Notification Monitor

Notification Monitor is a simple application that turns on the screen on your Android device when you get a notification from any app. Notification Monitor provides many options when the screen should turn on. Some of those options include the current ringer setting, time of day, if a wearable device is connected, and more. Once the app has been setup and configured the way you like, you don't have to worry about it or launch the app ever again unless you want to change some preferences.


One of the major features of Notification Monitor is the Active Hours preference. You can set a start time and end time for when the screen is allowed to turn on. Additionally, you can choose to have the following actions take place when the active time starts and ends: ringer mode toggled between normal and vibrate (for Lollipop and higher, Silent for KitKat and lower); WiFi, Bluetooth, notification LED (Lollipop and lower, if your device as one), sync services toggled between on and off; and have the screen brightness settings toggle your previous setting and lowest brightness setting.


Some features are dependent on the version of Android your device is running. Screenshots reflect Android 5.1 Lollipop and all features available to that version. If your device gets a major software update and you notice some features changed, missing, or added, it is because of the changes to the Android operating system. Please feel free to send thoughts, requests, bug reports, and smart remarks to wadedwalker@gmail.com


Android 6.0 Marshmallow and higher:
A new battery-saving feature of Android 6.0 is Doze. If the device has been sitting idle for a while (about 1 hour) and not connected to a charger, the device will enter Doze which prevents the device from allowing background tasks and network activity for apps. If the device enters the Doze state, notifications will not be allowed through during that time period and the screen will not turn on. Phone calls and alarms are the exception along with any app you have manually specified is allowed to work while in Doze.

Also, any device running Android 6.0 Marshmallow or greater should disable Ambient Display (if it is an available feature) under the Settings app, tap Display, then disable Ambient display. The same applies to the Nexus 6 running Android 5.0 Lollipop or greater. Ambient display more or less does the same thing as this app and might cause conflicts.


Progress Bar Notifications:
Sometimes notifications with a progress bar, such as downloading a file for example, will turn on the screen within seconds of it turning off. This happens because a new notification is being created by the app to update the progress bar. You can use the App Ignore List feature to block any apps that behave this way if it is not wanted.


Samsung device owners:
There is a bug in older Samsung devices that causes the Talkback service to begin speaking whatever action you perform on the device. If this is happening for you, open the Settings app, tap Applications (or Apps), switch over to the "All" list and disable both the Samsung Talk-to-speech and Google Text-to-speech (if installed) apps. You can disable an application by tapping on it in the list of apps, and then click the "Disable" button.