Proximity sensor (&Recalibration Tool) not working anymore with Android 6

Same problem for meā€¦ When I call someone, I get the black screen problem. Calibrate the proximity sensor two times, and the problem is always there. What can we do?

Same hereā€¦ Iā€™ll try to clean the backsideā€¦
I already success passing the second step of the calibration tool by cleaning very well the frontside of the captor.

Yep, same here since the update to Android 6.0 - screen goes blank when voice calling which makes it impossible to hang up or to navigate an automated telephone system. interestingly, i also get a blank screen when playing a voice message in whatsapp, which i donā€™t recall happening before.

like everyone above I have tried recalibrating the proximity sensor several times, as this worked with 5.1, and it seems to work the same as before, but to no avail as the problem remains. rebooting seems the only way to end a call or stop listening to a message.

frustrating to say the least, as the unit is now basically useless as a phone, and especially as this had been a problem with the old OS! Iā€™m sure youā€™re working on it, though I canā€™t see any reply from official FP people on this threadā€¦

Good luck fixing it, and hurry please!

edit - I wandered over to the bugtracker for Fairphone Android 6.0 and this wasnā€™t listed (that I could see). I have created an issue, if this is also a problem for you maybe you could upvote it? hereā€™s the link: https://bugtracker.fairphone.com/project/fairphone-fairphone-os-android-6/issue/45

People here are referring to cleaning the proximity sensor glass, can someone tell me where that is exactly? Is there a visual specification of the phone somewhere on the website? I couldnā€™t find any. Thanks!

Same problem here. Proximity sensor not working since updating to Android 6, and re-calibration utility useless. Must use the right-hand button to finish telephone conversations. Hoping to get as soon as possible a fix.

Ok since many people here donā€™t seem to remember that recalibrating the proximity sensor is not all there is to it, or donā€™t know how to clean the glass in front of the sensor:

###Here is the official troubleshooting tool

Go to > Calls > My display stays black (or on) during or after calls
and go through the whole guide and follow every suggestion there.

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I have the same problem now after the upgrade . I have followed the official troubleshoot, it resets temporarily the sensor but as soon as I make a new call it get blocked again.
I really think it is a new problem linked with the upgrade.

Hi

I had the same issue. The display stays black during a call. The sensor tool had no effect. After a view times the sensor tool fails with step two. Iā€™ve been trying a lot and also restarted the phone.
In the end: For me it worked to remove the display and clean the glass for the sensor from inside. It was quite a bit dirty.
After that I cloud recalibrate, restart and everything was fine. It worked like before. :slight_smile:

Cheers
Michael

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@fabio1 I removed your duplicate post.

Itā€™s still not clear to me if you actually opened up the phone and cleaned it from the inside, since the troubleshooting tool finishes if after recalibrating you say ā€œyes it works (for now)ā€.

As long as there is dust before the sensor the recalibration wonā€™t work.

Yes. I have also opened the phone, removed the screen and cleaned the sensor from the inside (and then retried the calibration)
No change, the sensor still gets blocked after each call.

Yes there is actually a regression with Android 6 regarding the proximity sensor and the calibration :frowning: .
The calibration data is not taken into account and hence you are going back to the ā€œoldā€ behaviour if you had to calibrate in the first place.

  • Re-calibrating the proximity sensor will not solve the problem.
  • As pointed out by @paulakreuzer , cleaning the lens on the Display Module has always been a nice trick to improve the sensor behaviour without re-calibrating.

We have identified the root cause - hopefully we will be able to fix that soon in a system update. Sorry for the trouble.

Edit 20167-05-19:
As pointed out by @Chris_R, the next update (available in the beta section now) features the complete proximity sensor fix :sunglasses:

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I agree that this is super annoying. How do I make calls in the meantime without having to reset the device each time someone doesnā€™t pick up?? Canā€™t even use quick menus at the momentā€¦ Please fix this as soon as possible, itā€™s kind of a deal breaker for me.

You could use the power button to switch off the screen before you put the phone to your ear and after the call to switch it on again.

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I have the same problem.

Workaround: using the headset!

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Hi, being still a bit depressed from the proximity sensor issue I personally had to deal for a few months before the re-calibration tool was issued on Android5 I am closely following this issue. I am reluctant to upgrade to Android 6 running again into this problem. The work around at that time was to use the power button to end a call. I still felt that user experience with this bug was strongly affected as the phone was quite limited in usability. Since the re-calibrating tool was issued with one of the latest updates of FairphoneOS 18.xx I used it once and the sensor worked again like a charmer and never had a problem again. Note, cleaning the sensor never made a difference for me (even not even doing this in a real clean room ISO5 as using de-ionized nitrogen to purgeā€¦).
So, I strongly hope that this issue is solved quickly and reliably, so that I soon can dare the upgrade to Android 6ā€¦

Thanks and regards,
Timm

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@TimmWa the FP team have already worked on this and we are currently testing in the Beta version. All being well this should be released soon

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Same workaround that I figured out. Itā€™s a bit tedious, but it works reliably, and you can still access the screen mid-call if necessary e.g. to switch loudspeaker on or off, access other functions et c. Cleaning and calibrating proximity sensors sounds like too much hassle!

This is fixed with 17.05.02:

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Very nice,
I just updated now that the proximity sensor bug has been taken care of. The update went smooth, just straight, took appr. 30min in total and a brief test of the sensor when making a call showed the functionality one would expect. Great !

Much thanks,
Timm

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