'Prevent Auto-Lock' functionality questions

by **AlanOfTheBerg** » Thu Jun 28, 2012 4:54 am

If you have the setting to "always play to speaker" set to On in Waze, and are connected via BT streaming to your car, putting Waze in the BG will result Waze not outputting any audio, unless you are also streaming at the time, and then Waze audio goes out over BT. I think this may be an iOS limitation.

by **gettingthere** » Wed Jun 27, 2012 3:35 pm

When your iPhone locks Waze continues to give you navigation instructions, yes? Yes, you are still contributing drive data to Waze and earning points when Waze is running and your iPhone is locked.

Likely Waze made this change so that their application does not prevent the iPhone from locking when Waze is not in the foreground. It's not the active application so likely it shouldn't be overriding how applications operating in the foreground affect locking. I suspect there is some development standard on this. Maybe an iOS developer can elaborate.

by **gettingthere** » Thu Jun 28, 2012 2:30 am

I have an iPhone 4 with a recent model JVC car stereo with Bluetooth Audio Streaming & Control (A2DP1.2, AVRCP1.3). Here is what I noticed:

* When streaming audio and running Waze I get TTS instructions through my car stereo when Waze is in the foreground or background and the iPhone is locked or unlocked.
* If I stop the streaming audio I always get Waze TTS when Waze is in the foreground, locked or unlocked.
* In one instance with no streaming audio, Waze in the background, and locked my stereo 'lost' the audio link and the TTS instructions started coming out of my iPhone speaker instead.

Likely all of this depends on your specific stereo, what type of Bluetooth support it has, as well as other environmental conditions that can reduce or interfere with the bluetooth connection.

In all cases Waze should continue to send data to Waze, record your route, and generate points (as long as you don't stop for more than the Waze timeout duration and you have a data connection).

Once you 'turn off' Waze, end the Waze application, or stop for more than x minutes, Waze will no longer be active.

by **gettingthere** » Thu Jun 28, 2012 6:20 am

FWIW, I had always play to speaker set to no during the testing above.

by **gettingthere** » Fri Jun 29, 2012 12:53 am

Yes, playing music via the Music app or other applications on the iPhone which play through the car stereo via Bluetooth. Waze running simultaneously lowering the volume of the music app when announcing the next turn.

by **jlmather** » Thu Nov 22, 2012 4:24 pm

I have a Sony Xperia S with the latest firmware, and the latest Waze version (both as of 23-Nov-2012). Even though "prevent screen lock" is enabled, if I change some of the options in Waze, the screen WILL lock after the phone's time-out period. If I close Waze and re-open it then all is ok, the screen does not lock. Some things cause this to happen (eg changing 2D to 3D), some things are ok (eg zooming in/out of the map). I know what to do when it happens, so I will still carry on using this excellent app, but it is annoying.

by **JulesTohpipi** » Wed Jun 27, 2012 11:03 am

Hi,

I've just upgraded to v3.2 and notice that the new 'Prevent Auto-Lock' feature has slightly different functionality compared to the old 'Keep Backlight On.'

Under the 'Keep Backlight On' feature then my iPhone would never go to sleep - regardless of the application I was in. For example, if I opened Safari (with Waze running in the background) then Safari would remain on the screen indefinitely. (As a brief aside, I quite liked this aspect of the feature because it meant I could still get Waze's spoken directions in the background while viewing traffic information from other sources in Safari. The phone would never go to sleep mid-journey and it was easy to flip back to Waze when required.)

However, under v3.2, while 'Prevent Auto-Lock' works perfectly when Waze is running in the foreground, it will cease to function if Waze is running in the background. Meaning that if Waze is running in the background then the phone goes to sleep - even if 'Prevent Auto-Lock' is enabled.

So I'm wondering:

1) Is this a bug in 'Prevent Auto-Lock' or is it a deliberate change to the feature?
(If it's a deliberate change, then ultimately I suppose there's arguments both ways for how it should work - albeit my preference is for the old way).

2) In the new version, if I do relegate Waze to running in the background, such that the iPhone goes to sleep after a couple of minutes, then is Waze counting my miles and points as I travel in this sleep mode? I assume so, but wonder if anyone can confirm.

I'm running on an iPhone 4 under iOS 5.01

by **JulesTohpipi** » Wed Jun 27, 2012 10:10 pm

I had a bit more of a play on the way home tonight.

With Waze running in the background, I was losing the navigation instructions when the iPhone locked. However, this was with the iPhone connected to my car audio system via Bluetooth. So iPhone locked, blank screen, no instructions through the car speakers. This is why I was wondering if Waze was working at all whilst the phone was locked.

I then switched Bluetooth off and routed audio through the iPhone's internal speaker. Success, the navigation instructions could now be heard while the phone was locked.

I need to do some further investigation on the Bluetooth side of things. At the moment it's something of an inconvenience that I lose navigation instructions over Bluetooth if Waze is in the background and the iPhone locks. But maybe it's just a peculiarity of my particular car and phone installation. More playing around necessary perhaps.

by **JulesTohpipi** » Thu Jun 28, 2012 9:25 pm

gettingthere wrote:I have an iPhone 4 with a recent model JVC car stereo with Bluetooth Audio Streaming & Control (A2DP1.2, AVRCP1.3). Here is what I noticed:

* When streaming audio and running Waze I get TTS instructions through my car stereo when Waze is in the foreground or background and the iPhone is locked or unlocked.
* If I stop the streaming audio I always get Waze TTS when Waze is in the foreground, locked or unlocked.
* In one instance with no streaming audio, Waze in the background, and locked my stereo 'lost' the audio link and the TTS instructions started coming out of my iPhone speaker instead.

Likely all of this depends on your specific stereo, what type of Bluetooth support it has, as well as other environmental conditions that can reduce or interfere with the bluetooth connection.

In all cases Waze should continue to send data to Waze, record your route, and generate points (as long as you don't stop for more than the Waze timeout duration and you have a data connection).

Once you 'turn off' Waze, end the Waze application, or stop for more than x minutes, Waze will no longer be active.

Thanks for your interest and feedback.

Looking at your list of observations above, when not streaming audio, are you able to get TTS instructions over Bluetooth when Waze is in the background [edit: and your iPhone locked]? I ask because this is the problem I'm encountering.

I hadn't thought to test all this whilst streaming audio - if I'm understanding correctly, you mean listening to music over Bluetooth whilst Waze is running?

I shall repeat my tests tomorrow morning with music playing over Bluetooth simultaneous with Waze running. Just for cross-reference, Waze closed, if I stream music from my iPhone to the car speakers then I hear music regardless of whether the music app is in the foreground or background, and the phone locked or unlocked.

by **kapadpa** » Mon Nov 12, 2012 8:13 pm

I am experiencing similar issue with newer 3.5.0.0 version where even through the 'Prevent Auto-Lock' is enabled, my EVO 3D still goes to sleep/locks ( I liked on the previous version that the phone would not sleep at all till manually changed to other screen or Waze closed); also when the phone is unlocked/wakes-up, the time on the phone is correct, but estimated time to reach the destination is off by about 5 to 6 hours ahead (or UTC +2).