Start your screen automatically after a power cut

When the power comes back after a cut, three things have to happen without anyone touching the screen: the screen switches on, the device hooked up to it starts, and Screenbird opens and plays your content again. Set it up once per screen and test it with the plug.

Screenbird opens by itself

Amazon Signage Stick. Nothing to set. Screenbird is the CMS on the stick, so the stick opens Screenbird every time it starts.

Fire TV, Android and Google TV. When you open the app, it asks: Auto-start after power outage?

  1. Choose Yes, enable.
  2. In the screen that opens, turn on Display over other apps for Screenbird.
  3. Press Back on the remote to return to Screenbird.

Chose Not now while pairing? No problem: the app asks again every time you open it, until you have turned it on.

Windows, macOS and Linux. The Screenbird app starts by itself as soon as you sign in to the computer. That is on by default. To check: move the mouse to the top of the screen, click the gear icon and look at Start automatically. The computer itself also has to switch on by itself after a power cut and sign in automatically, otherwise the app can't start. Switching on by itself is a setting in the computer's BIOS, often called Restore on AC Power Loss.

Raspberry Pi. Nothing to set. The Screenbird installer takes care of this: after a restart, the Pi opens the player full screen by itself.

Web player in a browser. A browser tab doesn't open by itself after a power cut. For a screen that should always be on, use one of the apps above. Did you open the web player in your TV's browser? Then a stick is the reliable choice, see Which player app do I need.

The screen switches back on

Many TVs stay in standby when the power comes back. Look in your TV's settings for the option that decides what the TV does when the power returns, often under General or Power. The name differs per brand. Professional displays almost always have this option; not every consumer TV does.

Many TVs also switch themselves off when nobody has used the remote for a few hours. Turn that off too, in the TV's power settings.

Test it

  1. Pull the plugs of the screen and the device, or switch off the power strip.
  2. Wait 10 seconds and plug them back in.
  3. Wait a few minutes without touching anything. Screenbird plays again, and in the dashboard the screen is online again under Screens.

Does the screen stay dark, or do you see the TV's home screen? Then one of the steps above isn't set yet. On a few Android TV boxes, the device switches Display over other apps off again at every start. Screenbird can't come back by itself on such a box, and an Amazon Signage Stick is the reliable choice.

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