How To Stop the Screen Turning Off on a Mac

Macs are designed to enter sleep mode when not in use, which helps to conserve energy. However, there are times when you may want to keep your Mac awake. For example, if you’re watching a movie or downloading a large file, you don’t want your Mac to go to sleep in the middle of it.

Fortunately, there are a few simple ways to prevent your Mac from sleeping.

This article will show you how each method works.

Stop the Screen Turning Off on a Mac

Sleep mode is a great way to save energy and prolong the battery life of your Mac. The screen darkens when your Mac goes to sleep, and your computer goes into a low-power state. To wake it up, you need to press any key on the keyboard or click the mouse button. Sleep mode uses very little power, so it’s a great way to conserve energy when you’re not using your Mac.

While the energy-saving features of Mac computers are undeniably handy, there are times when you don’t want your screen turning off automatically. For example, when you’re in the middle of a long movie, it can be frustrating to have to keep your finger on the trackpad to keep the screen from dimming.

Sleep mode also presents technical challenges. For one, it may cause programs to freeze or crash when you attempt to resume work. This can be frustrating and waste valuable time that could have been spent working. Additionally, sleep mode can sometimes cause problems with file synchronization, leading to data loss.

Fortunately, there are several tools you can use to stop your Mac from falling asleep.

Let’s see how each tool works:

System Preferences

System Preferences (often abbreviated as “SysPref” or “SP”) is an application included with the macOS operating system that allows users to modify various system settings such as the theme, desktop picture, Bluetooth devices, and more.

While some of these preferences can be modified through other means (such as Finder), System Preferences is generally the most convenient place to change how your Mac functions. If you want to keep your Mac from going to sleep, you can do so by opening the Energy Saver panel in the System Preferences and sliding the “Turn display off after” slider to “Never.”

Here are detailed steps on how to go about it:

1. Click on the Apple logo in the top left corner of your screen and select System Preferences from the popup menu. Alternatively, open Launchpad, type “System Preferences,” and then click on the icon that appears.
   
2. After opening System Preferences, click on the bulb icon to open Energy Saver settings.
   
3. In the Energy Saver panel, you should see a slider that helps you set the amount of time your screen stays lit before finally turning off. Slide to “Never” on the extreme right to permanently stop your screen from turning off.
   

Terminal

Terminal presents a way to prevent your Mac from falling asleep without having to adjust your system settings. But what is it?

Terminal is a text-based interface used on Macintosh computers. When you open Terminal, you are presented with a command prompt. You can then type commands, which are interpreted and executed by the computer.

Terminal provides a way to access the underlying Unix operating system, which is the foundation of macOS. This allows you to perform otherwise unavailable tasks, such as low-level file operations and customizing your system settings.

Here’s how to use Terminal to stop your screen from turning off:

1. Click on the Launchpad icon in the Dock, and enter “Terminal” in the search field.
   
   
2. Tap on Terminal.
   
3. Type in the following command: “caffeinate”.
   
4. Hit Enter.
   

And that’s it! This will keep your Mac awake indefinitely or until you close Terminal.

The Caffeine App

The Caffeine app prevents your computer from going to sleep, so you can enjoy an uninterrupted view (or even a cup of coffee) while you work. The app is extremely easy to use and completely free.

Here’s how to use the app:

1. Download the app from the App Store and install it on your Mac.
   
2. Click on the Launchpad icon in the Dock, and enter “Caffeine” in the search field. This will launch the app.
   
3. Check the box next to “Automatically start Caffeine at login” in the “Welcome to Caffeine” window if you want the program to run automatically as soon as you power up your Mac.
   
4. Check the box next to “Activate Caffeine at launch” to stop your machine from sleeping.
   
5. Close the window.
   

The app runs in the background and uses very little CPU power, so it won’t slow down your computer. Whether you’re working on a project or just enjoying a cup of coffee, the Caffeine app is a great way to stay awake and productive.

Stay More Productive

Screen saver settings on a Mac are designed to help conserve energy and prolong the life of your screen. By default, the computer will turn off the screen if it has been inactive for a set amount of time.

However, there are ways to change these settings so that your screen stays on while you’re working. You can change your Energy Saver preferences or use the “caffeinate” command in Terminal. Alternatively, you can opt for a third-party app like Caffeine.

Whatever method you choose, preventing your Mac from sleeping is fairly easy.

Have you tried to stop your screen from turning off using any of the tools discussed in this article? How did it go? Let us know in the comments.