Screen Off and Lock: The Cure for Big Phones and Power Buttons

Gear Diary is independently owned and operated. We receive compensation through advertising and from the companies whose products we review, usually in the form of the reviewed product. We test the products supplied to us, and the opinions expressed are our own.

Gear Diary is also reader-supported. When you buy through links posted on our site, we may earn a commission at no cost to you. You can learn more by clicking here.

Screen Off and Lock: The Cure for Big Phones and Power Buttons

My HTC One M8 is a very tall phone. 90% of the time it doesn’t bother me, but sometimes if I am using it one-handed, hitting the top power button to lock it is a stretch. I resigned myself to just dealing with it, but then I discovered a simple utility, the aptly named Screen Off and Lock!

Screen Off and Lock: The Cure for Big Phones and Power Buttons

This is, at the core, a very simple utility that lets you set shortcuts to lock your phone more easily. There’s a home screen icon, the option to lock from the notification shade, and if your phone supports gestures from the home button you can swipe up to lock as well. I had this set for a few days, but missed having Google Now on the up-swipe and turned off the Screen Lock function. Likewise, it clutters up my notification area too much to have a shortcut there, so I normally just use the icon on my secondary home screen. Still, it’s fantastic that this is a utility that not only handles a very simple task very well, but also gives you multiple ways to use it, depending on your personal preferences.

Screen Off and Lock: The Cure for Big Phones and Power Buttons

If you want to REALLY show off, Screen Off and Lock adds a bit of pizzazz to locking your phone with animations. Want your screen to wink out like an old TV? Done! Want to see it zoom around like an old Windows screensaver before going blank? Done! There’s a whole slew of animations you can use to make locking your phone more exciting. Enable it before you head out with your iPhone friends and make them jealous of how much more stylishly your phone can lock…or just have fun watching the animations. Either way it’s a cool show-off feature.

Screen Off and Lock: The Cure for Big Phones and Power Buttons

Personally, I keep it simple with my one icon, no animations or swipe gestures. But in many ways this simple utility showcases the flexibility of Android; not only can you install a utility to lock your phone, you can do it in multiple ways and even add visual flairs to the process! One catch that could be a benefit or a pain, depending on your needs: if you have a password enabled, even if it’s set for a delay, using tScreen Off and Lock will kick in the password immediately. Handy if you want your passcode lock set immediately, a pain if you need to unlock your phone right away.

If you have a faulty power button, a tall phone, or just want a cool locking animation, check out Screen Off and Lock. For the low price of free it’s certainly worth a shot!

MSRP: Free from Google Play

What I Like: Loads of ways to trigger the lock; animations make locking more fun

What Needs Improvement: Passcode kicks in immediately regardless of timeout settings.

 

As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Thanks for your support!

About the Author

Zek
Zek has been a gadget fiend for a long time, going back to their first PDA (a Palm M100). They quickly went from researching what PDA to buy to following tech news closely and keeping up with the latest and greatest stuff. They love writing about ebooks because they combine their two favorite activities; reading anything and everything, and talking about fun new tech toys. What could be better?