Why Does My Phone Screen Won’t Turn Off?

Have you ever wondered why your phone screen won’t turn off automatically at the required time? You might also be facing the same issue with many other smartphone users. Don’t panic though, as the solutions we’re about to tell you will help solve the problem.

Having your phone screen turned on for longer hours can be frustrating most time, especially when it drains your battery at the most critical times. However, a screen that won’t turn is usually caused by long screen timeout settings, wake lock apps, and other device settings, which you can fix on your own. And sometimes, you may need to seek professional help, too. But before that, here are the working ways to resolve a phone screen that won’t turn off.

Adjust screen timeout settings

You don’t need to stress yourself when your phone screen won’t turn off in most cases, as all you need is to adjust your screen timeout settings. As you presumable know, Android (or any OS running on your phone) allows you to adjust when your screen goes off based on your preferences and needs.

With that, your screen may stay awake if you’ve chosen a longer screen timeout duration (usually up to 30 mins!) If that’s the problem, then you can fix it in under 30 seconds.

Here’s how:

1. First, open the Settings app on your phone.
2. Second, click Display & Brightness.
3. Then, select Screen timeout.
4. And finally, adjust your screen timeout to 30 seconds (or 15 seconds.)

Similarly, check the Display Settings page or the Quick Settings panel for options like “Keep Screen Bright” or “Caffeine mode.” If found, ensure to disable it.

Usually, setting your screen timeout – for optimal battery usage and comfortability – should be between 15 seconds and 1 minute. A shorter duration means your phone screen goes off faster and saves more battery when you’re not using the phone. And on the other hand, a longer screen timeout duration means your screen goes off slowly but may drain your battery when you’re not using the device, or even worse, every time a notification wakes up your phone.

However, a longer screen timeout duration might not be the reason your phone screen won’t turn off. If the issue persists, still; try the remaining bunch of solutions below

Restart your phone

And in most cases, restarting your phone is only what your phone screen won’t turn off at the required time. The reason is that software bugs may hinder your phone’s screen from resting. Hopefully, they don’t stay there forever.

So, if the first solution didn’t work for you, try restarting your phone.

• You can long press the Power button for about 10 seconds to restart most Android phones.
• Otherwise, try this:
  • Long-press the Power button until the power menu shows up
  • Tap on the Restart button (or swipe (to) it!)
  • Allow your device to restart.

Once your device reboots, try using it for a few minutes, then leave the screen turned on to see if restarting your phone fixed the issue. If not, keep troubleshooting‼

Update your phone

Sometimes too, software bugs (from the last system update) may hinder your phone screen from going to sleep after the required time. However, your phone developers are probably aware of that already and working on a fix for it. All you need is to update your phone to the latest version.

Are you new to installing system updates? It’s one of the coolest things you should do on your phone once available. Plus, it’s simple too:

1. Launch your Settings
2. Scroll down and tap System
3. Click Software Update (or System Update)
4. Tap Check for updates online (or anything similar)
5. If an update is available, Download & Install it straightaway!

You should reboot your phone after installing the update. And once its reboots, test if the phone screen works normally now, or try the next solution.

Meanwhile, you may want to know more about Android System Updates.

Uninstall wakelock/rogue apps

Another common reason your phone screen won’t turn off is if you’re using a wakelock app. That means the app has permission to keep your screen on while in use or until you manually turn off the screen. These apps may include screen readers, eBook readers, AI readers, screen filters, some rogue apps and many more.

The easiest way to detect if an app is delaying your phone screen is to reboot to Safe mode. Safe Mode on Android lets you run the OS without third-party apps, and with that, you can check if an app you installed is problematic.

Here are the steps you need to take:

1. Long-press the Power button until the power menu shows up.
2. From there, long-press the Shutdown button until you see a pop-up menu asking if you want to “Reboot to safe mode.”
3. Tap OK and wait for your phone to reboot.

Note: if those steps didn’t work on your phone, you may need to Google search how to boot your phone model into safe mode. For instance, you need to long-press the HiOS or XOS logo on most TECNO and Infinix devices to boot into Safe mode.

Once you’re in safe mode, continue with the steps below:

1. Navigate your device normally for a minute.
2. Now, leave the screen turned on to see if it’ll turn off after the expected time.
3. If yes, then an app caused the issue. You need to find and uninstall the app.
4. Restart your phone normally to exit safe mode.
5. Once your device reboots to normal mode, go to Settings > Apps > All apps.
6. Scan through the apps to find the ones you installed earlier before the issue started, and uninstall them one after the other.
7. Restart your phone after uninstalling an app to see if it fixes the issue.

Meanwhile, if your screen only stays on while using a specific app, such as Google Play Books, kindly note that’s its nature. Otherwise, you may dig into the app’s settings to turn off such a feature (if available).

Turn off developer options

If you’ve turned on developer options on your Android phone, you might need to disable it now to fix your screen problem.

The developer options are a hidden feature on Android that may affect your user experience if you don’t know about it. (Yes, if you don’t know what you’re doing!) However, you can always turn it off if it’s posing issues.

Here’s how:

1. Open your phone’s Settings
2. Scroll down and hit
3. Find and select Developer options from there.
4. Look straight to the top right and switch off the

Meanwhile, if you can’t find Developer options on your phone, that means that’s not what caused the problem.

And if your phone screen only stays awake while charging it, you may only need to disable the “Stay awake” option in the developer options. (That’s if you have it turned on! )

Seek professional help

Your last resort to fixing a phone screen that won’t turn off is to perform a factory reset. But considering the tedious process of backing up and restoring your data, we won’t suggest resetting your phone, since you can have a repair professional look into the problem.

If none of the above solutions could make your phone screen sleep at the required time, we recommend you visit the official service center for your brand to have it fixed.

Luckily, if you’re a TECNO, Infinix, or itel phone user, we’re glad to have you here at Carlcare. As the official customer service provider for these brands, our technicians are always ready to help you fix any issue you may have with your phones. Just visit any of our service centres near you or book an appointment with us to have an experienced technician look into what’s hindering your screen from going to rest.

And guess what? You could fix this issue for free at Carlcare if your TECNO, Infinix, or itel phone is still under warranty and you’ve not violated the warranty policies.