Wake Up Screen

Riko Chen

About this app

Wake Up Screen is an open-source Android app that lights up the screen the moment a notification arrives. Leave the phone on the desk and a glance is enough to see who wrote, with no need to pick it up and press the power button.

Main features

• Instant wake: the screen lights up the moment a notification arrives.
• Pocket Mode: detects the phone in a pocket or bag and keeps the screen off, so it never burns a whole day inside a trouser pocket.
• Repeat Reminder: wakes again every 5 to 60 minutes while notifications sit unread.
• Screen-on Duration: holds the screen on for 5 to 30 seconds, instead of waiting for the system timeout.
• Filter by App: pick exactly which apps are allowed to wake the screen.
• Attention Statistics: counts on-device which apps woke the screen over the last 30 days and never got looked at, and suggests ones to block.
• Notification Log: records every notification, whether it woke the screen and which rule stopped it, with a live diagram of the check process.
• Dark Mode: a dark interface that suits AMOLED displays.

Ways to keep the screen dark, each switched separately

• Sleep Mode: several quiet windows a day, set to the minute, optionally limited to chosen weekdays.
• Night Glow: inside a sleep window, a brief dim red glow instead of total darkness, still noticeable when it matters.
• Low Battery Silence: below a chosen battery level and not charging, the screen stays off.
• Face-down Silence: while the phone lies screen-down, the screen stays off.
• Do Not Disturb Detection: waking pauses while the system DND is on.
• Charging Only Mode: wake the screen only while the phone is plugged in.
• Block Ongoing Notifications: ignore navigation, music and other long-lived notifications.

Also included

• Backup: export and import every setting as a JSON file, with no extra permissions.
• Wake Test: trigger a wake, or one repeat reminder, on the spot instead of waiting for a notification.

About permissions

Notification access is the only permission the app needs to do its job, and it requests no internet permission at all. Screen-on Duration is the single exception: on Android 9 and later, turning the screen off early is something only an accessibility service can do, so that one feature asks for an accessibility grant. It is off by default, the service reads no screen content, simulates no gestures, and performs the lock-screen action only. Everything else works without it.

Design approach

Samsung and others lean towards Always on Display. This app keeps the screen off most of the time and lights it up when a notification arrives, closer to how iOS and MIUI behave.

Three things set it apart from similar apps: it is open source under GPLv3 with all code public; it requests no internet permission, so data stays on the device; and it carries no ads and no in-app purchases.

Built with Kotlin, Jetpack Compose and Material 3. Runs on Android 6.0 and later, adapted for Android 16.

Ratings and reviews

Works on Samsung Galaxy A26 5g. Just need it to play notification sound on reminders and it will be perfect. Still giving it 5* as simple to use.

I recently upgraded from my Motorola Moto Stylus 5g to the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, and I definitely missed not having my screen wake up when I get notifications (the only similar setting the S24 has is enable Always on Display when you get a notification, but the Always on Display will stay on until you fully wake up the phone and turn the screen off again). So this app is a life saver, thank you!

The developer of this app saved my life. I recently bought Samsung A05S and my phone screen didn't turn on when notification arrived.it also didn't come with a notification LED too. I tried many other apps and failed. I downloaded this app and it works!!! I can adjust the screen on time too. Great Solution. No ADS :)

What’s new

• Fixed an issue where Pocket Mode prevented the screen from waking for notifications on some devices.
• Added optional pocket detection with a wider detection range, off by default. Missing or invalid sensor readings allow the screen to wake.