Why a reviewer asks
A screen is a long-lived device in your building, and signage vendors are bought, merged and closed. In 2026 several signage vendors' cloud services stopped while their devices still worked. A review asks what happens to your screens and your data if the vendor goes away, and how you would leave if you chose to.
What happens, case by case
- 01
The service is unreachable
Applies to: ScreenlyOS
Files and schedules are stored on the device, so a screen keeps showing the right content at the right time, and switches playlists on schedule. It restarts its own networking or reboots if contact does not come back. Changes, and live content such as web pages, wait for the connection.
What a screen sends and stores - 02
Your subscription ends
Screens keep playing until the end of the period you paid for, then stop receiving and playing content. Content, playlists, screens and settings are kept, so subscribing again restores playback without rebuilding anything.
Cancelling - 03
Taking your content out
Every piece of content has a source address you can fetch through the API or the command-line tool, which exports a library without downloading it a file at a time.
Getting your content back - 04
The device itself
ScreenlyOS is built on Ubuntu Core and its support timeline is published, with the current version supported until 2034. ScreenlyOS also runs on Raspberry Pi, Scala players and Sharp displays, so a fleet is not tied to one piece of hardware.
Lifecycle and support
What a continuity review asks, and where Screenly stands
| Topic | Where Screenly stands |
|---|---|
| Screens keep playing in an outage | Yes, on ScreenlyOS devices |
| Data export | Yes, through the API and CLI |
| Published end-of-life dates | Yes |
| A written continuity and exit statement | Not published yet |
| Software escrow | Not stated |
Questions
What happens to our screens if Screenly is sold or stops?
Partly answered. Content and schedules are stored on ScreenlyOS devices and keep playing without the service, end-of-life dates are published, and Screenly has run since 2013. A written continuity and exit statement, with data export, is not published yet.
Do screens keep playing when the network goes down?
Yes. ScreenlyOS devices keep playing what they hold and switch playlists on schedule, and restart their own networking or reboot if contact with Screenly does not come back.
Are end-of-life dates published for the device software?
Yes. End-of-life dates for ScreenlyOS are published.
Is there an uptime SLA?
Partly. The Enterprise plan has a contracted support SLA with set response times. An uptime percentage is not published.