Galaxy S10 Owners Say This Bug Is Draining Their Battery

The Tap to Wake feature on Samsung’s new Galaxy S10 phones is giving a few users fits, as it keeps waking up the phone, causing the battery to drain.

The problem seems to strike most frequently when the phone is in people’s pockets, and Tap to Wake is inadvertently triggered.

Credit: Tom’s GuideThat’s what’s happening to a user who posted on Samsung’s tech support forums. “My leg through my fabric taps the phone and opens it up,” the user writes. “This is draining my battery, and your accidental touch protection feature is useless.” A handful of other users in that same phone report similar problems, though others say that they’re unaffected.

A couple more users complain about the issue on Reddit, with one noting that it “happens when the phone is upright in a wireless charger, and when laying flat (face up) on the table and not charging.” And a handful of users in a Sammobile article on the possible bug say they’ve experienced it, too.

For what its worth, the three Galaxy S10 models Tom’s Guide has used for testing and reviews have yet to exhibit this kind of behavior. We’ve contacted Samsung to find out if it has any comment on the issue and whether a fix is in the works.

Android Police, which was among the first sites to report on the Tap to Wake issue, suggests that it could be related to the S10’s proximity sensor. That sensor knows to de-activate your phone’s screen when you’re taking a phone call, and there’s speculation that the S10’s sensor may not be working properly when you place your phone in the pocket.

A fix would depend on whether the sensor is, in fact, the culprit and how widespread the problem is. There are two short-term fixes that could temporarily reduce the chances of your screen springing to life, though they’re be no means foolproof solutions.

The first fix would be to head to Display settings on your S10 and make sure that Accidental Touch Protection is turned on. You should also toggle off Touch Sensitivity, a feature Samsung added to make displays more responsive when you’re using a screen protector.

You could also try disabling the Always On Display feature that’s been a part of Samsung’s flagship phones of a while now. Head to Settings -> Display -> Lock Screen -> Always On Display. From there you can slide the feature’s toggle to off.

Neither of those solutions are ideal, though, so we’ll be sure to update this story if Samsung gets back to us with a more permanent fix.

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