I’ve moved your post here, as it seems to be the same problem. See the first post in this topic for some workarounds until Fairphone comes up with a better fix.
I had the same problem. The sensors always read out 0cm. I cleaned the sensor itself and also the screen from outside and the inside and then it worked.
I managed to solve this problem by cleaning both sides of the screen where the proximity sensor is.
When I cleaned the outside it did not work, but after cleaning the inside it did…
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Cleaning inside solved it for me as well. For the second time now. Let’s see if this is a recurring problem on my phone too…
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I had the same Problem without stripes or stuff a few weeks ago. Since then never again…But i have another Problem…My FP Display is turning dark when i call someone. If the Person i called can’t pick up the phone the Display stays dark and i can’t stop the call. So I talk a Minute or something on the Mailbox and i cant stop it…Doe’s anybody heard about such Problems?
I moved you post to this topic, since it’s about your problem.
I’d like to also add an extra unexpected behaviour that seems to be related to this issue. Not only the screen goes black while calling (using the standard call functionality), but also when calling via VoIP (i.e. Whatsapp). I find this case even worse, because standard non-VoIP calls usually hang you up eventually, but I’m not sure if the same principle applies to this case.
As a extra extra weird thing, the screen also goes dark when listening to a voice note (ni Whatsapp). This would mean that the bug isn’t on the “calling” functionality per se, but somehow related with how…audio is played? (although music apps don’t show the same behaviour).
Hope this info helps the developers.
Regards,
Suckelo
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This morning my screen stopped working completely but until this morning…
…I had been having the same problems as described in this thread with all of these types of calls EXCEPT when I call my own voicemail. With my voicemail it had been working just fine, even to press buttons during the call and all.
So… it is really a hardware problem then? If with voicemail it works but with all the others no?
Does anyone else have this experience?
Same here. Screen goes black and I can’t hang up or do anything, but ONLY when (and as soon as) a voicemail box picks up. Human voices at the other end don’t do anything weird to my phone. Doesn’t appear to me to be a hardware issue, either…
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Mine did that at first, just black when it was other people’s voice mail
boxes, and then it started staying black during the calls too.
But for my own voicemail it’s fine. Is that the case for you too?
Haven’t called my own voicemail yet…
Replying to myself: I need to clean the outside quite often for it to continue working…
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Hi everyone
I have experienced the problem of desactivation during calls, meaning I wasn’t able to hang up.
I have a very easy solution:
Parameters/accessibility/ ON/OFF to hang up.
With this you can hang up pressing the ON/OFF button
cheers
Please check the thread before posting stuff that was already written.
Also, this is not a solution. It is a (not even close to perfect) workaround. What happens if you need to write down something on the phone/find something out (like a phone number)/ want to turn on speaker while you’re calling? How will you activate the screen? With the same button that ends the call?
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Greetings,
I’m wondering whether there will finally be any “official” statement from fairphone on this topic. I was sort of expecting this already a week or two ago. And although I would of course welcome a real final solution to this problem I would also be happy to hear at least that this problem is actively being looked into and maybe what the current state of findings is.
With that said, here are my findings: I have this problem ever since I got my fairphone in January. Cleaning the glass on both sides brought the sensor back into an operational state more or less reliably but only for a rather short time (days, maybe a week). I got the sensor to work pretty nicely a while ago and for probably close to a month by cleaning everything really thoroughly. That is not only the glass but also the sensor itself. I didn’t dare to apply any significant amount of pressure to it but rubbed it gently with a dry cloth for maybe a minute. And the same with the glass from both sides. Recently the problem re-appeared and this time the thorough-cleaning trick didn’t have quite the same effect. Which leads me to believe that I was just lucky the first time around.
I also did all sorts of experiments under which conditions the problem manifests itself. The worst case scenario seems to be being in bright sunlight but with the sensor facing away from the sun. Needless to say that I take extra extra care that the glass in front of the sensor is always perfectly clean.
And being a software tester and developer myself here are my thoughts on what “the perfect workaround” might look like:
the most simple case:
IF the proximity sensor is at 0 cm AND the power button is pressed THEN reset the sensor to 5 cm (and don’t otherwise act at the pressed power button)
and somewhat more sophisticated:
IF the proximity sensor is at 0 cm AND the power button is pressed AND the screen is off THEN reset the proximity sensor to 5 cm and turn on the screen (and don’t act otherwise at the power button)
Both cases should do the trick both for normal calls as well as for whattsapp calls or google hangout. Obviously this should be configurable so people who are unaffected by the problem will not be disrupted. And maybe even more obviously and repeating myself: a real solution would be really appreciated.
So long, Andreas.
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Same problem to me…! Went to the bank today, and they asked me to call a number in order to set up a so called “telephone bank”. I should press " 1" to make the setup after calling a number, but guess what? The screen was black and i had to use the phone of the bank…
To sum it up: I cant hang up with my phone, so as a phone its a pretty bad device… Would actually (& unfortunately) not recommend it to anyone.
I will continue using my work phone (iphone 5s) until this issue is solved. I cant reboot everytime someone is not answering.
And as a temporary workaround:
Did you already read the first post?
If your main concern is being able to hang up the phone, the solution is rather simple:
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How long is temporarly? This seem to have been a problem for lots of users (all users sooner or later?) since at least early March!
Ok, so I can end a call with the power button as a temporarly solution, BUT
- I can not check my calender while talking to someone, and
- I can not make selections when coming to an answering machine, and
- I can not select loudspeaker
With my previous Iphone 4S I needed a temporarly solution when a button broke after 3 years. With the FP2 I need a temporarly solution after 2 MONTHS!! Not acceptable I think!
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Calm down, please. Don’t shoot the messenger who is trying to help you.
I understand your frustration, I have exactly the same problem as you and all other people in this topic.
Cleaning the sensor helped for me, but it is no definitive solution, indeed.
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Ok, it’s working again. https://fairphone.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/208661706-Proximity-sensor-troubleshooting-guide?input_string=Screen%20turns%20black%20when%20placing%20a%20call
Took it apart and cleaned the inner side of the screen, and blowing gently on the other parts. However, I could see that there was more dirt inside this (2 months old) phone than I would have expected. Easy to take apart, but this easiness might come to the price of not sealed properly?
I really like the thought behind this phone, but if it’s not working as expected with the most simple tasks, this project will fall Im afraid… The hardcore fans will overcome temporary fixes, and taking the phone apart once in a while, or make their own sealing etc, but the ordinary user will not accept this and buy an Iphone or Samsung instead.
There’s loads of information, tools and spareparts, when taking an Iphone apart, and I have taken my 4S to molecules and back thanks to that. The “die-hard-user” will do this. And it’s nice that the FP2 is simple to take apart, but it can not be to the price that you NEED to take it apart because of this, since its not properly sealed(?). It’s easy to take apart, therefore you need to do this once every two weeks.
The chain is never stronger than the weakest link. The average user will never accept “small” faults that the screen turns black. This really, really needs to be fixed! I can live with the flickering screen, bluetooth not working and randomly restarts in average four times a week (yes I have the latest 1.2.8), but I can not live with the screen turning off when placing a call!
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