How to use it
- Choose a surround: brick, stone, or Flames only for a close up fire on black.
- Set the fire size from Small to Roaring, and the flame color.
- Tick Crackling sound if you want audio. It starts quiet and is off until you turn it on.
- Click the fire or press F for full screen. The up and down arrow keys change the fire size. Click or press Esc to exit.
- Set a sleep timer if you are going to bed: the fire burns down slowly and the sound fades out when time is up.
How to put the fireplace on your TV
- Smart TV browser. Open this page in the TV's own web browser and choose Full screen. Nothing to install.
- Cast a Chrome tab. On a computer, open the Chrome menu, choose Cast, pick your TV or streaming stick and cast the tab, then go full screen. A cast tab also sends its sound, so the crackle plays through the TV speakers.
- HDMI cable. Plug a laptop into the TV, set the display to mirror or extend, drag this window to the TV and go full screen. This is the most reliable way and gives the sharpest picture.
- AirPlay. On a Mac, iPhone or iPad use Screen Mirroring to an AirPlay TV, then open this page in full screen.
Tip: turn the TV's picture mode to a warm setting (often called Movie or Cinema) and lower the backlight a little. The fire looks more natural and the room glows orange instead of blue.
Keeping the screen on
While the fire is in full screen the page asks your device to keep the screen awake, so a laptop or tablet should not dim or lock after a few minutes. Most current browsers support this. If your screen still goes dark, plug the device in and check its power settings, since some battery saver modes ignore the request. A TV's own sleep or eco timer is separate: switch it off in the TV's settings if the TV turns itself off.
With the sleep timer on, the page stops keeping the screen awake once the fire has burned down, so your device can sleep as normal.
Why this fire does not loop
Most fireplace videos are a clip of a few minutes that repeats, and you start to notice the same log pop again and again. Here the flames are generated from moving noise patterns on your graphics chip, and the crackle is made from random bursts of sound, so no two minutes look or sound the same. There is no video to download, which also means it starts instantly and uses little data, and it keeps working offline once the page has loaded.
On older or slower machines the fire drops to a lower resolution by itself to stay smooth. If the page cannot use the graphics chip at all, it switches to a simpler particle fire.
Questions
Is the virtual fireplace free?
Yes. It is free, with no sign up and nothing to install. It runs in any current web browser on a TV, computer, tablet or phone.
How do I get the fireplace on my TV?
Open this page in your smart TV's browser, cast the browser tab from Chrome, use AirPlay from an Apple device, or connect a laptop to the TV with an HDMI cable. Then choose Full screen.
Can I have the crackling sound without the fire getting louder over time?
Yes. The sound stays at the volume you set. It is generated live, so it never loops, and it fades out gently when the sleep timer ends.
Does it give off heat?
No. It is a picture of a fire on your screen: no heat, no smoke and no real flame, only the light of the screen itself.
Will it drain my laptop battery?
Moving pictures use more power than a still screen, so plug in for long sessions. Lowering the brightness slider and the fire size helps a little.
How do I exit full screen?
Click or tap anywhere on the fire, or press Esc.