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

Pretty good. Works most of the time and doesn't seem to impact my battery life much (thank goodness, because the Samsung GS6 has a tiny battery). However, the app sometimes... I don't know... it goes to sleep or something and stops working. So all day long it will work as intended, but if I don't touch my phone for an hour or so it just won't work at all until I open the app. I suspect my phone is putting the app to sleep, but I already disabled battery management for this app, so I don't know what's going on. Other than that, it's perfect!

I'm so thankful for this app, it helps me so much with my case cover, sometimes it shuts off because my finger is over the sensor but that's my fault, I have a Google pixel 8a and it doesn't have a cover to turn off option in settings. I'm even more greatful for it being free with no locked content or ads, they just ask for donations if you want, love to see an app that values the consumers experience over money.

Installed on TCL 60 Ultra (Android 15). Gave app all requested permissions. In app settings, set Wave mode and Pocket mode to ON. App will run fine, does tell me so in its notification. The only problem? App does absolutely nothing: covering-uncovering proximity sensor has no effect at all. I know the prox sensor itself works fine (works with phone near ear during call). So it looks like this app just doesn't recognize the sensor.

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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