[Android Central Question]

Brand new phone, just got it out the box. The screen is only staying on for 10 seconds before going into timeout mode / idle. I have it set to "10 minutes" but the phone is going into time out in 10 seconds. I even enabled to keep phone on as long as I'm looking at it, and nothing works. Can someone please help? Thanks

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! You're talking about when it's on the homescreen, and not the lockscreen, correct? Any power-saving modes turned on?

[jb1123]

Hi. No, not the homescreen. When the phone is on during normal use, if the phone is idle for 10 seconds, the screen dims and then the screensaver comes on with the clock. It will do this everything the phone is idle for 10 seconds, regardless of what I set the screen lock to (currently set to 10 mins).

I have not enabled power savings, this is how the phone is out the box.

[jb1123]

Also, just to clarify - the phone will do this regardless what screen its on, be it the homescreen, settings, even Google Hangouts. If the phone is idle for 5 seconds, the screen dims, then the the phone goes to screensaver mode (shows the clock). Once this happens, I have to unlock the phone again.

[SpookDroid]

Have you tried changing to a different time-out like 30 seconds? Does it work or does it time out in 10 all the time? What if you disable Always On Display (that's what I'm assuming you mean by Screen Saver since there are no clock screen savers included in the S9)?

Did you install any screen saver apps or battery savers? Or maybe a corporate account that might be overriding settings for security? What if you are watching a video (local or on YouTube, for instance), does the screen go off as well? (Video apps should override that while playing as they keep the device awake)

[Mr_Spencer]

Brand new phone, just got it out the box. The screen is only staying on for 10 seconds before going into timeout mode / idle. I have it set to "10 minutes" but the phone is going into time out in 10 seconds. I even enabled to keep phone on as long as I'm looking at it, and nothing works. Can someone please help? Thanks

Did u install a screen protector? If so, is it possible that it is partially or fully blocking the proximity or ambient sensors on the top? That's one thing that could cause your issue if your settings are all correct.

[SpookDroid]

Oh, yeah, if that's the case (as the above poster mentions), try disabling the option that keeps your phone from working in the dark (meant to be a 'pocket protection' thing so you don't accidentally press things while in your pocket, but this uses the light and proximity sensors to turn the screen off and if those are blocked, they would override the timeout).

[jb1123]

Thank you for the replies. The problem is now gone. I was doing a remote assistance with Samsung support, and for some reason the "screen timeout" was not working, not even they could figure out why. As a last resort, we ended up doing a factory reset on the phone, and the problem finally went away... The screen does not sleep every 10 seconds anymore.. The only problem now is that I'm not sure what the root of the problem was, but for sure it must have been relating to an app. When I got the phone this morning, I installed my Google account which installed 65 apps, and then I had the issue. So there must have been a conflict with one of them.

After the factory reset I just did, I linked my Samsung and Google account but did not install any of the apps and bingo - the screen does not time out anymore - the "10 minute" screen time out option takes effect and works as it should.

I hope this information helps anyone with a similar issue.

[Markperry123]

hey i had the same problem i just found a fix i downloaded an app called stay alive now the screen stay on till i lock it not no 10 second even though i had it set for 30 mins, it was the same for my essential phone

[John Busby]

I've found the problem it's also linked to your secure lock or how long it takes to need a pass word just switch that to the 10 min then your screen sleep to 10 min and it fixes your problem.

[Emily Beitzel]

Hello, I am just now having the same problem after owning the phone for a year or so. Did you ever figure out which app could be the problem? I notice that each morning my phone automatically switches to even though I changed it that day to 10 minutes. So I'm assuming when something updates overnight, it switches back to the shorter time. I have yet to do any kind of factory reset on my phone as well.