Since I replaced my Apple TV 1 with an Apple TV 2, and started using Flickr as the screensaver, I was wondering how I could use group photos or interesting photos from Flickr, instead of just a user’s photos, or the result of a search.
Today, I was able to hack it to do what I want!
(Note: You need a jailbroken Apple TV for this to work.)
I was able to find other workarounds, but none seemed to do what I really wanted, or they were simply not good ideas in the long run.
To do what I wanted, I forwarded all requests intended for api.flickr.com, which the Apple TV uses for the Flickr screensaver, to my own server. The simple PHP script I created to receive those requests then checks if the request is a search, and if so, if it contains specific strings, namely group:some group name or explore:. If it does, it will use the Flickr API to do a group search for some group name, and will return the photos of the first group found, or it will return photos from the Explore section, respectively. All other requests are simply forwarded to the Flickr API as-is.
Bonus: The Apple TV tries to load 100 pictures; my script returns 500! Less chance of seeing the same photos twice like this. 
Second bonus: It’s actually quite easy to return pictures from any other website like this, so my script could be easily modified to return photos from a Gallery3 website, or another photo site that has an API, or whatever.
Usage:
To use it yourself, the only thing you need is to force all requests to api.flickr.com to go though my server:
ssh [email protected] 'echo "184.107.141.122 api.flickr.com" >> /etc/hosts'
Note: The default password for root is alpine.
To use a group photos for your screensaver, enter group:some group name in the search option.
You’ll want to make sure the some group name you use returns the group you want to use as the first search result in the groups search on Flickr.
To use the Explore/Interesting photos, enter explore: in the search option.
Thanks for this, sounds fantastic! Exactly what I’ve been looking for. I’ll give this a shot tonight on my jailbroken ATV2.
Got it working! I spent some time searching, and have found (and saved) dozens of great Flickr groups with amazing photography. Thanks so much for this, these new, dynamic screensavers on my TVs really liven up my home with interesting, refreshing imagery.
Why Apple hasn’t built in a way for the stock AppleTV to do this (with Flickr groups, or with RSS Photo feeds) is beyond me.
Ideally I would love a way to link to a specific group (via it’s URL or name,) because in some cases I couldn’t come up with any appropriate search terms to get a specific group to show up as the first result. Still, as mentioned, I now have dozens saved… so I am very happy.
Thanks again!
Does this only populate the photos on Explore: at the time of the search or will it update with new photos each day?
Thanks.
It updates photos automatically every day. In fact, it updates them every time the screen saver starts, but they don’t update that often on Flickr.
Is your server down, by any chance? I ask because my AppleTV’s flickr screensaver (which has been working fine for many months) is now not working. When I go to “preview” the screen stays stuck on “Loading…” with a spinning wheel.
I actually have two jailbroken AppleTV’s, with the same setup, and both are now doing this. I have rebooted both, with no improvement. Any help?
Is it working now?
I see your IP address sending requests, and my server returns what appears to be valid responses.
Yes, thank you for checking. It is working now, whereas over the weekend it was not (on either AppleTV.) Happy to see the issue’s been resolved.