Develop Bugs

Screen lock sought

I'm going mad here trying to find a screen Lock suitable to my needs. Can anyone please help? I want a simple screen lock, nothing fancy, no bells'n'whistles, but with the following two essential features.
1) Screen Lock is quickly unlocked with a simple screen swipe as soon as I either power on or slide open the device (ideally slide-opening would automatically unlock without requiring a swipe).
2) When running on external power the screen should unlock automatically and remain unlocked.
I've now auditioned PocketShield, Sunscape, TouchLockPro and S2U2 all of which may have one or other of those features, but none have both.
Can anyone please recommend anything else? Thank you.

1) In Pocketshield you can auto unlock by sliding QWERTY out if you create the following reg key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Pocketshield\ROTATE=1 (DWORD)
2) There is an option for it in settings.

Thanks for that. I've decided to give PocketShield another go and am auditioning it at the moment. Also I've changed my UI from Winterface to Spb Mobile Shell 3.5 because I wondered whether Winterface wasn't working well with PocketShield.
But here's my issue with PocketShield, perhaps somebody can please help?
If I open the slide keyboard I am able for a second or two to use the device as if it were not locked, before PocketShield "remembers" that is supposed to be on and then suddenly the device gets upset, slow, stuck, until I can find and unlock pocketShield. If I first power on and then slide open the keyboard, everything is fine, but everything stays in portrait, even though the keyboard is open. I can unlock PocketShield properly (though sideways) but then everything else is displayed in portrait, even though the keyboard is open.
I tried the reg tweak suggested, but found that that just caused even more confusion; portrait trying to change the landscape at the same time as the UI was trying to appear, at the same time as PocketShield was trying to put up its lock screen, basically chaos!
Any thoughts anyone, please?

My S2U2 v 2.42, has both of those options. Just go to Settings>Others
1. Action when connect to power>Unlock
2. Unlock when Keyboard is opened>On

Thanks. I've been trying out PocketShield all day and it seems that in its simplest terms there is a delay between switching on the unit and PocketShield realising it should be locking the screen, during which time it is possible to start an action which is then instantly stopped when PocketShield kicks in. Ridiculous.
I'll give S2U2 another shot now, cheers.

Smart unlock, its in the software worth installing section, does exactly what you want

I'm getting very frustrated here and beginning to think that my problem is nothing to do with one screen lock program or another, but with my unit.
Whichever screen lock I install, roughly 60% of the time the lock works as it should, but about 40% of the time there is a short period between powering on and the screen lock preventing me from doing anything. During this time it's possible to use the unit normally for a second or two until the screen lock kicks in, at which point often the unit gets confused, actions jam, and I often end up having to soft reset.
With all of the locks I've tried, if I open the keyboard and THEN power on, this also causes confusion.
Can anybody possibly shed any light on all this, please?

Could be that one of your installed applications is subscribed to the power on event and performs a very intensive processing each time device is turned on, delaying other subscriber apps such as lock screens. You might want to try uninstalling one by one to see if any culprit. Last resource is hard reset.

Thanks Pckshd. To be honest I've just had a rough day with the phone: it froze last night and on soft reset wouldn't boot up. This morning was the same story so eventually I was forced to do a hard reset. Then my most recent backup wouldn't restore, claiming there wasn't enough memory in the phone (how can that be? It was backed up from the phone!). Eventually I had to rebuild everything and right now haven't dared install any of the screen lock programs!
Is there not a registry entry anywhere that would show me which programs are taking priority over power on? My UI of choice, Winterface, as its own screen Lock, which is almost 100% reliable but regrettably continues to run went on mains power (I want one that unlocks on mains power, the desired feature that started all this off in the first place).

