FP2 proximity sensor not reliably turning off screen during calls - See first Post for Workarounds

I also had to open the case and take out my battery to end a phonecall… Hope this can be solved soon…

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i notice that i have to hold the FP2 in a certain way towards my head during a phone call, otherwise the screen won’t go off. i think this should be recalibrated in the root software, so that during a phone call, the screen goes of more quickly / easily, less sensitively. hope this is clear.

I also had the problem that my screen got reactivated during phone calls and my ear was doing crazy things on the screen. In an older thread concerning a similar problem in FP1 someone recommended the app Call Screen Lock.


Since I use this app I did not have anymore problems although the screen turns still on from time to time.

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It appears that mine doesn’t work at all, when I make a call the screen goes blank whether I put it to my ear or not. It won’t show the screen until the call has ended which I have to do with the power button (setting in accessibility).

I tried using sensor readout and other apps and didn’t get anything from the sensor. I’ve tried cleaning it etc. This is all using RC 1.2.6…

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Same for me.

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When I come off a call, the notification bar is down and also the secondary bar as well sometimes, the one where you can interact with wifi and bluetooth settings.
I’m new to Android, coming from an iPhone 4, so, I’m not sure if it’s a problem with the proximity sensor, or if it’s just a setting in Android.
Does anyone have any advice on this please?

@Jeremy_Cassidy: I would say that it is the proximity sensor, and not so much you getting used to Android.

In general: is this behaviour of the proximity sensor being regarded as a bug / issue?

It is a rather nasty experience. Since I use my FP2, I have people telling me to go back to my previous phone (which was accidentally a FP1U).

I have the same problem… My FP2 gives me a black screen when i call and impossible to do anything except end call by power button… Thisis extremely annoying… Tried all apps… Nothing works… Tried the AndroSensor app…proximity sensor is always 0.0 never changes if i move my palm close to anywhere on the screen… Help!

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I have this problem too. It is extremely annoying and it renders the phone almost unusable for phone calls, which is, after all what you have cell phone for. I don’t know if it is because I’m left handed and the sensor does not end up in an optimal location. However, testing the sensor with the app Sensor Readout indicates some strange behaviour. The sensor doesn’t seem to be able to track proximity once an object is actually close to it, only an initial trigger when an object moves into its proximity. So keeping my finger still, or just moving it very little just above the sensor wont trigger any reading, only adding/removing the finger within the sensor’s proximity. Since you’re keeping you phone kind of still when in a phone call, it’s not very surprising that it doesn’t work out that well.

Thanks! This seems to work out quite well for me (only done some minor testing). If this problem is because of a cheap/faulty hardware sensor and cannot be fixed easily, at least maybe the Fairphone developers could implement this functionality into to the OS / default UI, because you shouldn’t have to rely on a third party application to be able to make phone calls.

This didnt work for me…

Dear Fairphone team,

What is this a software or hardware problem?! How can I fix this (please dont give me one more app to try!!!) as really this makes this phone useless and I’m loosing patience…

If its a hardware piece which one is it!??!!?

What did you try?
There are a lot of tips in the first post.

Please keep in mind that this is a community forum and you are talking to users here, not to fairphone employees.

Sorry about this… thought it was also a Fairphone employees support forum… Apologies for loosing my nerves previously! :slight_smile:

I tried:

  1. Various Apps: Proximity Lock/Unlock, Proximity Screen Off Lite, Smart Screen On Off, Call Screen Lock. None of them made any difference…
  2. Other Apps such as Proximity Sensor Finder and AndroSensor… Both dont seem to detect a working proximity sensor (as I move my palm around the phone, I never get a reading)

Also, it used to work fine, it just stopped working few weeks ago…

Thus, I am wondering, this sensor, could it be that it is hardware-wise broken?!

Thanks!

The most common cause for this problem is a dirty proximity sensor, so the first thing you should do is take your phone apart and clean it from the inside as explained in the first post.

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I had the issue also in my case. it was caused by a screen protector. After removing it and cleaning the display it’s working now.
There is no visible dirt or something near the window of the protector for the sensor.

I had a similar issue, with the sensor not deactivating when I removed the FP2 from my chick during calls, effectively maintaining the phone in screen off mode, which was embarrassing. Especially because I was not able to terminate the call.

I saw this post and applied the cleaning procedure, it was still stucked…

The workaround that fixed the problem in the end is the following:

Download Proximity Screen Off Lite and set it as below:

Screen On/Off Modes
Check “Cover and hold to turn on Screen”, Timeout: 1 second
Check “Disable Accidentla Lock”, Timeout: 4 seconds
All settings
Check "Disable in Lanscape"
Check “Lock phone on screen ON”
[Advanced] Configure Sensor
Select sensor: Proximity sensor
Value when sensor covered: 0
Value when sensor un-covered: 1

@Florian_Colombo; My excuses for flag your post.

Could someone explain to me why as well FP1 as FP2 has this proximity sensor problems? Is this a hardware problem? A software problem? Or (please no) a FairPhone problem?

Well you are asking the wrong question. It should be: “Why do some Fairphones have proximity sensor problems.” Or actually: "Why do some phones…"
In case of the FP2 the answer is usually dirt between the sensor and the screen-glass.
I have an FP1U and an FP2 and neither has proximity sensor problems, just like most others don’t.

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I’ve experienced the same problem. When testing the proximity sensor with the recommended sensor readout app (nice app btw :slight_smile: it didn’t work at all at the beginning. After “cleaning” it with a bit of cloth (just from my hoody) it worked fine (showing 0 cm for covered and 5 cm for uncovered). When touching the glass at the position of the sensor, it doesn’t work again.
So I guess that the sensor thinks it’s covered when there are some fingerprints, i.e. grease on the glass. The same happens when calling and putting the phone to the cheek. Some grease from the cheek gets in front of the sensor, hence it thinks it’s covered.

So my workaround (not yet verified during calls) is: clean the glass at the sensor position with your clothes whenever the sensor doesn’t work

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