Having the phone at the ear, screen switches between on and off

[Ronald_Frey]

Hi everyone!
Happy owner of a FP4. But:
Taking or making a phonecall should turn off the screen while at the ear. In my case, the screen switches on and off, allowing all background apps like maps, mail, sms to activate functions by skin contact. It seems like the sensor is not responding, or is not sensitive enough.
Is there help to get, or is it just a FP4 bug i have to live with?
All the best
Ronald

[urs_lesse]

You can check the basic functionality through the built-in hardware tests.
Dial * # * # 2 8 8 6 # * # * in the telephone app to retrieve the tests and select “Proximity Sensor”.

The proximity sensor (whose task it is detect when you are holding the phone against your ear during a call) is a tad bit to the right of the notch at the top end of the lit display (seems like 5 to 15-20 mm to the right). You might also want to check if your head is near that area during your calls.

Welcome to our community forum, btw!

[Razem]

The proximity sensor seems to be kind of wonky at the moment. Same issue:

Proximity sensor goes crazy while calls

Hello to all! I have had an FP4 for just over a month and am very satisfied. Especially the sustainable concept is great. However, I’ve had a problem with the proximity sensor for a few days. First of all, when I use the phone normally (hand-held, not talking on the phone), I don’t have any problems. The problem only occurs when I talk on the phone with the phone to my ear. The problem is that sometimes the screen turns on and the touch function is also activated, even though I hold the phone…

Related issue:

Proximity sensor goes crazy in sunlight (WhatsApp, Signal, Facebook Messenger, Stock Dialer, WaveUp)

Hello, I came across a curious bug today. I use WaveUp to turn the screen on/off using the proximity sensor. Today when I was on a walk, the screen just kept turning on and off like crazy. I noticed that it happens only when the sun shines directly on the phone. If I am correct, the proximity sensor uses IR light to detect objects. So I suspect it’s badly calibrated, but unfortunately (as far as I know) there is no tool to recalibrate it. Note that it works flawlessly inside and outside in the …

[Ronald_Frey]

Thanks - I’ll try the test.

[Ronald_Frey]

Yes, it seems I’m not alone with this issue.
Thanks for replying

[And]

I had this issue from start. But only after being angry enough to try to find out if more had this, what I think is a fundament flaw, I’m now a tad sad that I don’t seem to be alone. I’ll try the setting thing and see…

[And]

Yeah this was only to check if it was working, and it was working. But the problem is still there and I’m quite furious about it.

[Razem]

Hello and welcome to the forum. Please make sure to #contactsupport. The more people report this, the more likely it is it will be quickly fixed.

[Nicoglycerin]

Hi there,

I have the exact same error as you described it. The proximity sensor test passed, but the bug is still there. I just contacted the support.

I’m wondering If this is a reason to return the phone and get my money back, because this is already the second bug in a very short time, which interrupts making phone calls. I’m also having the problem, that people can’t understand me, as if a tovel is lying on the mic. Last time the support wanted me to check and do so many complicated things, that I gave up.

[Razem]

@Nicoglycerin

I’m wondering If this is a reason to return the phone and get my money back, because this is already the second bug in a very short time, which interrupts making phone calls.

That depends entirely on you. Yeah, it sucks, but as a workaround, you can press the power button. That way the screen remains completely off.

@Nicoglycerin

I’m also having the problem, that people can’t understand me, as if a tovel is lying on the mic. Last time the support wanted me to check and do so many complicated things, that I gave up.

Related issue:

Call quality and noise cancellation (regular calls, handsfree, Signal voice messages, Microsoft Teams video calls)

I noticed that the call quality of the other end of the connection is not great (using 4G and WiFi calling, all not great). The voice quality send by the Fairphone is a bit robotic and includes some digital noise and too much noise of the surrounding environment. It’s usable, but it’s noticeable of low quality. This is in particular a problem with (video) calls when the loudspeaker is on. When the person on the other end talks, there is a clicking sound because of an echo feedback loop. Using S…

Can you please run the audio test? (You can find it at the same place as the proximity sensor test.) Do all microphones work? There are a few things you can try:

1. Make sure that your hand doesn’t cover any of the mics during the call. 1st one is located at the bottom, 2nd one at the top and 3rd one on the left one (that’s the most tricky one).
2. Do you have VoLTE (Settings → Network and Internet → Mobile network → VoLTE) and VoWiFi (Settings → Network and Internet → Mobile network → Advanced → Wi-Fi calling) enabled? It usually dramatically improves voice clarity.
3. You can try disabling the microphone permission for the Google app. I’m not sure if it’s still a thing but it used to interfere with phone calls.

[Nicoglycerin]

Hey Razem,

thank’s for your help. I did the audiotest, passed it without errors. I already tested the Volte settings and took away the mic permission from the google app. Didn’t really help. The support wanted me to check a lot of things with my sim card (even though it’s like new). They also asked me to check at least to new sim cards, that was the moment I gave up on that topic.

[Razem]

Yeah… To this day I still don’t understand how a faulty SIM card could cause this behavior.

[Fuchiii]

Hey there, got the same Problem, display starts going crazy while having a call.
Also often people dont understand me while calling.

Ill have a look if i am covering the left mic. But why is this giving so much Trouble? There are still 2 mics left at top and bottom.

And right now nothing helps with this crazy screen. If i put it off manually, the person im calling cant understand me even worse…

Its just so frustrating…i really think about selling it…

[Volker]

Have you already contacted support?

[anon9989719]

@Fuchiii

Ill have a look if i am covering the left mic. But why is this giving so much Trouble? There are still 2 mics left at top and bottom.

Hi different mics are used for different purposes and in different uses. So different mics for ear calls and hands free and of course noise cancellation.

So you could be covering either the nosie cancelling of which there may be two in use so obstructing one won’t help and of course depending upon how you make the calls you may obstruct the main mic.