How to Change the Screen Timeout on a Mac

Trying to save your MacBook’s battery power? Tired of wiggling your mouse to keep the screen on? Find out here how to change (extend or shorten) the screen timeout on a Mac and pick the time of inactivity allowed before the display turns off.

First, Fast… Fast…

You have all, I’d dare wager, heard the wonderful (but, chances are, apocryphal) story how Cossacks asking for fast food sparked a type of French restaurant.

Another response to pleas for speed is the wonderfully Viennese (and far from apocryphal)

“Fast… fast… The only thing fast around here is the way I get tired.”

Now, fast or slow, you can (within limits) control the way your screen turns off on a Mac:

How to Change the Screen Timeout on a Mac Laptop

Change the Screen Timeout on macOS 12 Monterey and Earlier

To shorten or lengthen the screen timeout on a Mac running macOS 12 Monterey and earlier:

1. Select System Preferences… from the Apple logo menu ().
2. Go to the Battery section.
3. Select, again, Battery on the left.
4. Under Turn display off after:, choose the display delay without A/C power.
5. Now choose Power Adapter on the left.
6. Again, choose the screen timeout delay, this time for running on A/C power under Turn display off after:..
   

How to Change the Screen Timeout on a macOS Monterey Desktop

To change when a monitor will turn off automatically (independently from—but always sooner than—the computer going to sleep or hibernation) on a desktop Mac (such as an iMac):

1. Select System Preferences… from the Apple menu.
2. Open the Energy Saver category.
3. Pick the desired time of inactivity before the screen turns off under Turn display off after:.
4. Close the preferences window.

How to Change the Screen Timeout on a Mac: FAQ

How can I find out what is preventing my Mac display from turning off?

To find out what is preventing your screen from going to sleep (even though you are not moving the mouse cursor, typing, touching a trackpad, etc.):

1. Open Terminal.
   Here’s how: Press Command Space for Spotlight search, start typing terminal and select Terminal from search results.
2. Type pmset -g | grep "displaysleep" copy.
3. Press Enter.
4. Find the applications that prevent the screen from turning off listed under (display sleep prevented by <>).
   No “display sleep prevented”: If there are no processes keeping the display on, you will not see a comment about sleep being prevented, just the current display timeout value listed following displaysleep).
   

This does not tell how the application prevents display sleep. Most likely, it is something like video playback in the foreground. If a program has gotten stuck in a state that prevents your screen from turning off, you can always force quit the application on your Mac.

Can I turn off the display before the timeout is reached?

Yes, you can always turn off your Mac screen manually.

Can I prevent display sleep on my Mac (without changing the screen timeout)?

Yes.

You can prevent your Mac from sleeping and keep the display on using the command line.

To stop a Mac from turning the display off:

1. Open Terminal.
   How: See above for launching the Terminal application
2. Type caffeinate -d.
3. Press Enter.
4. With caffeinate running, press Control C to end the block and return to the regular display timeout.
   Countdown: You can also add a countdown timer to the command with -t <seconds>.
   Example: Use caffeinate -d -t 18000 to keep the display on for 5 hours.
   

(How to change the screen timeout on a Mac tested with macOS Sonoma 14.3, Ventura 13 and Monterey 12; updated March 2024)