normal Lock Screen vs Locked Lock Screen behavior & trigger

I just want to get this straight because I actually thought the encryption settings on the phone were leading to the wonky behavior I noticed about the standard swipe away lock screen and a protected (PIN or whatever) lock screen... that led me to waste hours while the phone encrypted & then eventually screwed up during the decryption of my memory card.
Basically, the standard unprotected lock screen can just be wiped away - everyone knows that. But on every Android device I've owned up to this one (Hero, EVO, Nexus S, Photon, Evo 3D) when you set up a password lock you can set how long a time period passes before that actually kicks in. It seemed like this phone was no different, at first. I mean, there's a timer setting under the password lock options.
However, what I've been able to figure out is (and mentioned in another thread) the moment you set a password protected lock screen it replaces the standard swipe away lock screen all together. For reference, on other phones even if the password lock is triggered, when you turn on the phone the first thing you see is your standard lock screen and whatever information you have there - if you choose to swipe that away the lock screen you actually have to unlock is there. One of the reasons I don't like the implementation on this GS2 is because I actually like the large easy-to-glance clock and information on the lock screen (and missed call, msgs updates, etc). However, that's besides the point, which is that there's a setting for the password lock Timeout - which is screwy because it only takes effect if your screen turns itself off (on the timer set in the normal display screen timeout settings). If you turn the phone off yourself, the password protected lock screen is activated immediately.
I've found that having a 1-2 minute screen timeout is perfect because it lets me either be distracted for a bit while I do stuff on the phone (watch tv?) or try to show someone something on the phone without having to worry about it turning off on them. Normally it's not a problem because I instinctively turn off the screen myself when I'm done using it. In the few days I've had this phone I don't WANT to turn it off because I know I'll have to unlock it again. I usually love the security of a password lock but this seems inconvenient and, well, stupid.
So no password lock = lockscreen with useful information at a glance.
Set up a password lock = ^^ useful screen gone.
Password lock timeout only applies to the screen auto-shutoff = if you manually shut off your screen you HAVE to unlock it even if you turn it on a moment later.
I haven't really seen anyone say anything about this and I guess I'm a bit surprised by that. Again, one of the first things I did when I got the phone was transfer a larger capacity memory card to it that had a number or picture albums and movie transfers to it - then during the time I set up the phone I chose to set up a password lock, then encrypt it (took about 5 or 6 hours!). Since I did these things back to back I thought the encryption was the reason I had to unlock the phone almost every single time I turned it back on. It was only after I was playing with the settings (and eventually had to hard reset when the decryption process screwed up) that I see it didn't really have to do much with that at all. Well, aside from the fact that encryption requires a password lock, which leads to this whole thing. So anyway, yeah - that's like one of my only complaints about an otherwise killer device.

I'm gonna look into the framework when I get home. I remember seeing a bunch of lockscreen settings and triggers. Maybe its just a matter of changing a "true" to a "false"
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[Q] How to use the Epic 4G Touch

I need some form of manual, review, webpage, etc to be able to have my dad read up on how to use an Android phone. He has been asking very simple questions but for things that I won't be able to answer, I feel that it would be best for him to watch a review of the phone and it's capabilities, and the overall usability of Android.
Also, does anyone know how to change the default time out screen while currently on the lock screen. The lock screen doesn't follow the same time requirements that you set under the Display menu options. I have noticed that, but never have found a way to resolve it.
For clarification, when you power on the phone, you are presented with a lock screen. The time out for this (when the screen turns off) is considerably less then the selected options that you have chosen (I have 30 seconds for screen time out). Is there a way to raise this timeout?

GH0 said:
I need some form of manual, review, webpage, etc to be able to have my dad read up on how to use an Android phone. He has been asking very simple questions but for things that I won't be able to answer, I feel that it would be best for him to watch a review of the phone and it's capabilities, and the overall usability of Android.
Also, does anyone know how to change the default time out screen while currently on the lock screen. The lock screen doesn't follow the same time requirements that you set under the Display menu options. I have noticed that, but never have found a way to resolve it.
For clarification, when you power on the phone, you are presented with a lock screen. The time out for this (when the screen turns off) is considerably less then the selected options that you have chosen (I have 30 seconds for screen time out). Is there a way to raise this timeout?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This actually the point of the lockscreen. If you accidentally turn phone on while it's in your pocket, or after a bluetooth or missed phone call, the lockscreen is meant to quickly turn the phone off to conserve power.
Two ways to solve this problem for you. Either install a third party lockscreen software, like widgetlocker, or disable lockscreen completely with something like No Lock.

[Guide] A simple list of easy Quality-of-Life changes for your XZ1C!

