WaveUp

juanitobananas

About this app

WaveUp wakes up your phone—switches the screen on—when you wave over the proximity sensor.

I built this app because I got tired of pressing the power button just to check the time (a surprisingly frequent habit). Inspired by the great Gravity Screen On/Off. I looked for an open-source alternative and just couldn’t find one. So I made it myself!
Checkout the code: https://gitlab.com/juanitobananas/wave-up
A possibly more more up-to-date README: https://gitlab.com/juanitobananas/wave-up/#waveup

Features

▸ Wave mode: Turns the screen on when you wave over the proximity sensor.
▸ Pocket mode: Turns the screen on when you pull your phone out of a pocket or bag.

Both are enabled by default but can be turned off in settings.

▸ Screen lock: cover the sensor for a second (or your chosen time) and the phone locks. Off by default, but easy to enable.

Wait, what's a proximity sensor?
It’s that invisible little thing near your phone’s earpiece that turns off the screen when you’re on a call.

Known Issues
Some phones keep the CPU running while listening to the proximity sensor and this drains battery (blame your phone, not me). Most phones don’t, so battery use is minimal.

Accessibility Services

▸ Purpose: Used to lock the screen on Android 9+
▸ Privacy: Used only for this, no data collected
▸ Scope: Doesn’t spy, just locks

Permissions (yep, quite a few)

▸ WAKE_LOCK – turn on the screen
▸ RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED – auto-start on boot
▸ READ_PHONE_STATE – pause during calls
▸ BLUETOOTH / CONNECT – avoid pausing when on a Bluetooth call
▸ IGNORE_BATTERY_OPTIMIZATIONS etc. – stay alive in the background
▸ FORCE_LOCK – lock device (Android 8 and below)
▸ ACCESSIBILITY_SERVICE – lock device (Android 9+)
▸ DELETE_PACKAGES – let the app uninstall itself if needed

Uninstalling (Android 8 and older)
WaveUp uses Device Admin permissions, so it won’t uninstall the usual way. Use the 'Uninstall WaveUp' button in the app to remove it properly.

Fun fact

This is my first Android app and my first open-source contribution! I'd love your feedback or help—especially if you're into translations or just enjoy tinkering.
Open source rocks!

Translations

Help translate WaveUp! Even the English version could use improvements.
https://www.transifex.com/juanitobananas/waveup/
https://www.transifex.com/juanitobananas/libcommon/

Acknowledgments
Thanks to all who contributed: https://gitlab.com/juanitobananas/wave-up/#acknowledgments

Ratings and reviews

Thank you! I didn't want another app requiring me to watch ads just to regain the wave to check screen functionality I had on my Moto X-Pure on my Pixel 2XL. Lock setting does not seem to work ( vibrates but does not shut off) however that my be due to something else running on the phone and was not my primary reason for wanting the app. Update - followed instruction to enable in Pie under accessability options and the lock function now works perfectly THANK YOU!

I'm using the fairphone 5, and very annoyed that they didn't build in a pocket mode to disable touch input when the proximity sensor is covered. This app's lock screen function works well for me. I left the wave mode off, pocket mode didn't work, vibrate before locking didn't work, changing the delay before locking did work, and I didn't test excluded apps. I'm so grateful to have the screen lock functionality working! It will make my phone so much less annoying!

I love this app! I use its functionality nearly every time I touch my phone. As others have mentioned, the app has been unstable lately (September 2019). In recent months, about the same time that my Verizon Samsung Note8 upgraded to Android P, the app began to stop intermittently. UPDATE 2019-09-27: After a security update/reboot, I saw that the accessibilty service permission was not set. I set it, and the app is working normally.

What’s new

New in 3.2.22
★ Add themed icon for Android 13+

New in 3.2.21
★ Update Portuguese (Brazil)
★ Upgrade a bunch of deps

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New in 3.2.17
★ Remove 'Excluded apps' option from Google Play store versions. F-Droid ones remain fully functional. I'm sorry, but Google doesn't allow WaveUp to read list of installed apps, which is necessary for this.

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