Take More Battery Out of Your Phone With Android Doze Apps
Android Doze is an unnoticed hero that saves battery power when you are not using your phone . Third-party apps like Greenify , ForceDoze, and Naptime can squeeze even more power out of your phone, but they can do a lot more if you tweak them.
Third Party Apps Improve Doze’s Impressive Battery Saver
Android Doze works by temporarily disabling things like network access if you haven’t used your phone for a long time . In Android 6.0, this feature works when your phone is stationary and the screen is off for a couple of hours. Android 7.0 adds the ability to enable Doze even when the phone is in a pocket or purse (which still logs as movement) while the screen is off. In both cases, however, it can take hours for Doze to work. If you check your phone every hour or so, you won’t get any benefits.
On the other hand, third-party apps like Greenify can configure Doze to activate after a few minutes instead of hours. You can also customize certain aspects of Doze, such as whether it turns on while charging or turns off Wi-Fi. There are several of these applications, each with its own strengths and weaknesses, so we’ll take a look at each and who they are for.
Use Greenify for simple battery improvements, no root required
Greenify has been a favorite of Lifehacker since before Doze came out. Its Aggressive Doze mode forces Doze to activate in minutes rather than hours, significantly saving battery power. If you’re using Android Marshmallow, it can also activate Doze even when your device is moving, which is usually a feature reserved for Nougat users.
While Greenify does not require root , you will need to enter a couple of ADB commands to enable Aggressive Doze. The first time you start Greenify, it will walk you through the process using the steps here . If you are already familiar with ADB, connect your phone to your computer and enter the appropriate following commands, depending on which device you have.
To enable Aggressive Doze on Android 7.0+ (non-root):
adb -d shell pm grant com.oasisfeng.greenify android.permission.WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS
To enable Doze on the Go:
adb -d shell pm grant com.oasisfeng.greenify android.permission.DUMP
To enable aggressive snooze on a device or ROM that has snooze disabled:
adb -d shell pm grant com.oasisfeng.greenify android.permission.DUMP
To enable mute on wake up for older phones running Android 4.4-5:
adb -d shell pm grant com.oasisfeng.greenify android.permission.WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS
That’s all you need to do! Greenify will then automatically enable Doze every few minutes or so. If you are taking Marshmallow, you will also receive many benefits from Nougat’s Doze On the Go. Greenify is best for people who want to install it and forget it, or those who don’t want to bother tweaking too many settings.
ForceDoze allows you to use Doze on your own schedule, without rooting
Like Greenify, ForceDoze can configure Doze on phones even if you don’t have root access, using the ADB command to give it the permission it needs. Unlike Greenify, it has a few additional options to make Doze work the way you want it to. When you first run ForceDoze, it will check for root. If you don’t have it, you need to connect your phone to your PC and run the following ADB command:
adb -d shell pm grant com.suyashsrijan.forcedoze android.permission.DUMP
After that, tap the large switch on the Home screen of the ForceDoze app to turn it on. By default, this will cause Doze to fire earlier than usual. However, if you hit the menu button and select Settings, you can change a couple of other useful options:
- Turn off while charging: This option will tell ForceDoze to use the default system settings whenever your phone is connected to a charger. This is useful if you keep your phone plugged into a wall outlet on your desktop and want to receive your messages in a timely manner.
- Ignore Screen Lock Timeout: This option will cause Doze to fire right after the screen turns off, which can further save battery power. However, if you turn the phone back on immediately after turning it off, it may take a few seconds to reconnect.
- Turn off Wi-Fi while Doze: If you’re constantly on the move, this can save a bit of battery power by preventing your phone from constantly connecting and disconnecting from many different networks when Doze is on. However, if you usually stay in one place and always connected to the same network Wi-Fi, perhaps , you better leave this option disabled .
- Disable motion detection for Doze: This is similar to the Doze On the Go feature in Greenify. If this option is enabled, Doze will activate even if your phone is moving – for example, if it’s in your pocket or purse.
- Doze Delay: Here you can configure how long Doze will wait after the screen turns off before it activates. If you like to be in complete control of your phone’s behavior, this is the option for you.
ForceDoze allows for a little more customization than Greenify, but unfortunately it doesn’t support Android Nougat. For some features, like disabling motion detection, it doesn’t matter as Nougat already does it anyway, but others, like setting a custom delay, will come in handy. If you’re using Nougat and looking to improve Doze, Greenify might be your best bet, but ForceDoze offers Marshmallow users easier options.
Naptime gives you tons of options but requires root
Greenify and ForceDoze are handy for those without root, but if you’ve already rooted your phone, Naptime is your best bet . It offers most of the same customization options as ForceDoze, plus a few others. It also doesn’t require any cumbersome ADB commands like Greenify does. You can turn off motion detection, instantly turn on Doze when you turn off the screen, and turn off Doze while charging. On top of that, it also contains many more features not found in other apps:
- Sensor Apps Whitelist: This allows you to select one app that can still use motion sensors, even if you turn them off for all other apps. For example, you can let your fitness app continue to track your steps as you run while everything else is turned off to conserve battery power.
- Inactivity Timeout: This advanced setting allows you to define how long after you stop using your phone, Doze should be enabled. It is in milliseconds, so be prepared for a little math. You can also adjust the time after which your sensors and location functions are turned off.
- Positioning accuracy : This setting allows you to adjust the accuracy of your phone’s positioning. Finding your exact location requires more battery power, so it can help you save energy in exchange for less accurate location data.
Naptime has a lot of advanced features that you probably shouldn’t mess with if you don’t know what you are doing. However, the basic functionality is already vastly superior to the standard Doze functionality for root users.
All of these apps do basically the same thing, but in slightly different ways. Each has different strengths depending on which version of Android you are using, whether you are rooted and how much you want to customize your setup. However, they will all help your phone last all day.