Hey everyone! I just got an XZ1C myself a few days ago, and I'd like to share a few of the little quality of life changes I personally use to make the everyday experience with this phone more to how I like it. I figured maybe everyone could contribute a few ideas here and there to help other users deal with things they might be frustrated with, but not know a solution for.
A couple of notes - I gave up the root life a while ago, so all of these solutions are non-root! Also, some of these apps are paid apps (though they might have lite or free versions). Sorry! But as a software developer myself, I have the obligation to pay it forward when I find a nice app.
So here goes!
Making the volume keys default to Media Volume:
Having owned a Samsung phone before, this is one of the things I miss most in almost any other Android phone. But, as they say, there's an app for that! There's a very simple app called Media Volume Only (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=catchpower.gogo.mediavolumeonly&hl=en), which binds your volume keys to Media by default. It asks for Call permissions to see if you're in a call, where it will then bind the volume keys to call volume. Otherwise, it will always be Media, which is great!
However, that means there isn't a super easy way to changing your ring volume, unless you first press the volume key to bring up the sliders and hitting the down arrow to show the rest of the sliders....which brought me to:
Re-adding the missing Ring/Vibrate Mode switch to quick switches:
I am using Central Europe .374 + US oem file to get Fingerprint+VoLTE on T-mobile; I'm not sure if it's because of the CE1 region or whatever else, but I couldn't find any button in the quick settings that would just toggle the phone to ring mode, vibrate mode or silent.
To remedy this, I use Shortcutter (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.leedroid.shortcutter&hl=en). This allows you to enable a ton of different switches in the quick settings dropdown, though some of them may not work properly without root and only with other phones. After installing Shortcutter, swipe over to the "Pull-Down" tab, then hit "System Setting Tiles". In this list, scroll down and you'll find "Ring Mode". Turning this switch on will put the Ring Mode icon into the box of icons you can edit your quick settings with. Finally, pull down your quick settings, click the pencil icon to modify the quick settings and scroll down to find Ring Mode.
This way, it's easy to switch the phone to silent before going into a movie, or a meeting at work.
Fixing the crazy stock backlight control:
The stock backlight is a little crazy right now. It jumps around when the room is dark and it does not transition smoothly. A great app for controlling backlight is Lux (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vito.lux&hl=en). It even allows you to keep different profiles and define exactly how bright you want the screen to be in any lighting situation, and it will keep a map of your selections for you! You can control all sorts of variables, like how quickly it will transition, if it should only transition given what % of lighting change, so on and so forth. It's really very powerful and useful. I haven't had any trouble with the XZ1C display since installing Lux, which I've used on previous phones as well. Highly recommend this one! There's a free version called Lux Lite (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vitocassisi.luxlite&hl=en), but I've never tried it so YMMV.
Alternative for No Double Tap to Wake (or not having Ambient Display):
This is another one I have almost always used on phones that aren't Nexii/Pixel or Motorola. Gravity Screen (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.plexnor.gravityscreenofffree&hl=en) gives you a ton of different ways to automatically wake up the phone to the lockscreen. I find that using ONLY the Proximity Sensor setting to turn ON the screen (and turning everything else off) has negligible effect on the battery, and maintains extreme usefulness. With just that setting, when my phone is on the desk I can poke the phone where the proximity sensor is (as if I one-tap it) and it will wake up. If I take the phone out of my pocket, the phone turns on and is already waiting for me by the time I look at it. Super convenient!
UPDATE: Another user (quack3d) mentioned the app WaveUp(https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jarsilio.android.waveup) which does exactly how I have Gravity Screen set up. If you want just that, this seems to be a great and simpler alternative! Thanks!
If you want more options, it has all sorts of other things like turn on by motion, etc. etc....I personally don't use those though, so I can't vouch for how well they work.
Double Tap to Sleep
I'm pretty sure you have to pay for this one, but Nova Launcher Prime (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.teslacoilsw.launcher.prime&hl=en) is an incredible launcher, and it allows you to specify custom gestures on the desktop. The gestures can trigger all sorts of things, one of which is Screen Lock. If you select the Time-Out method of locking the screen, it will work with fingerprint unlocking.
Custom Auto-Rotation Switching:
Normally, I don't like auto-rotation. I use my phone a lot in bed (lying sideways), but I still want to use it in portrait. So, I prefer to have my phone default to NO auto-rotation. That being said, it's annoying when you pull up a funny gif or the photo album or youtube and you want to just flip your phone over to watch a video. Sure, you can drag down the quicksettings and flip that switch, but there's a better way! That's where Automate (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.llamalab.automate&hl=en) comes in! Automate allows you to program your phone to do just about anything (especially if you have root) based on custom triggers.
In Automate, if first select "More flows..." and search for a script called "Auto Enable Rotation" by the author Anthony Beaumont. Once you download this script and run it, it will present you with 2 options, either to "start" the script service, or to "modify" the list of apps. You'll want to "modify" the list of apps and start a new one. To this, you can add apps such as Album, Youtube, Twitch and whatever else you want to watch in landscape mode. Finally, once that's done, stop the script and start it again, but this time select "start". (You can also select in the 3 dot menu to have this script run at start-up. Highly recommended!) Now, when you open Album/Youtube/Twitch etc. the phone should automatically flip to auto-rotation.
Enter all your app and website passwords automatically with fingerprint:
For better or for worse, I keep all of my online passwords saved in Lastpass. It turns out that once you have an account and saved passwords, Lastpass has an incredible app (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lastpass.lpandroid&hl=en) that can pop up over Chrome and just about any other app on your phone that can fill in the username/password fields for you using your fingerprint! It doesn't work for all the different browsers out there (I just use Chrome), and there may have been a pay wall for the in-app password filling, I forgot (sorry!). That said, it's super convenient to head to any site and just tap the fingerprint to log in.
Additionally, if you're a Lastpass user already, they also have a Lastpass Authenticator (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lastpass.authenticator&hl=en) that works in place of the Google Authenticator (you can add Google Authenticator 2factor sites to the LastPass one), which is IMHO superior because the keys are linked to your account rather than to the physical phone. Also, if you have LP Authenticator + the Chrome addon on your PC/Mac, on some sites you don't even have to enter the Authenticator number, you can just press "approve" on your phone to get into the website on your PC. Awesome!
Send links from your PC to phone or phone to PC
Ever read something on your PC and wish you could link it to your phone super quickly and not have to go through emailing it to yourself? I use Pushbullet (Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pushbullet.android&hl=en PC: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pushbullet/chlffgpmiacpedhhbkiomidkjlcfhogd?hl=en), which allows you to directly link webpages from PC to phone and vice versa. Additionally, if you give it the permissions, it can hook up your phone's notifications to your Windows notifications (not sure about mac), including allowing you to read and send SMS from your PC. I believe it also has file transfer capabilities, but I don't use it.
I think that's it for now...I'll add more when I think of them. These are just a few of the mods I run which makes using the phone more effortless and enjoyable; please, feel free to add more and I'll add them to the list if there's something you want to share! Hope this helps someone out there!:highfive:

