By default your TRMNL moves to the next screen in your playlist every time it wakes up. Hold screen changes that. Your device keeps showing the same screen, with fresh data, until you press the button. Then it moves to the next screen and keeps that one.
This is useful when one screen matters more than the rest, or when you want to flip through your playlist by hand.
Prerequisites
A TRMNL OG or TRMNL X
TRMNL firmware 1.8.0 or later
Step 1 - Open your playlist
Inside TRMNL, go to Playlists and pick the device you want to change. Hold screen is set per device, so each device can behave differently.
Step 2 - Turn on Hold screen
Click Hold screen in the bar above your playlist.
The button stays highlighted while it is on. Click it again to go back to the normal rotation.
Step 3 - Move between screens
On a TRMNL OG, press the button on the back. On a TRMNL X, tap the touchbar. Your device shows the next screen in your playlist and holds it there.
Step 4 - You're Done!
Your device still wakes up on its usual refresh rate. Each time it does, it redraws the screen you are on with the latest data, but it does not move on. Restarting the device also moves it to the next screen.
Troubleshooting
I don't see the Hold screen button.
It only appears for a TRMNL OG or TRMNL X running TRMNL firmware 1.8.0 or later. Update your firmware from the device settings, then wait for the device to check in once. Devices on other firmware (BYOD and BYOS) do not show it.
My device moved to another screen on its own.
Hold screen skips a screen it cannot show. This happens when the held screen is outside its schedule in the playlist, or when it has nothing to display. Check the playlist item's schedule, then press the button to get back to it.
The held screen shows old data.
A held screen redraws with the latest data the plugin has. How often that data changes depends on the plugin's own refresh rate, not on Hold screen. Click "Force Refresh" on the plugin settings page to update it now.