Always-On Display or Tap-To-Wake: Which is Better for Your Android Phone?

Modern Android phones are packed with features to streamline your experience, including the Always-On Display (AOD), introduced in 2016. It displays important information such as the date, time, notifications, music controls and widgets on the lock screen, eliminating the need to pick up the phone or tap the screen. As the name suggests, the display is always on, but not on the entire screen. Naturally, this impacts your phone’s battery life, which is why many prefer the Tap-to-Wake feature. In this mode, the screen is completely off until you tap it once or twice to turn the screen on.

Between Always-On Display and Tap-to-Wake, the latter is better for battery life. This is because even if only a few pixels remain lit, as is the case with AMOLED screens, the always-on display still requires power, which drains the battery faster than a completely dark screen. The extent of this consumption varies depending on the always-on display setup, but battery life almost always takes a hit.

If you care about battery life, AOD may not be the best choice, even though it is enabled by default. This is usually the case with supported iPhone models. As for Android phones, the feature is disabled by default in most cases.

Manufacturers have been trying to make the always-on display more battery-friendly, and the move to OLED displays has helped somewhat. But even though it only displays a few critical functions, the screen is technically active all the time, draining your phone’s battery.

Benchmarking company DXOMARK tested the effects of always-on display on the battery life of four phones: iPhone 14 Pro Max, Google Pixel 7 Pro, Galaxy S22 Ultra, and Xiaomi 12S Ultra, and the results were revealing. With AOD disabled, the battery lasted on average three to four times longer than with the feature enabled. The effects were more pronounced on the Xiaomi 12S Ultra, where battery life dropped from 495 hours to 103 hours. Google Pixel 7 Pro performed best, with battery life dropping from 367 hours to 139 hours. With AOD on the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, battery life went from 417 hours to 136 hours. The test also highlighted something interesting: phones with better battery life tend to perform worse when the always-on display is enabled.

So, regardless of which Android phone you’re using or what optimizations the manufacturer has built in, the always-on display will cause the battery to drain faster. This is why disabling AOD helps extend the battery life of your Android phone. Tap-to-Wake, on the other hand, is much more battery efficient, as the screen only turns on when you physically interact with the phone. So, if your phone is struggling to last all day on a single charge, switching from AOD to Tap-to-Wake may be a wise choice.

That said, there are times when battery life isn’t really an issue. And in some of these cases, Always-On Display can improve the Android experience. For example, if your phone stays plugged into your workstation, you can quickly check the time, check notifications, view schedules and alarms, or even view the music track currently playing without even lifting a finger. The only major downside to AOD is the reduced charge life, and as soon as that is eliminated or minimized to a large extent by plugging in, the functionality starts to make a lot more sense, and Tap-to-Wake can suddenly seem annoying. Keep in mind, however, that keeping your device charged to 100% all the time can harm your battery.

If you find AOD useful, you can minimize its effects on battery life by reducing the number of items displayed on the lock screen. Additionally, some Android phones allow you to set an always-on display schedule. If that’s an option for you, you can configure AOD to turn on when you need the feature and leave it off the rest of the time.

Ultimately, it’s important to realize that always-on display uses more battery than Tap-to-Wake, but it’s also sometimes more convenient. For the average Android user, who values ​​battery life, Tap-to-Wake is the best choice. And if you value convenience over battery, AOD is always an option.