1. Introduction

There may be times when you need your Mac's screen to stay on for an extended period without automatically going to sleep. This could be useful during presentations, watching videos, or when using your Mac as a display for certain tasks. By adjusting a few settings, you can ensure your screen stays active.

2. Checking Your Settings

First, make sure you know where to find the settings that control your Mac's screen sleep behavior. Here's how to access the necessary settings:

• Click the Apple logo in the top-left corner of your screen.
• Select System Preferences from the drop-down menu.
• In the System Preferences window, click on Energy Saver (on macOS Mojave and earlier) or Battery (on macOS Catalina and later).

3. Adjust Energy Saver / Battery Settings

The Energy Saver or Battery settings control how your Mac behaves when inactive. To prevent your Mac from going to sleep and turning off the display, follow these steps:

For macOS Mojave and earlier:

• Open System Preferences and click on Energy Saver.
• In the Energy Saver menu, drag the Turn display off after slider to Never.

For macOS Catalina and later:

• Open System Preferences and click on Battery.
• Click on the Power Adapter tab.
• Uncheck the box next to Put hard disks to sleep when possible.
• Drag the Turn display off after slider to Never.

This will prevent your Mac's display from automatically turning off after a period of inactivity.

4. Adjusting Hot Corners (Optional)

For some users, enabling Hot Corners to prevent screen sleep is useful. With this feature, you can assign a corner of the screen to keep the display awake when the cursor is moved there. Here's how to enable it:

• Open System Preferences.
• Click on Mission Control.
• Click on Hot Corners in the bottom-left corner.
• Set one of the corners to Disable Screen Saver or Put Display to Sleep.

By moving the cursor to that corner, you can prevent the screen from going to sleep.

5. Using "Caffeinate" Command (Advanced Option)

If you prefer using the Terminal, macOS offers the caffeinate command, which prevents the system from going to sleep. This can be useful if you want to temporarily stop the system from sleeping without changing settings permanently:

• Open Terminal (found in Applications > Utilities).
• Type 'caffeinate' and press Enter.

This command will keep the Mac awake as long as the Terminal window is open and the command is running. To stop it, simply close the Terminal window or press Ctrl + C.

6. Battery Life Considerations

Keeping your Mac's screen on continuously will consume more power, especially if the brightness is high. To manage battery life, consider the following tips:

• Lower screen brightness: Adjust the brightness of the display by pressing the F1 key (decrease) or F2 key (increase) on the keyboard, or go to System Preferences > Displays to adjust manually.
• Use the Battery Preferences: Set a battery schedule if you want to ensure that your Mac conserves energy when you're not using it.
• Keep background apps to a minimum: Close unnecessary apps that may be consuming power.

7. Conclusion

By following these steps, you can easily keep your Mac's screen on whenever you need it. Whether it's for presentations, watching videos, or working with your Mac as a display, disabling sleep mode ensures that your screen remains active. Remember to keep an eye on battery life and adjust settings accordingly to manage power consumption.

8. FAQs

Q1: The screen still goes to sleep even after setting it to "Never", what should I do?

If your Mac still goes to sleep despite adjusting the settings, make sure that no screen saver is enabled under System Preferences > Desktop & Screen Saver. Also, check that Low Power Mode or other power-saving options are not enabled.

Q2: Are there any differences in settings between different macOS versions?

The steps provided are valid for macOS Mojave through macOS Monterey. If you are using macOS Ventura or later, the settings may be slightly different, but the basic principles remain the same.