Can't alarms set on Android phones wake the device from an off position?

I just tested my new Samsung S5 and an alarm I set did not work with the phone turned off. This is disappointing as it's a feature mobile phones have had for 30 years. Is there a secret handshake or setting I don't know about?

Huh?

If the phone is powered OFF, there is no way this side of Mars that it will ever function as an alarm clock.

You have your facts a bit mixed up.

OFF means just that, it is not powered on at all. And not even the FBI or the CIA can do a darn thing about turning it on either.
OFF is OFF....

Some phones may have some kind of Sleep Mode, but none of the cell phones that I have owned over the years had a function like that. Once powered OFF, it is just like as if you removed the battery.

I have at one time or the other, owned Nokia, Motorola, Samsung (of course) and a few others whose names are no longer with us. Never owned a Blackberry though.

My old blackberry q10 can do it though

Posted via the Android Central App

I have MacroDroid installed on my phone, and I do have it set for a Quite Time between 10 PM and 6 AM.

No calls, no message notifications allowed while I am asleep.

However, the phone is very much alive (screen locked).

I can understand that some devices may very well have the clock function still running, and the rest of the phone completely powered down.... but, as I said before, none of the devices that I have owned possessed that feature.

I just reviewed MacroDroid to see if it would power the phone off, and it will not..

Interesting response considering I've had Blackberry, HTC, Nokia and Siemens phones that all had this capability. Still hoping for some helpful information.

Hmm. I've had numerous phones over the years, Windows and Android, and not one of them could ever turn the phone back on from a powered off state using the alarm. That would be a nifty feature.

Originally Posted by AZgl1500

Huh?

If the phone is powered OFF, there is no way this side of Mars that it will ever function as an alarm clock.

Not even this side of another universe. Maybe on the other side of another universe.

Some people don't understand the difference between "off, but the CPU and real time clock are still running at very low power", and "off - nothing but the power button can do anything".

BTW, not even Tasker with Secure Settings will turn the phone off. Turn it on when it's off? Talk about lifting yourself by your bootstraps. If it's off, people, it can't tell what time it is - the computer has to be running to know that it's time to sound the alarm. Dead CPUs tell no alarms, and "off" is "dead". Try giving yourself CPR after your heart stops.

Originally Posted by Rukbat

Not even this side of another universe. Maybe on the other side of another universe.

Some people don't understand the difference between "off, but the CPU and real time clock are still running at very low power", and "off - nothing but the power button can do anything".

BTW, not even Tasker with Secure Settings will turn the phone off. Turn it on when it's off? Talk about lifting yourself by your bootstraps. If it's off, people, it can't tell what time it is - the computer has to be running to know that it's time to sound the alarm. Dead CPUs tell no alarms, and "off" is "dead". Try giving yourself CPR after your heart stops.

Quite correct.

I have 3 old phones, all of which have been turned OFF to preserve the batteries.

And, on all three of those phones, when the device is powered up, the Date/Time display is wrong by months or years depending on how long that device is OFF since last used.

Not intending to gore anyone's ox but apparently this whole topic/issue comes as a surprise to some. For those interested in actually learning more about this issue, you might be interested in googling something like "mobile phones with alarm clock that wakes the phone up from an off position" before spouting off further. As another blogger aptly put it, "So, until I hear something official from google/Samsung I'm considering this a bug."

Originally Posted by sdmcnx

As another blogger aptly put it, "So, until I hear something official from google/Samsung I'm considering this a bug."

if you're gonna quote someone, at least do it right. the original line goes "So, until i hear something official from google/htc/t-mobile I'm considering this a bug.". and i'm not tryin' to be smart either, just saying.

also, i'm guessing that you have read some of the comments in "that" thread but still failed to digest the explanations and went on here to ramble. let me just paste some very insightful ones, just in case you missed 'em:

THe simple fact is that the G1 is a smart phone.. and Android is an open source platform that runs independent (for the most part) of the hardware that it is. The phones that fire off alarms even when off have it written into their BIOS.. so the long short of it is that Android does not do this, the BIOS is the G1 domain and someone would have to alter HTC's settings along with Android to interact with them...

As far as I can understand Android does not currently support waking up from a power off condition based on an alarm set in the Alarm Clock application, or indeed any application. Perhaps it will support this functionality eventually, but at this time it simply doesn't.
As long as the hardware is in place, it wouldn't be very hard to add this functionality to Android.

Many Smartphone Dont Support this Because when Phone is off the OS is Completely Shut down so it can not send any Timer Events. If your Phone had BIOS kind of this These have done but i think in never Future only for Alarm this Major Hardware changes will not be Possible


and to answer your original query, NO. you did not miss any secret handshake as there is none to begin with. The End

And you just backed up what I said before.

Unless the device has a specific "Sleep Mode" builtin to it, it is not possible for the CPU to trigger a clock event, as the CPU will not have any power to it when OFF.


