Why doesn't my phone turn off when playing games? Only times out and will not turn off.

[Android Central Question]

When I have my phone on non-games it will time out to the lock screen and then the screen turns off. When I am playing a game, the screen will time out to the lock screen and then sits on the lock screen never to turn the screen off. I am on a Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra (Verizon) any assistance is greatly appreciated. I cannot find any way to change this under the game manager or phone settings.

 

[mustang7757]

You using game launcher? Check game booster settings for touch protection time out.

I'll leave a Link to register so you can communicate here, As a guest account you can only post questions but can't reply
https://forums.androidcentral.com/showthread.php?t=409154

 

[ZGABLE]

Hello Mustang, Thanks for the heads up on posting. I am not using a game launcher. I do see the touch protection setting in the game booster and can adjust this from never to 10 minutes. The issue I have is my phone used to turn off after X amount of time, now when a game is open it will stay on in the lock screen until the battery runs out, it never turns off. Right now I have the touch protection time out at 15 seconds and the screen time out at 15 seconds. If I am not in a game app, it seems to time out just fine and power off as normal vs. staying awake on the lock screen. I am completely stumped. Any thoughts on how I can get the games to go to "sleep" so the screen turns off after X amount of time?

 

[mustang7757]

Hello Mustang, Thanks for the heads up on posting. I am not using a game launcher. I do see the touch protection setting in the game booster and can adjust this from never to 10 minutes. The issue I have is my phone used to turn off after X amount of time, now when a game is open it will stay on in the lock screen until the battery runs out, it never turns off. Right now I have the touch protection time out at 15 seconds and the screen time out at 15 seconds. If I am not in a game app, it seems to time out just fine and power off as normal vs. staying awake on the lock screen. I am completely stumped. Any thoughts on how I can get the games to go to "sleep" so the screen turns off after X amount of time?

Hi, welcome to AC!
After you fiinsh the game go to your recent app list and swipe it away this should be like a force close and see if it continues on lock screen?

 

[ZGABLE]

Howdy and TYVM! So I need to wake the phone up from the touch lock to be able to close the app and that works just fine. Sometimes I am lazy play the game, set the phone down and expect it to turn off/sleep (it used to). Now I need to manually close the game to allow the phone to auto turn off/sleep.

 

[mustang7757]

Howdy and TYVM! So I need to wake the phone up from the touch lock to be able to close the app and that works just fine. Sometimes I am lazy play the game, set the phone down and expect it to turn off/sleep (it used to). Now I need to manually close the game to allow the phone to auto turn off/sleep.

Which game is this by the way ?

 

[ZGABLE]

Any game, Pokemon Go or Space Arena are two that I play the most. I have tested it and both stay awake (to the touch lock screen), then when there is no game open the phone functions and sleeps just fine.

 

[mustang7757]

I moved this to the s21 forums to see if any members bumped into this

 

[ZGABLE]

I moved this to the s21 forums to see if any members bumped into this

Perfect, thanks again!

 

[mustang7757]

Perfect, thanks again!

Also long press that app then tap Info>check if background usage is on

 

[VidJunky]

Even though you're not using Samsung's Game Launcher try disabling it and see if it begins working. I use the Game Launcher app and have been noticing this for a while now. It doesn't bother me though because some of my game apps will kick me out of the level I'm on if I haven't completed it and force me to start over.

 

[cargojacker]

hmmm i think you can avoid this

all games you install are automatically added to the gamelauncher
even if you dont start them from the gamelauncher it will launch the background services (gametools etc)

you need to remove the game from the gamelauncher list
that should force your device to treat the game as if it is a normal app and use those conditions
meaning it will execute a screen off when timing out

 

[Durabol]

Did you ever figure it out? It's actually incredibly annoying considering the s21 OLED screen can burn in and you do not want that. Idk the odds of it doing it with screen dimmed. But no reason phone should stay on the entire night you sleep because some games need you to leave auto play on. But you do not want it to run for 12 hours of sleep... maybe 1 to 3 but not 8 12 etc. It's ridiculous should be a time out and time off. Anyone figure this out? Deleting the game app is ridiculous I'll do it if it works but you need the disable notifications mode and it probably won't time out taking the value away from the purpose.