maidguitar said:
Re-adding the missing Ring/Vibrate Mode switch to quick switches:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alternative implementation that I use: Add a toggle on the home screen to quickly switch between Ring/Vibrate/Silent modes
First install Media-Mute [free & ad-free]. What this app does is automatically mute the media volume whenever the ringer volume is also muted, which applies to both Vibrate mode and Silent mode.
For some reason, since Android 4.x Google has decided that Silent mode should only apply to the ringer, instead of silencing everything that can make sounds out of the speaker. Media-Mute fixes that.
Next, install Silent Mode Toggle [free & ad-free], then add the widget on the home screen. Switching modes is now super easy, just tap on the toggle.
What I really appreciate about this app is that it allows customization to the toggle order. For example, I never use the vibrate mode, so I can set it to toggle between Ringer > Silent only.
As a bonus, it also lets you use your own custom icons for the toggle, super cool and makes it possible to perfectly complement your home screen layout.
Hide the annoying "running in the background" notification that comes with Android 8.0
With Android 8.0 Oreo, Google thought it would be a great idea to permanently remind you of any background processing currently running in the form of an impossible to dismiss notification.
While the intention was well meaning, the execution leaves a lot to be desired.
Thankfully, there's an app for that! Just install this cleverly named app Hide "running in the background" Notification [free & ad-free], problem solved!
Vibrate phone when call connects, ends
Yet another app to the rescue! VibCall [free & ad-free] brings this useful feature found on some OEM phones to any compatible Android device.
Basically, your phone will vibrate once to let you know that a call has connected, and twice when a call has ended. It's something that once you've used, you wonder why it's not baked into the Android system as a default option.
Add a fingerprint (Smart Lock) compatible screen lock toggle on the home screen
So Sony has unilaterally decided to remove double tap to sleep feature with no sign of bring it back. But I still want to turn off the screen and lock the device by tapping on the screen instead of waiting for the system to hibernate or hitting the power button.
The OP listed a paid solution which brings back double tap to sleep, but for those looking for a free alternative, this is the solution I'm currently using - Smart Screen Lock Pro [free & ad-free].
It's not a double tap anywhere convenience, but a toggle that is better than nothing, and most importantly it's compatible with fingerprint unlock. I've tried numerous screen off apps in the Play store, and this is the only one that I was satisfied with.
IMPORTANT: Take the time to carefully read and follow setup instructions, it's necessary for it to work properly due to OS restrictions. Once it's setup correctly, simply add a shortcut on the home screen and tap it to lock.
It's worth mentioning that it's not a true "instant" screen off and lock, but without root this is probably the best solution we'll get.
Non-root ad blocking
Ads are a necessary evil for the current economics of the Internet, but aside from the annoyance factor, they eat up precious mobile data, plus there's also very real security risks with ad networks, potentially hogging your phone's resources and draining the battery.
Whatever the argument, if you do decide to block ads, there are quite a lot of ad blockers to choose from.
Personally, I use dns66 [free & ad-free]. In my experience, it's very lightweight, and I haven't seen any ads in my browser or apps.
It does have its quirks though, sometimes downloads fail, such as OTA update or file in browser, for one reason or another (the author says it's a bug with the Android OS itself, see linked post).
But it's easy to workaround, just temporarily disable dns66 by tapping pause on the notification, and download again. After download has completed, tap the notification again to resume.
By the way, this is also the main reason I installed the hide background notification app.

