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Normally, when I press the power button on my phone, the screen turns off and when I press it again, I'm presented with the lock screen. (I don't have a password or pattern, so it's just the "Swipe up to unlock" screen.)

In the last month or so, my phone has started exhibiting the symptom that I press the power button and the screen turns off, but when I press the power button again, it's not at the lock screen, but whatever the front application happens to be. Sometimes I'll note that about 20 seconds after I press the power button to lock the screen, the phone will emit another sound from the speakers that sounds a lot like the "I've just locked" click.

This doesn't happen all of the time. At a guess, I'd say that about a third of the times that I wake from a black screen, I get no lock screen. Also, I'm not sure if pressing the power button to lock vs. a timeout makes any difference.

It seems to me that there must be some application that's keeping the phone from locking, but I think I've uninstalled all the applications that I installed shortly before this started happening. I'm guessing that it's an application that had been recently updated, but I don't know how to track that down.

I don't really want to uninstall apps one-by-one, as I can't reproduce the problem. It never happens when I want it to.

Does anyone have any ideas how to track down this problem?

This is on a Nexus 5 running 6.0.1, rooted. (I never do anything with root, though, and it's preventing me from upgrading, so I should really undo it.)

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  • There's a setting is Settings - Security - Screen Lock settings - "Automatically lock" is a timer, and "Power button instantly locks" is on/off, are either of those set? Commented Feb 21, 2017 at 16:30
  • @RMarkwald: I don't see those settings. The only screen lock settings I see are Screen Lock (None, Swipe, Pattern, PIN, Password), Lock Screen Message (None), and Smart Lock (disabled).
    – wfaulk
    Commented Feb 21, 2017 at 16:36
  • Is there a gear icon or anything on Swipe to adjust its settings at all? Commented Feb 21, 2017 at 16:52
  • @RMarkwald: Nope. No icon; long press just selects; three dots icon on that screen is just "Help & feedback". Remember that it works as I expect about two-thirds of the time.
    – wfaulk
    Commented Feb 21, 2017 at 16:54

1 Answer 1

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Since you suspect this to be app related, install wakelock detector which should help you identify the wakelocks that are holding the screen awake. Read the Screen Wakelock section

Once the culprit is identified, Googling for that would lead you to the app, if the app name is not evident ( You may need to monitor over a few hours repeatedly, since the behaviour reported is not consistent)

Edit: Remember to monitor when the phone is not being used. Charging the phone to a fixed percentage like 90% before retiring for bed would be ideal monitoring time

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  • I'll give that a shot. My concern is that I've never seen this prevent the screen from locking; it seems to force it to unlock after it's been locked. Hopefully my concern is unfounded.
    – wfaulk
    Commented Feb 21, 2017 at 17:38
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    That is exactly what an errant Wakelock does. It can affect the screen or CPU . See this to know better android.stackexchange.com/q/34969/131553
    – beeshyams
    Commented Feb 21, 2017 at 17:41
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    Good to know. Thanks. I'll post positive results when I have them or negative results in a few days.
    – wfaulk
    Commented Feb 21, 2017 at 17:44
  • All the best. Please see the edit
    – beeshyams
    Commented Feb 21, 2017 at 18:06
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    Turns out that Wakelock Detector doesn't record information while the phone is charging. Now that I know, I'll leave it off the charger tonight.
    – wfaulk
    Commented Feb 22, 2017 at 17:41

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