As you stated, the "Sleep Mode" is a BIOS specific ROM program, that can indeed turn the Android/iOS phone/device ON/OFF.

And, none of the devices that I have owned over the past 20 years have had that capability.

My HTC One M7 would and could power on when the alarm was set when it was on jellybean.
KitKat did not allow that feature.
i miss this feature

I was 100% percent it was not possible, until I read snocone's post and I tried it. It works on jellybean, yes! I usually put my phone in Ultmate saver mode to keep the phone alive through the night.

I have a Chinese Arcapel smartphone with Android 4.0.0 and when it's powered down and totally turned
off, it powers on by itself believe it or not, turns on and starts the alarm buzzing.

I also have a Samsung Galaxy Grand 2 with Android 4.2.2 that does not do this. Go figure.
So never say never...

Originally Posted by ATHensDJ

I have a Chinese Arcapel smartphone with Android 4.0.0 and when it's powered down and totally turned
off, it powers on by itself believe it or not, turns on and starts the alarm buzzing.

I also have a Samsung Galaxy Grand 2 with Android 4.2.2 that does not do this. Go figure.
So never say never...

are you the OP who signed up to a different account so you can get back to this issue? i mean what are the odds of someone just joining a forum and unearthing a long-buried thread? hmmm. you may or may not answer that, totally up to you
re:alarm >> anyway! of course yeah, nothing's impossible i guess

Hi, yes it is very disappointing. It is a flaw in Samsung phones.

I was using a blackberry curve and then a Xolo Android phone which used Android 4.3.
With the android phone, I would switch off the phone at night and the phone would automatically come on 15 secs before the alarm time and the alarm would start ringing. Too bad, a big entity like Samsung hasn't thought of this.

This seems to be a Android 4.4.4 bug. By any chance are you also using Android 4.4.4 or later version?

Does anyone have idea about this.
Almost ALL. I repeat ALL phones have their alarms ringing even when the phones are switched off.

Originally Posted by Sunshine Man

This seems to be a Android 4.4.4 bug. By any chance are you also using Android 4.4.4 or later version?

Does anyone have idea about this.
Almost ALL. I repeat ALL phones have their alarms ringing even when the phones are switched off.

Totally agree with you, all my phones\smartphones have this feature, even my both ZTE´s can wake up from Off state and run the alarm.. All my phones (non smartphones) that i had have this feature, only one did not work this way.. and it was a Samsung.

Now i have another Samsung (Galaxy Grand Prime) and... guess! The feature is missing too. For me is a feature, the phone could have one option and ask the user if he want Really Shutdown or Shutdown with Alarm Set.. something like that.. its my opinion!

Yes, expensive smartphones from Samsung and Apple lack this essential feature.

One reason I went with Alcatel Onetouch Idol 3 running Lollipop 5.0.2. They wisely implemented their own solution in ROM.

Even if I forgot to charge it and the smartphone powers off during the night, there's usually still enough juice left in the battery for the real-time clock (RTC) to trigger the alarm. The alarm sounds at the preset time, then the phone powers off again immediately.

Brilliant feature!

This feature is available in lenovo a6000 plus.
We can set alarm and shutdown the phone completely, and the phone will boot up a minute before your alarm time..
Also there is option to schedule the shutdown and boot up of the phone. I am really missing this feature on my samsung alpha.

If lenovo can do it, why not samsung.. ?

The old Nokias can do it.....people tell me it can be done on an Samsung S5 but it doesn't...very disappointing.
It was suggested that maybe if a charger is plugged in it will work but still no luck.

Originally Posted by AZgl1500

Huh?

If the phone is powered OFF, there is no way this side of Mars that it will ever function as an alarm clock.

You have your facts a bit mixed up.

OFF means just that, it is not powered on at all. And not even the FBI or the CIA can do a darn thing about turning it on either.
OFF is OFF....

Some phones may have some kind of Sleep Mode, but none of the cell phones that I have owned over the years had a function like that. Once powered OFF, it is just like as if you removed the battery.

I have at one time or the other, owned Nokia, Motorola, Samsung (of course) and a few others whose names are no longer with us. Never owned a Blackberry though.

My 15 year old Nokia switches the phone at set alarm with a window saying do you want to turn phone on yes/no

Originally Posted by sdmcnx

I just tested my new Samsung S5 and an alarm I set did not work with the phone turned off. This is disappointing as it's a feature mobile phones have had for 30 years. Is there a secret handshake or setting I don't know about?

Never post unless you're 100% sure. I will soon post on YouTube how you can auto turn on in the morning or any time.

Originally Posted by Georgekm

Never post unless you're 100% sure. I will soon post on YouTube how you can auto turn on in the morning or any time.

I'm still waiting for that video.

When I had Symbian phones (Nokias mostly), you could press the power button and watch the phone turn off and when time was right, the alarm went off and gave you the option to turn on the device. These days I've bought the cheapest dumbphones I could find for my son to take to school and they can do that, too! Why can't I do that on Android 4 or 5?