Request - Screen Timeout Options

[dfscott 0]

Lately I've noticed that whenever I have a note displaying, my android screen will not sleep.  Is this new behavior or is this something that has always happened?   It only  happens only on a displayed note -- it will sleep on the all notes screen.  Anyone else see this behavior?  I use my phone to take notes and will tend to forget about it and it burns out my battery.

I'm on a Samsung Note 5 if it matters.

[Matt W. 174]

Hello @dfscott,

Thank you for posting and welcome to the forums. When you are editing the note, it is by design that the screen not be turned off based on the screen timeout settings. This was put in place so that you can read over what was in your note without having to worry about the screen timing out of having to put in your PIN again. Keeping you productive while using Evernote on Android.

[ErichZann 3]

I totally agree, please add an option to turn this behaviour off if I want to. I use it on my tablet lying on a table, sometime I get up and get distracted, come back 2 hours later with an almost empty battery. (Android)

 

This is a major annoyance to me, and I am kind of sad this hasnt been adressed yet...

[dfscott 0]

39 minutes ago, gazumped said:

Hi.  I have a note 4 but sleep works fine - a little too aggressively sometimes if anything...

Standard fix for mobile issues - restart the phone:  if that doesn't fix things,  uninstall and reinstall the app.

Uninstalled, rebooted, reinstalled, rebooted again.  Same result.   If I'm on the "All Notes" page, it sleeps normally.  As soon as I pull up a specific note (just to view or when editing), it refuses to sleep.   If I go back to the All Notes page, it's goes back to the normal screen timeout.  

Very strange...

[dfscott 0]

11 hours ago, Matt W. said:

Hello @dfscott,

Thank you for posting and welcome to the forums. When you are editing the note, it is by design that the screen not be turned off based on the screen timeout settings. This was put in place so that you can read over what was in your note without having to worry about the screen timing out of having to put in your PIN again. Keeping you productive while using Evernote on Android.

I guess I can see that.  However, my use case is different.  I tend to use Evernote as a scratch pad for things I need to remember, like passwords, lock codes, lists, etc.   So, I'll pull up a note, look at it to get the info, and then just stick my phone in my pocket, forgetting about it.  Since the Samsung has the Smart Stay feature, if I want to look at it longer, I can.

I know some people don't have Smart Stay (and it doesn't work well for everyone), but it would be nice to have the ability to turn Evernote's "stay on" feature off for those that do.

Edited October 7, 2016 by dfscott
clarification

[DP5 2]

On 07/10/2016 at 7:01 AM, Matt W. said:

Hello @dfscott,

Thank you for posting and welcome to the forums. When you are editing the note, it is by design that the screen not be turned off based on the screen timeout settings. This was put in place so that you can read over what was in your note without having to worry about the screen timing out of having to put in your PIN again. Keeping you productive while using Evernote on Android.

Understood. However, not all users use the app in the same way. There are many (including those who have posted in this forum and others who don't have the patience to log in and request the feature in this forum) who would prefer the app to allow the device screen to go off as with most normal apps. Users determine their usage of apps, not developers. Remember that this topic was started over 5 years ago in another forum and yet Evernote has not done anything about it. Maybe it's time to move to another note app. Thanks for a competitive market in Play Store!

[gazumped 11,652]

Hi.  I have a note 4 but sleep works fine - a little too aggressively sometimes if anything...

Standard fix for mobile issues - restart the phone:  if that doesn't fix things,  uninstall and reinstall the app.

[Valens1972 1]

I have the same problem on my Samsung Galaxy S5 mini. I'm using Evernote version 7.9.5

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,938]

I can confirm this on a Samsung Galaxy Note S4 Edge, Evernote 7.9.5.

[Matt W. 174]

@dfscott,

I can definitely see where that could come in handy similar to the "Smart Stay" feature. I will be moving this over to the feedback/feature request section of the Android forum so that others can vote on it to be included in Evernote.

[sssteeve 3]

I love Evernote for Android (it has changed the way I compute- and even the way I live!) but I really wish that there was the option for the screen to time out normally, and for it to follow the system brightness setting (which I usually keep low to preserve battery life.)

