What the blackout screen does
The blackout screen fills your display with pure black and then gets out of the way: the mouse pointer hides after a second and a half, and the exit hint fades to almost nothing. To anyone looking, the screen appears to be off, but your computer, phone or tablet keeps working in the background.
People use it to:
- Play music or a podcast through a laptop or TV without a bright screen lighting up the room.
- Keep a download, upload or render running overnight without the screen glowing, and without the computer going to sleep.
- Save power and wear on OLED screens. Black OLED pixels are switched off completely, so a blackout screen uses very little power and doesn't age the panel.
- Darken a second monitor while you focus on the main one, or during a film night.
- Keep a phone awake during a long video call or navigation without draining the battery on a bright display.
How to use it
- Choose whether to keep the screen awake. Leave it ticked if you don't want your device to lock or sleep.
- Pick a sleep timer if you want the blackout to end on its own.
- Press Black out screen. To come back, press Esc, or double-click or double-tap anywhere.
Moving the mouse briefly shows the pointer again, then it hides once more. On a phone, a single tap shows a faint reminder of how to exit.
Blackout screen versus switching the display off
Most computers can switch the display off after a few minutes, but that usually also starts the countdown to sleep, and waking the screen means pressing a key or moving the mouse. The blackout screen keeps the computer fully awake and running while the screen shows nothing at all. It is also handy on devices that can't turn their display off on demand, such as some smart TVs, tablets used as music players, or a laptop connected to speakers.