Screen Lock Key Pad Auto Show

Hi all,
I've got a really annoying feature on my screen lock where my keypad will auto-show and if I enter my PIN I'll be launched direct into the app at the time. I hate this feature and want to disable it, but I'm not sure which setting controls this. Did I say I absolutely hate this feature and it drives me nuts hence why I'm posting here.

Its not 100% clear what you mean.
Your lock screen activates and when you unlock it via pin you get put back into the app that was running before screen lock activated, when you'd prefer it to go back to the home screen?.
That is normal behaviour. There is no way to change it without causing an even bigger nuisance, which would be to kill all apps upon leaving them, which will make your phone run slow.
I could recommend an app by htc called "boost+" which can kill apps automatically if you apply the background optimizers to "always off" which will attempt to kill apps when you leave them. This is less intrusive than using developer settings to kill all apps. It may work, it may not.

Hi, thanks for replying.
Yeah sorry it is a little difficult to articulate this behavior.
So when I want to go back into my phone from the screen off / sleep state, I hit the power button to turn the screen on and wake the device up. When I do this the screen lock keypad opens and if I enter my pin I'll be taken into an application. Mind you this doesn't happen all the time. It generally happens when I've received a notification e.g. hangouts message, an sms, missed call notification, email and so on. I'm sure this behavior wasn't happening before. I can't remember if I changed a setting, or there's been an update to the lock screen from HTC. Either way I want to turn this feature off, I don't want the phone controlling me, I want to control the phone.
shivadow said:
Its not 100% clear what you mean.
Your lock screen activates and when you unlock it via pin you get put back into the app that was running before screen lock activated, when you'd prefer it to go back to the home screen?.
That is normal behaviour. There is no way to change it without causing an even bigger nuisance, which would be to kill all apps upon leaving them, which will make your phone run slow.
I could recommend an app by htc called "boost+" which can kill apps automatically if you apply the background optimizers to "always off" which will attempt to kill apps when you leave them. This is less intrusive than using developer settings to kill all apps. It may work, it may not.
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