I use EN 6.0.2 on my Samsung Tab 4 7.0 running KitKat and do not lock my screen so there is no need for me to enter a PIN to restore the display (which turned out to be a real PITA when I lost a tablet a few months ago and had to change ALL of my passwords which are automatically saved and entered by Google. Ouch!)

[gazumped 11,652]

23 hours ago, sssteeve said:

I love Evernote for Android (it has changed the way I compute- and even the way I live!) but I really wish that there was the option for the screen to time out normally, and for it to follow the system brightness setting (which I usually keep low to preserve battery life.)

I use EN 6.0.2 on my Samsung Tab 4 7.0 running KitKat and do not lock my screen so there is no need for me to enter a PIN to restore the display (which turned out to be a real PITA when I lost a tablet a few months ago and had to change ALL of my passwords which are automatically saved and entered by Google. Ouch!)

Hi.  This may be a device issue,  because the Samsung Note 4 I use times out annoyingly well no matter what app I'm using - including Evernote - and also applies my default screen brightness.  I have PIN login (on the device) turned OFF unless I'm out and about,  because I inevitably have to wake it up when I want to add or edit a note,  and pin-ing in multiple times per day is annoying...

[sssteeve 3]

I have several different tablets besides the Samsung and on all of them the screen stays on as long as there is an open document. I did recheck and on my tablets EN does not override the global brightness setting.

OT: In converting news articles into text-only EN documents for my archive I have found that Instapaper works great as an intermediate step : I share the webpage into Instapaper, select all of text and then share into EN.

[DP5 2]

On 13/10/2016 at 6:38 AM, Matt W. said:

@dfscott,

I can definitely see where that could come in handy similar to the "Smart Stay" feature. I will be moving this over to the feedback/feature request section of the Android forum so that others can vote on it to be included in Evernote.

Could you provide a link to this please? I just searched through all 14 pages of the features request section and could not find it!

[gazumped 11,652]

6 hours ago, DP5 said:

Could you provide a link to this please? I just searched through all 14 pages of the features request section and could not find it!

Hi.  This topic has been moved - see the voting button at the top left of the page.  Add yours if you haven't already...

[Valens1972 1]

The ability to turn Evernote's "stay on" feature off would be very welcome to me too!

[Candid 167]

On 11/3/2016 at 8:13 AM, gazumped said:

Hi.  This may be a device issue,  because the Samsung Note 4 I use times out annoyingly well no matter what app I'm using - including Evernote - and also applies my default screen brightness.  I have PIN login (on the device) turned OFF unless I'm out and about,  because I inevitably have to wake it up when I want to add or edit a note,  and pin-ing in multiple times per day is annoying...

 

Have you tried the app Screebl? I find this works well with my Samsung devices and rapid timing out.

[sssteeve 3]

I tested this out more thoroughly and with all of my Android devices the Evernote app will keep the screen on as long as an EN document is open. As for EN overriding the system brightness settings that has not been the case with my Samsung Tab 4 7.0 tablets.

[gazumped 11,652]

Thanks for the Screebl suggestion - I'll have a look..

[Gabyk 2]

Hi, please add 

On 10/6/2016 at 10:31 PM, Matt W. said:

Hello @dfscott,

Thank you for posting and welcome to the forums. When you are editing the note, it is by design that the screen not be turned off based on the screen timeout settings. This was put in place so that you can read over what was in your note without having to worry about the screen timing out of having to put in your PIN again. Keeping you productive while using Evernote on Android.

Hi, because it's not a normal behavior in other Apps I forget to turn off the screen and it's killing my phone battery, please add a screen timeout option in the note menu or in the "Note settings" so we can choose if we want to keep the screen on or continue with the "System default"  (Display sleep settings). 

[Ben Lau 2]

+1 for an option of time out. Now it kills a lot of battery time. That make me unable to write note on my phone. If I forget to turn phone off / leave Evernote, the battery will be drain heavily and I can't use it for a day. Probably I need to move to another platform for writing.

[LoveLetter 2]

This feature was originally requested in 2011...

