How can I prevent the S5's screen from coming on when charging completes?

I got my S5 today and it seems to have a "feature" that will be very damaging to the OLED display. When it's done charging, the screen comes on and stays on. I've been going through all the settings I can find and don't see anything that will prevent this. Since static images burn into OLED screens, this is the last thing I want. It's done the same thing several times. My old phone (Galaxy Nexus) didn't do this. When the Nexus finished charging, it did so with no fanfare. The screen stayed off.

When the S5 is locked and the screen is off, there's no reason for the screen to come on for anything short of a phone call. It certainly shouldn't come on and stay on just because the battery finished charging. And, any time the display does come on without user input, it should turn off again automatically if it's idle for the length of the screen timeout.

I've got "Smart stay" turned off and "Screen timeout" set to 1 minute but, after it self-activates, it stays on indefinitely. I've let it go for 20 minutes and the screen is still on. How can I fix this? If I can't get this behavior to stop, it's going back to the store. I'm not paying $600 plus tax to have my lock screen burned onto my phone because I charge it at night.

Accepted answers

TLChai

Go to the settings menu and search "charging". It should bring up "Stay Awake" (screen will never sleep while charging) and uncheck it. For some reason that is buried in the developer options menu. Hope it works!

All comments

Verizon_Support

Hello jtown,

I understand your concern with your display turning on and staying on after charging. Have you tried adjusting the Smart Stay settings? This feature is normally used so your display will not go to sleep while you are looking at the screen. To access this setting, please go to Settings, Display, Smart Stay and remove the check mark. Also, on that same screen, make sure Daydream is off as well. This setting allows a screensave to display while your phone is charging.

AndreaS_VZW

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jtown

I should have mentioned that I've got "Smart stay" turned off and "Screen timeout" set to 1 minute but, after it self-activates, it stays on indefinitely. Oh. I did mention it.

I've also tried to use Daydream to display a pure black 1920x1080 image to simulate the screen being off but it never activated after the charging phase finished. Again, the screen turns on and stays on.

jtown

Also, Daydream doesn't seem to do a darn thing during charging. I let it sit for over 20 minutes while charging and it never kicked in.

jtown

On a related note, my Nexus 10 tablet, which is also running 4.4.2, does not exhibit this behavior. When it's done charging, the screen stays off. The only Android device that I have which turns the screen on at the completion of charging is the S5. :smileysad:

Verizon_Support

Hello jtown, your efforts are appreciated! Let's get to the bottom of this together. Can you please test the display setting via safe mode to see if there is a change: http://vz.to/RLkPjp We may have to run a hard reset to get the phone back to factory settings if issue persists. Keep us posted!

WiltonA_VZW

VZW Support

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Verizon_Support

Thanks for the additional details jtown. We want you to enjoy as many aspects as possible on your new device; however, we understand everything may not be perfect for each person's preferences. Please be assured the latest screen technology protects against the potential of burn in. The function you are describing may be normal for this device. Did this start from the very beginning the first time you charged it? Does the same thing happen when you charge it with the device powered off?

JonathanK_VZW

VZWSupport

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bearone21

i charge my s5 like all other phones i've had, when off....you might try it.

jtown

I don't turn my phone off. When I had a landline, I didn't unplug it when I went to bed. That's silly.

As for this screen being magic, it's not. OLED screens burn in permanently. Period. Same as CRT and plasma screens. LCD can get persistent images but that can usually be cleared up by playing video or something that runs all the pixels through a wide range of colors.

I'm sure this behavior is normal because it does it consistently. But the fact that it's normal doesn't make it good or correct. I'll try safe mode tonight and see if it makes a difference. Does safe mode also disable all of the extra software, including the software pre-loaded by Verizon and Samsung or just the software I loaded?

jtown

Okay I've tried safe mode. Let it run down to 98%, plugged it in, locked the screen, and waited. A few minutes later, the screen came on showing the 100% icon at the top right, full battery icon just to the left of the time, 100% text to the left of that.

I'm not going to do a hard reset until I have confirmation that this is not normal behavior for the phone because that's going to take hours of my time and gigabytes of data transfer to get all of my media and apps back on the phone and configured.

After all my griping, I do have to give credit where it's due. This phone is much more efficient than my Galaxy Nexus. I left the S5 running in WiFi hotspot mode while on battery last night. It still had over 50% left on the battery. The Galaxy Nexus would be stone dead after about 4 hours. I can live with that if I have to but I'd really rather be able to leave it on the charger at night.

TLChai

Verizon_Support

jtown thanks for the details of thesteps you have tried. We are not shwoing this is a defect in the device. I wouldn't recommend resetting the phone because it appears this is how the s5 is supposed to function. You can unplug it from the charger and power it off once charging is complete. Please keep us posted.

Sheritah_vzw

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jtown

Now we're onto something. How do I get to the developer menu? When I go to settings and search for charging, it just shows me "The red LED lights up when you charge your device while the screen is off".

Nevermind. I found it. Testing now...

Verizon should give you a $50 credit on your next bill. If this works, you just saved them a $600 return.

jtown

Great success! The screen came on bright, dimmed, then shut off. Pay the man!

BTW, to enable the developer menu, go to Settings, About device, then tap "Build number" repeatedly. After a few taps, you'll see a message that says you're X steps away from being a developer. Tap Build number X more times. Once it's enabled, back up to settings and you'll see the "developer options" menu towards the bottom. Select this, then uncheck that pesky "stay awake" box.

jrs_pdx

Very nice and thanks to Jtown for staying on the case. This is ridiculous behavior for a phone and should never had been defaulted. I also am questioning support's knowledge of their own phones. This should have been an easy answer.

bearone21

one of the best fixes outside verizon staff ever.

aj1947

I'm having the same problem, and I've turned off smart stay and my developers optons, the only thing that's changed is now my device will turn off for a few seconds, ping and come back on, then fade to black. And repeat, I'm at wits end, help?