The Amazon Fire TV and Firestick screensaver can be changed to slideshow your Google Photos, Microsoft OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox or Flickr photos and videos quite easily by switching it to use one of my folio apps.
Since you’re reading this, you probably already know my apps provide a much better slideshow than the Amazon screensaver. Not only will they slideshow both photos and videos, they have a ton of settings, allowing you to choose different animations, display times, and they’ll automatically update so your slideshow stays current.
When the app is set as the default Fire TV screensaver, all of the slideshow settings in the app will apply to the screensaver as well.
Step 1, Connect to Fire TV Stick Using ADB
First ensure you have installed the app on your Fire TV and it is working as you expect. Please install the app for the service you are using:
- pixFolio for Google Photos
- gFolio for Google Drive
- skyFolio for Microsoft OneDrive
- dFolio for Dropbox
- flickFolio for Flickr
Step 2 – Connect to Fire TV Stick Using ADB
The hardest part of this process is installing a program called ADB and connecting to your Fire TV. ADB is the “Android Debug Bridge” and allows you to connect from your computer to the Fire TV and issue low level commands to the Fire TV.
To install adb, download the Android platform tools for your computer’s operating system from https://developer.android.com/studio/releases/platform-tools and unzip the zip file. You’ll find the adb command inside.
Now from a terminal or windows command prompt, change to the unzipped directory and connect to the Fire TV. I’ve found this guide to be good for that: http://www.aftvnews.com/how-to-connect-to-a-fire-tv-or-fire-tv-stick-via-adb/
Once you have connected to the Fire TV with adb, enter the adb command line by entering the following command:
adb shell
Step 3 – Change the Fire TV Stick’s Screensaver
Next, issue a command to change the Fire TV’s default screensaver to one of my folio apps. The command will be different depending on the app you have. While the commands may word wrap in your browser, they should all be entered on a single line with no line breaks.
Enter one of the following commands into the adb shell:
Enter this command for pixFolio for Google Photos:settings put secure screensaver_components com.snapwood.picfolio/com.snapwood.picfolio.DreamService
Enter this command for FlickFolio for Flickr:settings put secure screensaver_components com.snapwood.flickfolio/com.snapwood.flickfolio.DreamService
Enter this command for gFolio for Google Drive:settings put secure screensaver_components com.snapwood.gfolio/com.snapwood.gfolio.DreamService
Enter this command for SkyFolio for Microsoft OneDrive:settings put secure screensaver_components com.snapwood.skyfolio/com.snapwood.skyfolio.DreamService
Enter this command for dFolio for Dropbox:settings put secure screensaver_components com.snapwood.dropfolio/com.snapwood.dropfolio.DreamService
After issuing one of the above commands, verify the screensaver is set by issuing this command:
settings get secure screensaver_components
Step 4 – Optionally Set the Slideshow Album
By default, the screensaver will slideshow all of your albums. If you want this, skip to step 4. If you want to change this to a single album, issue one of the following commands:
Enter this command for pixFolio for Google Photos:am start -n com.snapwood.picfolio/.DreamSettingsActivity
Enter this command for FlickFolio for Flickr:am start -n com.snapwood.flickfolio/.DreamSettingsActivity
Enter this command for gFolio for Google Drive:am start -n com.snapwood.gfolio/.DreamSettingsActivity
Enter this command for SkyFolio for Microsoft OneDrive:am start -n com.snapwood.skyfolio/.DreamSettingsActivity
Enter this command for dFolio for Dropbox:am start -n com.snapwood.dropfolio/.DreamSettingsActivity
This command will display the app’s screensaver settings on the Fire TV, where you can select to slideshow all albums or a single album. To change the album, navigate to the displayed single album and select it to display the album chooser.
If you want to adjust the app’s slideshow settings, that can still be done within the app’s settings later.
Step 5 – Optionally Change the Screen Timeout
To adjust the amount of time before the screensaver starts, issue this command into adb:
settings put system screen_off_timeout 300000
The 300000 is the amount of time in milliseconds before the screensaver starts. There are 1000 milliseconds in 1 second and 60000 milliseconds in 1 minute. So a value of 300000 milliseconds is 5 minutes.
Now issue the following command to exit ADB:
exit
And you’re done!
Restoring the Default Amazon Screensaver
If you ever want to restore the Amazon screensaver, connect to the Fire TV using adb and enter the adb shell by issuing the following command:
adb shell
Then issue the following command to restore Amazon’s screensaver:
settings put secure screensaver_components com.amazon.bueller.photos/.daydream.ScreenSaverService