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A lot of apps keep my phone's screen on (for example, youtube). Does Pokemon Go do the same thing? I'm asking because when I play the game, my screen turns off after a few seconds. I have to keep touching the screen so it won't turn off. The problem is that when I touch the screen, I lose the orientation that I am facing when I'm in "compass mode." If it is supposed to stay on, is there a setting or something that keeps it on?

I saw this question and answer which says that you are supposed to keep the game open to hatch an egg. Does that mean you have to keep touching the screen to keep it active?

I mostly just want to verify if it is a problem with my phone and it stays on for other players. I'm on android.

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    It stay on for me, but im on ios
    – Dragonrage ♦
    Commented Jul 8, 2016 at 23:37
  • There's a "battery saver" mode in the settings menu, but that just turns the screen black (not off) when the phone is turned upside-down. Maybe this is a system-level issue?
    – pushasha
    Commented Jul 9, 2016 at 3:33
  • I experience the same behaviour. I wonder if this is a bug, because I am quite certain that when I installed Pokemon GO, it asked for app permission "Prevent phone from sleeping". If it requests that permission, that functionality must be available somehow. If it isn't, it is probably a bug. I don't think the app would ask for permissions that it doesn't use.
    – Alderath
    Commented Jul 19, 2016 at 6:06
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    @Alderath hmm interesting. I didn't notice the permissions that it requires when I installed it. Hopefully it gets fixed in a future update. For now I just increased my timeout setting to 10 minutes as explained in Josh1billion's answer.
    – Cave Johnson
    Commented Jul 19, 2016 at 16:28
  • Interestingly this bug still isn’t fixed — not that anybody would still care. But it’s odd that this was only implemented on iOS and not Android.
    – Konrad Rudolph
    Commented Sep 26, 2016 at 9:16

5 Answers 5

Reset to default
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It doesn't, so you'll have to update your system settings.

On Android, the setting should be located somewhere like this, but might vary slightly depending on which phone you're using:

Settings -> My Device -> Display -> Screen Timeout

If your phone is like mine, you might find that the highest the inactivity timeout can be raised is to 10 minutes. If that's a problem, you can install an app to keep your phone from timing out instead.

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  • Thanks. I guess my timeout setting was lower than most people (15 seconds) because no one else had a problem with it.
    – Cave Johnson
    Commented Jul 9, 2016 at 16:24
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    Note that (with developer settings enabled) you can increase this limit to "always stay on", but only when it's connected to a charger. Quite useful if you're walking around with a powerbank.
    – Stephan Bijzitter
    Commented Jul 16, 2016 at 22:58
  • On ios the phone stays on while playing but there's a Battery Saver mode in which the screen basically goes black when the phone's turned upside down like when its in a pocket but it still vibrates on sight of pokemon
    – Riftcaster
    Commented Jul 24, 2016 at 19:47
  • BatterySaver works on Android as well, I'm setting my timeout around 10 minutes, but make sure to use the battery saver mode to reduce power usage. If I had a newer phone (Currently on a MotoX2013) with more RAM, I would most likely get a secondary app (like a few mentioned here) that would allow for the game to run on a "blank/black" screen.
    – NBN-Alex
    Commented Jul 30, 2016 at 8:41
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    On Android 6 (Nexus 5X) its inside Settings > Display > Sleep (with a maximum value of 30 minutes)
    – RPDeshaies
    Commented Aug 9, 2016 at 20:13
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Full disclosure: I am the author of the app I'm about to recommend. The link is below.

Wakey is an Android app that is built to keep your screen on, on your terms. I've worked very hard to make it work well and be simple to use, and gives you lots of options which may improve battery life while using Pokemon Go. It works better than the "Battery Saver" mode included in Pokemon Go, which only really works when the screen is upside down. Wakey works in any orientation.

You can choose a mode that will allow the best combination of screen and battery - you can choose CPU only (this allows the screen to shut off, but the phone stays awake. I'm not 100% sure this is compatible with Pokemon Go, but if not...), or you can choose "Minimal Brightness" mode, which lowers your screen to the lowest brightness, but keeps it on. Finally, there's "Allow Dimming" mode, which lets the screen go partially dim, but not fully dim or off. I would recommend trying the modes in that order, as they are listed in the order of most battery saving.

With Wakey, you can set it to keep your screen on manually, or as long as Pokemon Go is on screen (or any app or apps you choose), or as long as the device is charging (the Auto features require in-app upgrade to Premium, but everything else I'm talking about here is free).

Android users can download it here

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  • This works great!
    – Chris Rae
    Commented Jul 14, 2016 at 21:43
  • Have you been able to confirm if the CPU only mode is compatible?
    – ivanatpr
    Commented Jul 19, 2016 at 19:17
  • At the moment, it seems not. However, I'm looking into a couple solutions. I'll update if I can get it working.
    – jkane001
    Commented Jul 19, 2016 at 19:29
  • Will translate to a new language for a premium version of the app, if that interests you
    – Ozh
    Commented Aug 13, 2016 at 17:11
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For those on Android 6.0 and up, you can use the quick tiles to add a screen on flag using the Tiles app.

Note: No relation to the developer, just own the app. I purchased it because I don't want a running service eating my system resources like some of the other options listed.

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Changing global screen settings should not be done for one app only, this also drains ones battery faster out of Pokemon.

The best app I have come across to keep my screen on is Keep Screen On!, it requires no other rights than 'prevent phone from sleeping'. It is super simple and small. It is completely free, there are no in app purchases.

You can chose 'SCREEN_DIM_WAKE_LOCK'. The CPU stays on, but the screen dims completely until you touch it again. So you get notified when a Pokemon is nearby, but you need less battery, because your screen is not continuously bright.

Keep Screen On!

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In settings, under Device heading go to battery& power saving,g o to battery usage and go into ignore battery optimization. Toggle on apps that you want to override your screen. You don't need any third party apps I am using an lg g5.

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