My Screen Genie, Auto On & Off

My Screen Genie will automatically turn your screen ON/OFF. It runs as a service and is very easy on the battery. On newer systems (4.0 - Ice Cream Sandwich and above) it will use less than 2% of the battery power. In fact, it doesn't even appear in the battery usage screen.

My Screen Genie will automatically turn your phone's (or tablet) screen on when you pick it up from a flat surface such as your desk, and turn the screen off when you put it back, or when you slide it in your pocket or handbag. It does this by using two sensors on your device - the accelerometer and the proximity sensor, without you having to manually press the Power button.

1. To auto turn the screen on, there are several options. If your device is on your desk, simply pick it up and point it toward you (as you would naturally do when picking up your phone or tablet). If it's in your hand, you can place it in horizontal position (+/- 10 degrees) for a second or two and then tilt it toward you. If your device has a proximity sensor, as most phones now do, you can just move your hand above the sensor to wake your screen up (this is useful feature for when you are in a class, meeting, boring dinner with in-laws, etc).

2. To turn the screen off, simply place your device Screen-Up on a flat surface, such as your desk. When the screen is about to go back to sleep, the app will dim your device's screen for a few seconds. If you ignore it, the screen will be turned off. If you touch the screen while it is dimmed by the app, the screen-off action will be cancelled, so you can use the calculator or read a news article while your device lays flat on your desk. If your device has a proximity sensor, placing your device in a pocket, handbag or Screen-Down will also cause the screen to go to sleep.

What's really nice about My Screen Genie is that it hardly uses any battery power. In my tests it uses 2% or less of the battery power. This should be the case for all the devices running Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) and above versions of Android. For devices with older Android versions such as Motorola Droid X running Gingerbread (2.3.4) it appears to be using between 2 and 6 percent of the battery power, which still isn't too bad. However, on the 7" Samsung Galaxy Tab running Froyo (2.2.1) it again doesn't even show up in the battery usage screen, which means that for devices with larger battery capacities it apparently uses less battery power than other apps do (below 2%).

Please be aware that there are some apps that will try to keep your device's screen on while they are running. They are usually video players and some games. Therefore, for the screen to reliably turn off each time, I recommend that you exit or put into background any apps that you were using.

If this app doesn't work for you, please let me know rather than leave a bad review. Please submit bug reports to "myscreengenie@gmail.com". Provide the device model, Android version (it's in the "About phone" under Settings) and a description of the problem you are experiencing with this app.