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Flying Toasters Screensaver

The After Dark classic. Chrome toasters with bat-wings.

Press F for fullscreen

About Flying Toasters Screensaver

The iconic Berkeley Systems After Dark screensaver from 1989, faithfully recreated for the browser. Chrome toasters with flapping bat-wings soar diagonally across a pure-black sky, periodically popping golden-brown toast from their slots. Five toasters at staggered sizes create a parallax depth effect — closer ones are larger and faster, distant ones drift lazily. Every toaster has independent wing-flap timing, flight angle, and toast-pop interval so the flock never looks synchronized. Pure canvas rendering, no assets, no download.

The Original Screensaver Classic

Flying Toasters was the flagship screensaver in Berkeley Systems' After Dark package, first released in 1989 for the Apple Macintosh. It became the most recognizable screensaver in computing history — more iconic than the bouncing DVD logo, more beloved than the Windows 3D pipes. The original featured chrome toasters with bat-like wings flying across a black screen, a whimsical image that captured the playful spirit of early Macintosh culture. This recreation preserves every detail: the chrome gradient body, the twin bread slots, the lever on the side, the membrane-veined bat wings, and the periodic toast ejection with gravity-affected arc.

Nostalgia, Retro Decor, and Themed Spaces

Retro computing museums, themed bars, vintage game stores, and 80s/90s nostalgia events use Flying Toasters on wall-mounted displays to evoke the golden age of personal computing. The screensaver is instantly recognizable to anyone who used a Macintosh in the early 1990s, making it a conversation starter at tech meetups, LAN parties, and retro-gaming conventions. Content creators filming tech-history videos use it as B-roll or transition backgrounds. The whimsical, non-threatening aesthetic works in spaces where edgier retro content would be inappropriate — schools, family events, corporate break rooms.

Relaxing Ambient Display for Secondary Monitors

Flying Toasters has a gentle, non-repetitive motion that works beautifully as an ambient display on secondary monitors. Unlike rapidly changing visuals, the toasters drift slowly across the screen with a slight sinusoidal wobble, and the wing-flapping animation is rhythmic without being hypnotic. The pure-black background is OLED-friendly — zero power draw on black pixels — and prevents burn-in on any panel technology. The occasional toast pop adds just enough visual surprise to keep the display interesting without demanding attention.

Pro Tip: Fullscreen on a Dark Room for Maximum Impact

The toasters were designed for a black screen in a dim room — that is how the original After Dark looked on a 1990 Macintosh SE. Go fullscreen (press F), dim the lights, and let the chrome reflections and flapping wings fill your peripheral vision. The contrast between the bright chrome bodies and the pure-black background creates a striking visual that reads well even from across the room. On OLED displays, the black pixels are truly off, making the chrome toasters appear to float in empty space.

How to use it

  1. 01

    Go fullscreen

    Press F. The black sky fills the entire display and the toasters fly edge to edge.

  2. 02

    Watch the toast pop

    Every few seconds, a toaster ejects a slice of golden toast that arcs upward then falls with simulated gravity.

  3. 03

    Enjoy the flock

    Five toasters at different sizes and speeds create natural depth. Larger ones are closer and faster; smaller ones drift in the background.

Frequently asked

The shortest path between you and the answer.

Is this the original After Dark screensaver?

It is a faithful browser-based recreation. The original was a native Macintosh application written in 1989 by Berkeley Systems. This version recreates the same visual behavior — chrome toasters, bat-wings, toast ejection, diagonal flight — using HTML5 Canvas.

Why do the toasters have wings?

The original After Dark designers chose bat-wings as a whimsical visual gag — toasters don't fly, so giving them wings was deliberately absurd. The wings became the most memorable element and the reason the screensaver stuck in popular culture for decades.

Will this cause burn-in on my OLED display?

No. The background is pure black (#000000), which means OLED pixels are completely off. The toasters move continuously so no single pixel stays lit for long. This screensaver is one of the safest possible choices for OLED displays.

Is this tool free?

Yes. Every ScreenTools.co tool is free, with no account, no paywall, and no install.

Does it work on mobile?

Yes. Layouts adapt to phone and tablet screens. Mobile Safari restricts true fullscreen, but the page fills the viewport and you can add the page to your Home Screen for an app-like experience.

Does it work offline?

Once a tool's page has loaded once, the runtime is local. A few tools that fetch fonts or icons need the first hit online; after that, refresh works offline.

Does this collect my data?

No personal data leaves your browser. The site has lightweight, privacy-respecting analytics for aggregate counts (which tool was opened) and nothing else.

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