Galaxy Tab A7 sm-t500 Double Tap to Wake Screen rarely works

[Pakawa]

Greetings, 

Been trying to solve this issue affecting both mine and my wife's tablet.

Both of our devices more often than not, won't wake up when using double tap to wake the screen. Sometimes it works, but not often. We've had these tablets for. Months now, probably a year, and the feature did work great up until recently. We've updated to Android 12 recently,.

We can double tap to turn off the screen without issue. Works every time. 

The settings are of course enable for this feature. 

I've also booted the tablets into safe mode and the problem persists.

I've gone into the settings and used the reset settings option also.

I have not done a factory reset, but may do so soon.

Another thing I've noticed by testing out a texting app , is that notifications seem delayed when the screen is off. It's almost as if when the screen is off, the tablet won't recognize that it needs to wake up to perform its tasks. Sometimes though, the screen does wake when tapped, and notifications came through right away.

We both also have cases with magnetic flip covers and they both wake and dim the screen without issue. Removing the cases had no effect on double tapping the screen to wake it.

This is not something that is causing us any real problems, I simply like the feature to save from wearing out my power button. I often set my tablet down next to me, so it's nice to just grab it and tap the screen, as it's faster than closing and opening the cover.

I don't get the impression that the hardware is faulty, as it is happening on two devices 

I'm not certain if this is the correct place to ask for advise, my apologies if it isn't. 

Thanks for viewing. 

[RedDogRabbit]

I'm sure that someone will suggest that you Boot your device into Recovery & Wipe Cache on your device, possibly even suggest to you that you Backup your device & Factory Reset.. 

If the issue started after the device was updated to One UI V4.x (Android 12), then in this case a Factory Reset might actually resolve the issue.

I know that with my devices, whenever there is an Android version update, I always Factory Reset after the update.

If you're not terribly interested in performing a Factory Reset, but you'd like to just be able to "tap" the screen to turn it off., you could download an app from the Play Store called "screen off lite" & add it to the desktop.  I use it on my device, because I don't want to use "Tap to Wake".

Here's a screen shot of the app I'm using, as there's quite a few similar apps, but this is what I use & it works for me. 

 

[Pakawa]

Thanks for your reply

I did just try to wipe the cache via recovery, unfortunately it did not solve anything.

I actually wanted to do this earlier, but funny enough I couldn't find a way to enter recovery like I could with other devices. Then I stumbled upon a little tidbit. The tablet has to be plugged in to a PC via USB in order for he button combo to work.

I believe the problem started with the last software update prior to receiving Android 12. Aside from a security update, I'm not sure what else was included. But it seems worst now after the android update.

I will factory reset, I have time today. If that fails, I'll try the app you have suggested.

I did try an app that I can't quite remember he name for, gravity something or other. That had many features. It was able to wake the screen on movement detection, as in when you pickup the device. But unfortunately it acted the same way, as in it wouldn't always work and I still had to press power.

I'm off to factory reset now, I'll post an update later.


Thanks again.

[RedDogRabbit]

Remember to backup your device first! 

"Please get back to us if you require any further assistance". (inside joke).

But hopefully it will resolve the issue for you 🤞

[Pakawa]

Funny you mention that, I figured the device was already being backed up to Google like my other devices. I found out after the reset that Google had no device backups.

I also happened to not have my phone with me until much later in the day, so I wasn't able to login to my Samsung account using the two step verification. I ended up just installing everything from scratch. Which is fine, I lost nothing of concern.

I did get my phone back and logged into my Samsung account, so all is good. I also checked my backup settings, and now both Google and Samsung are back8ng up my stuff. I'll be prepared next time 🙂

In the end though, the factory reset did not solve it sadly.

[RedDogRabbit]

I guess you could try the Screen Off Lite app until (if you decide to) visit a Samsung Service center? 

[Helenna]

Hi, we can understand that how upsetting that must have been for you even after trying the troubleshooting steps.

If the issue still persists even after performing the factory reset, we suggest you to get the device examied by the service technician by visiting the nearest Authorized Samsung service center and keep us posted.

Please use the given link to know the nearest Samsung Service center.

https://www.samsung.com/ca/support/service-center/

[Pakawa]

It isn't any real problem, my wif and I are very happy with our tablets. The reason we use the tap to wake feature is to save the button from wearing out. I'd be happy to get it working again though. Our flip cover cases still wake and dim the screen without issue, and its instant.

What I find puzzling, is that this is two devices that have the same problem, and I do believe it started after an update.

It wasn't the Android 12 update I don't think, but that one made it practically not work anymore. But it actually started during th prior security update a month or so prior I believe. After that security update, the screen would still wake up, but sometimes it wouldn't.

I'm not certain how long our warranty is to be honest. We bought our tablets from Costco in Canada maybe a year or so ago. I've honestly had many devices over the years and have never had to return one for service.

I will see if I can find my receipt and warranty info, we still have the boxes the tablets came with.


Thank you very much for your reply

[Pakawa]

I have an update.

I did a factory reset on my device, and unfortunately the issue still exists.

I made sure on first boot after the reset that I enabled the double tap to wake and sleep options in th aettings.

This was before any restoration of my apps took place.

So I believe I can rule out a third party app causing conflict as there wasn't any installed yet.

Again, I appreciate the assistance and I thank you for responding.

[RedDogRabbit]

After giving this some more thought... If it was just affecting one of your devices, Factory Reset / Service Center would make more sense, but since it's the same on both yours & your wife's device, I'm thinking that maybe Samsung just removed the option from the Tab A7 altogether. So if you like the convenience of a single tap to turn the screen off, Screen Off Lite may be the only option at the moment.