Reminds me of my other problem that's so simple can't turn my phone completely upside down without a outside app. Oddly it used to work for my good navigation then it stopped and I can no longer flip my phone so I can't use my phone holder in car unless I want to drive upside down lol. Used to work omg I thought Google was a genius for being the only thing to work but not anymore. I'd love to fix that without an app and my music Playlist used to work. I've tricked it a few times to work oddly but it isn't easy. It used to just work really aggravates me when things change. Navigation is obviously used upside down by people to change the direction of their cord and fit their phone when it has something on the back like bigger clip case, popsocket which is amazing for holding your phone steady and safely. Amazing especially with the new giant heavy phones like mine s21 ultra.

 

[mustang7757]

Did you ever figure it out? It's actually incredibly annoying considering the s21 OLED screen can burn in and you do not want that. Idk the odds of it doing it with screen dimmed. But no reason phone should stay on the entire night you sleep because some games need you to leave auto play on. But you do not want it to run for 12 hours of sleep... maybe 1 to 3 but not 8 12 etc. It's ridiculous should be a time out and time off. Anyone figure this out? Deleting the game app is ridiculous I'll do it if it works but you need the disable notifications mode and it probably won't time out taking the value away from the purpose.

Reminds me of my other problem that's so simple can't turn my phone completely upside down without a outside app. Oddly it used to work for my good navigation then it stopped and I can no longer flip my phone so I can't use my phone holder in car unless I want to drive upside down lol. Used to work omg I thought Google was a genius for being the only thing to work but not anymore. I'd love to fix that without an app and my music Playlist used to work. I've tricked it a few times to work oddly but it isn't easy. It used to just work really aggravates me when things change. Navigation is obviously used upside down by people to change the direction of their cord and fit their phone when it has something on the back like bigger clip case, popsocket which is amazing for holding your phone steady and safely. Amazing especially with the new giant heavy phones like mine s21 ultra.

Welcome to AC!

In game launcher in more settings> game booster you can tweak touch input time out see if that works and for screen rotation they must of changed this as only portrait, landscape mode but not upsidedown

 

[Durabol]

Welcome to AC!

In game launcher in more settings> game booster you can tweak touch input time out see if that works and for screen rotation they must of changed this as only portrait, landscape mode but not upsidedown

That's exactly why I don't like to have to update my phone. Always taking everything away. Think they do it on purpose so you continue to upgrade hoping they fix the things that should be an obvious feature. No upside down navigation without 3rd party software is very strange. I see this complaint all over the internet. Thank you for understanding the difference between a inverted horizontal and a only landscape portrait. It's amazing how many people don't understand this when you search for answers haha. What do you mean it go's to portrait mode on my phone lol I don't use it though. And now I'm about to see if I can just do portrait with my phone mount; not a fix bit might work okay. 3rd party apps have to be manually turned on or off constantly when driving. Normal use you don't want them make things wonky. Mess up games. I'll try the settings. Atleast it can get pretty dark in the low power screen. Reduce burn in OLED hopefully.

 

[mustang7757]

That's exactly why I don't like to have to update my phone. Always taking everything away. Think they do it on purpose so you continue to upgrade hoping they fix the things that should be an obvious feature. No upside down navigation without 3rd party software is very strange. I see this complaint all over the internet. Thank you for understanding the difference between a inverted horizontal and a only landscape portrait. It's amazing how many people don't understand this when you search for answers haha. What do you mean it go's to portrait mode on my phone lol I don't use it though. And now I'm about to see if I can just do portrait with my phone mount; not a fix bit might work okay. 3rd party apps have to be manually turned on or off constantly when driving. Normal use you don't want them make things wonky. Mess up games. I'll try the settings. Atleast it can get pretty dark in the low power screen. Reduce burn in OLED hopefully.

Welcome to AC!
Portrait mode meaning only when facing you