the ocean currents. Beautiful and simple.

  5. Tech Rohan (@techrohanr) - 8 years ago

    great app

  6. Just wondering will this possibly cause “burn in” on the LCD display?

  7. Waynehead (@ctt1wbw) - 8 years ago

    I deleted it. According to LittleSnitch, it is communicating with the server where you downloaded it from Uh, WHY?

    • Greg Barbosa - 8 years ago

      Interesting. I’ll explore this later tonight. I assume it’s because it may check for updates? Did you try to track down what exactly it’s doing while attempting to communicate back to the server?

    • Greg Barbosa - 8 years ago

      Just tested it out with LittleSnitch and I didn’t and don’t see it request to get access back to the server that it was downloaded from. I’ll keep an eye out for it though!

      • Wayne - 8 years ago

        I kept getting a popup alert from LittleSnitch that it was trying to communicate with the server. Try denying permissions for it and see what happens.

  8. bradmacpro - 8 years ago

    Crashed too often while previewing. I deleted it.

    • Greg Barbosa - 8 years ago

      Weird. I haven’t experienced any crashes yet. Still good for me here. If you have some time, the developer would probably love to have that feedback too.

      He could use it to make fixes.

  9. Joe Streno - 8 years ago

    If the watch face does not move around on the screen …. what’s the purpose? Won’t the watch face eventually burn into the screen? Or am I missing something here?

    • Greg Barbosa - 8 years ago

      The watch face does move. It’s a live clock utilizing the Apple Watch’s varying face designs.

      • Joe Streno - 8 years ago

        The second hand of the watch moves, but the entire face is stationary in the center of both my screens. Is the entire face supposed to move across the screen?

      • Greg Barbosa - 8 years ago

        Oh, in that regard, no it is not supposed to move around. Thanks to that question though I did do some quick research on LCD burn-in and it doesn’t look like they are as susceptible. Wikipedia does a good little summary on it (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screen_burn-in).

        Definitely a thing to keep an eye out for regardless. I think I’ll configure the screen saver to activate after a certain amount of time, and then put the display to sleep sometime after that.

        I figure I don’t really need my Mac to be a clock 100% of the time it’s on sleep.

  10. klatu (@francopolpetta) - 8 years ago

    Its great but I am going crazy to make it a bit bigger to fit on the 27 inch display .. how can I do it ? .. please help

  11. Richard Graham Poster - 8 years ago

    I am going crazy trying to delete this damn thing. I was warned never to trust foreign screensavers, and I can see why. It’s probably a virus because no matter what I try, I CANNOT DELETE THIS watchosx.saver

    • iSRS - 8 years ago

      I just checked and though I, too, had deleted it, but it is still an option…. Off to find a solution

    • iSRS - 8 years ago

      Ok, pretty easy fix. Apparently, just right clicking in the System Pref of Screen Savers and selecting Delete does nothing.

      Here is what I did. Opened a Finder window, Searched “This Mac” for .saver

      From there, it brought up a list. Selected WatchOSX.saver and deleted it from there. It prompted for my admin/password and then deleted. I emptied Trash, went back into System Prefs and it was gone.