Thanks to developers who always find a way to get best features of one Android device to others, we can now get a similar feature on any Android device and that too without root access or Xposed modules. So let’s have a look at how to get this feature, but before that, there are some important points you must go through.
Note Before Getting Started
- The feature is best suited for devices which have AMOLED displays as it doesn’t use any power to display black pixel. If you have an LCD screen, on the other hand, I would suggest not to use the app because the black pixels will light up with the entire screen and therefore will cause a massive battery drain.
- Apart from the AMOLED screen, Samsung developers have worked a lot to provide software optimization to the feature, thus bringing in minimal battery drain. So just to be clear, you should not expect similar battery performance on other devices.
- The app might not be compatible with all the Android devices and therefore don’t get your hopes too high. Now that we have set some ground rules, let’s see how to get the feature on almost any Android.
There’s an App for That You Need to Install
The very first thing you will have to do is install Glance Plus on your Android. The app will give you Samsung like always-on-display and the lite version is free to install. As soon as it’s installed, open up the app and turn it on. You will be asked to provide some additional permissions for the app to function. Once the app is enabled, the next thing you need to do is select Position and select the Random option there. This will make sure you will not get screen burns on your AMOLED displays. Having done all that, you are good to go. Just lock the screen and you will get the always-on display clock. The screen will not always be on, but will work in sync with the proximity sensor and light itself up when you lift the phone or take it out from the pocket which is ideal to save battery on your phone. Having done that, you can add features like notification access, calendar and even local temperature using the option provided in the settings. The option to add images to the always-on-display is phenomenal and my favorite image is the Batman. You can also add inactive hours to the app to minimize battery consumption for the time when you will not use the device actively, which in ideal life scenario should be set to bed time. Cool Tip: There’s a provision in the app from where you can select the always-on display while the phone is charging which can be helpful while your phone is on the dock or a charging cradle. There is also a pocket mode which minimizes the battery consumption even further. Finally, at the end you can toggle the brightness of the screen which can be set manually, however for the option get the additive brightness, you will have to buy the pro version for $0.99. The lite version also has ads and the ad-free pro version costs $1.49.
Conclusion
So that was how you can get Samsung Galax S7 like always-on display (well almost) on any Android phone. This app will not drain a substantial amount of battery as long as you are on an AMOLED display and will give you basic information right on the screen when you pull the phone out from your pocket. So try it out and don’t forget to share your views regarding it. ALSO SEE: How to Get Near Stock Android Experience on Samsung Galaxy S7
