Roku is taking away a fan-favorite screensaver – but you have alternatives

ZDNET’s key takeaways

• Roku is removing its popular Aquatic Life screensaver.
• The screensaver has been on Roku for many years.
• Users have several alternatives for an aquarium replacement.

A fan-favorite Roku screensaver is going away, and users aren’t happy.

Over the last several days, users with the Aquatic Life aquarium screensaver set as the default have noticed a message appearing when the screensaver opens. “Starting Dec. 1, 2026,” the message reads, “the Aquatic Life screensaver will no longer be available, and your screensaver will switch to Roku City.”

Also: The free Roku City screensaver game has me hooked

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The screensaver, which displays a digital aquarium with tropical fish swimming back and forth, was available as a downloadable theme pack and was a popular pick for many years.

Users on Reddit quickly lamented the loss in many posts, with dozens noting that the aquarium was part of their daily routine. Roku responded to one post, saying, “That makes sense, and we hear you. Aquatic Life has a lot of loyal fans, and we’re passing your feedback along to the team.” The post noted that when “the fish swim off,” Roku devices with Aquatic Life will switch to Roku City.

You can browse to Settings > Theme > Screensaver to find another theme.

Alternatives to Roku Aquatic Life aquarium

If you’re looking for the exact screensaver, it’s still available as a 2-minute clip on Roku’s YouTube channel. It takes a few extra steps, but if you want to keep the screensaver running on your TV, you can create a YouTube playlist with just that video, set it to loop, and use the YouTube app on Roku whenever you want to see it.

Even though the announcement of the screensaver’s departure happened less than 24 hours ago, the comments section of that video is packed with users begging Roku to keep Aquatic Life.

Also: I started clearing my Roku cache, and it fixed my biggest TV complaint

Alternatively, you could open one of the many YouTube videos that have aquarium displays and let one of them run for as long as you want.

There are also several dozen aquarium apps for Roku. I checked out several of them, and while they don’t look exactly like the Roku one, they do fill the void. Note that if you opt for one of these, most of them do have ads that play before the aquarium starts.

Lastly, you can download the original app for your phone or computer from SereneScreen.

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