How do I turn my Samsung Frame TV into a screensaver?

If you searched for a Frame TV "screensaver," the feature you are picturing is almost certainly Art Mode. When you press the power button on a Frame TV, it does not fully switch off; it drops into Art Mode and displays artwork or a photo on standby, dimming and turning off via its motion and brightness sensors when the room is dark or empty. That is the built-in ambient display.

What Art Mode does not do out of the box is rotate through a large, free, ever-changing library of photographs the way a classic screensaver does. The free art bundled with the TV is a small set, and the larger Art Store catalog is a paid subscription. So the practical question is usually not "does the Frame have a screensaver" (it does, called Art Mode) but "how do I get a rotating slideshow of free photos on it." The three methods below cover that.

Every Samsung Frame TV includes a web browser in the app menu. Any website that shows full-screen rotating images becomes a screensaver, with no app to install and nothing to subscribe to.

FrameSaver is built for exactly this. Open the Frame TV browser, go to framesaver.app, and a QR code appears on screen. Scan it with your phone, enter your email, type the 6-digit code emailed to you, and the TV signs in. Then choose a category: landscapes, space photography (NASA and the European Southern Observatory), national parks, architecture, oceans, animals, and more. The TV rotates through curated open-access and Creative Commons photographs automatically, showing the photographer and license on screen for each image.

The trade-off is that this runs in the browser, so the TV stays in normal "on" mode rather than the low-power Art Mode standby, and the browser window must stay open. It is the best choice when you want the widest selection of free photos and the fastest setup, for example while hosting or during a quiet evening at home.

• Cost: free, no subscription
• Setup: one-time QR login from your phone, then it runs on its own
• Library: thousands of curated open-access photos across many categories
• Trade-off: runs in the browser (normal power draw), not low-power Art Mode

To use the Frame's native feature as a personal photo screensaver, upload your own images into Art Mode through the SmartThings app on your phone. In SmartThings, select your Frame TV, open its Art Mode controls, and add photos from your phone; they then appear among the pieces Art Mode can display. You can also browse and buy from the Art Store, but that is a paid subscription for the full catalog.

To make Art Mode behave more like a rotating screensaver, set it to cycle through a selection rather than hold one image: in Art Mode settings look for the slideshow option, where you can choose how often the displayed art changes and which set it pulls from. This keeps the low-power standby behavior and the simulated-matte look while showing a sequence of your own photos.

The upside is the cleanest always-on experience and lower power use than a browser. The downside is that the free rotation is limited to what you upload or the small bundled set, so the variety is smaller than a curated online library unless you keep adding photos.

• Cost: free for your own photos and bundled art; subscription for the full Art Store
• Setup: upload photos via the SmartThings app, then enable the Art Mode slideshow
• Library: your own uploads plus a small free set (Art Store is paid)
• Trade-off: smaller free variety; depends on your own photo library

If you would rather not involve an app or an account, the Frame can play a slideshow of image files from a USB drive. Copy your photos onto a USB stick, plug it into the TV, and open the USB source from the TV's source or media menu, where most Samsung TVs offer a slideshow or photo playback option.

This is fully offline and uses only your own images, which some people prefer for privacy or for showing a fixed set (a trip, an event, family photos). The limitations are that you have to prepare and update the drive manually, the photos should be sized close to the TV's 4K, roughly 16:9 panel to avoid heavy cropping, and exactly how the slideshow behaves (timing, transitions, whether it counts as Art Mode) varies by model year and firmware.

• Cost: free
• Setup: load images on a USB drive and open it from the TV source menu
• Library: only your own files; update the drive manually
• Trade-off: manual prep; size photos near 4K 16:9 to avoid cropping

Choose the browser screensaver (Method 1) if you want the biggest free photo library and the least setup, and you do not mind the TV running in normal mode while it displays. Choose Art Mode (Method 2) if you want the lowest power draw, the framed-canvas look, and you are happy curating your own photos or paying for the Art Store. Choose USB (Method 3) if you want a fixed set of your own photos with no internet or account at all.

Many Frame TV owners use more than one: Art Mode as the everyday low-power standby, and a browser screensaver like FrameSaver when they want a fresh, rotating wall of landscapes or space photography without hunting for files or paying a subscription. They solve slightly different problems, so it is reasonable to keep both available.