I complained about it nearly 3 years ago, with no solution or even attempt to compromise from Evernote since. I have since dropped Evernote and switched to a different app. Waiting 6 years for a basic option that prevents the app from killing your battery (especially when it is critically low) is too long, in my opinion.

[gazumped 11,652]

8 hours ago, LoveLetter said:

no solution or even attempt to compromise from Evernote

...Look at it this way.  Evernote are building a cruise ship to take 3,000 passengers.  They have technical stuff like engines, navigation, leisure facilities and catering to install.  Then someone says:  "I hate the color of these curtains".  It's simple to fix,  and important to some:  but there are a lot of other things happening so it's going to wait its turn - and if no one else complains,  do they really need to spend the money* to please just a few people?

This suggestion has 12 supporters,  and there are features requests with 10x as many votes still waiting.  If Evernote accept this is necessary, and useful to customers, they'll get around to it - but they don't (usually) comment on stuff like this unless and until it happens.

*No matter how 'simple' changes have to be coded,  and tested,  and apply to all devices and OS's that Evernote covers - which is pretty much everything.

[lauranunez 2]

Evernote is perfect in many ways, but that the screen doesn't have a smart stay or time out option is something that should matter.

Yesterday I was with a note on the phone, a xiaomi, and I put the phone in my pocket forgetting to turn evernote off, three hours later the screen was still on with the note of evernote running, the phone was warm, and battery life was low. 

It would be important that as the other apps, evernote turned off automatically.

Cheers!

[evermich 3]

I agree totally with the need for a setting for time out. It's not major, and I had got used to close notes, but it happens now and then that the screen is left on for hours. 

[esmail 0]

I can confirm this behavior on a Galaxy S9 too .. I hadn't noticed this before, but like all above, I agree, a timeout is essential for a mobile platform that depends on battery. I feel that Evernote is making an end-run around the battery saving features of the Android platform by refusing to time out.

If EN want to make it easier for a certain population of users not to have to take any action to keep the screen going, just add this as a setting. I think there is a large number of users who prefer to save on battery life.

Thanks.

[Edio 0]

Is there some update about this request? I'm having serious low battery issues because of this automatic stay on.

[gazumped 11,652]

On 12/6/2017 at 12:43 PM, gazumped said:

This suggestion has 12 supporters,  and there are features requests with 10x as many votes still waiting.  If Evernote accept this is necessary, and useful to customers, they'll get around to it - but they don't (usually) comment on stuff like this unless and until it happens.

Support for this has doubled (24 votes!) but my comment still applies...

[Auroch 0]

More ppl need to up vote this!

[ma-j 2]

I used to like this feature and it seems to have been taken from the latest version. I follow recipes and don't want to have to unlock my phone with my messy hands. Since I use dark mode, it doesn't make a big difference in battery usage. 

So I'd like to be able to turn this option back on. 

[gazumped 11,652]

24 minutes ago, ma-j said:

I used to like this feature

?? This is a thread about wanting to stop the stay-awake feature.  According to one of the early posts,  editing the note will keep it open and the screen live.  If that no longer happens,  that was by user request... and 34 votes.

[PinkElephant 8,072]

If I know I need to keep my device on, I set „autoscreen off“ in settings to „never“ (iOS). Cooking with EN recipe open is a good example.

IMHO nobody needs „just another switch“ for functions that are available through the OS. I am pretty sure there is a similar possibility in Android.

[John in Michigan USA 129]

17 hours ago, PinkElephant said:

I am pretty sure there is a similar possibility in Android.

There is indeed. You can even change them using voice commands (as is doubtless the case in iOS).

The screen brightness, duration, and other power saving features should almost always be managed by the OS. All modern smartphones offer many, many ways to customize these behaviors to suit every use case. An app would have to have an extraordinary reason to over-ride these features; IF that is the case (which for most uses of Evernote, it isn't!), the app should offer the user an option to disable the app's control over these settings if the user doesn't trust the app to play nice and not drain the battery unexpectedly. Evernote didn't do that, and I'm delighted they seem to have stopped trying to disable your screen dimmer/screen saver.

[PinkElephant 8,072]

In iOS I would rather script a Siri shortcut, that can do more than just a single action. This is not tricky, just a bunch of actions in a row, if needed with user interaction.