01-19-2026, 04:15 PM
Unfortunately, there is no simple solution to this. Both operating systems (Android and iOS) are quite aggressive to prevent apps from doing anything while the screen is off. The reason is that any app that does something on its own prevents the efficient use of hibernation states, so instead most common tasks are handed over to the system to manage the hibernation states. Apps that synchronize data in the background use scheduled wakeup times or push notifications from the system, apps that count steps do not really do so, but request the system to report the steps when the device is turned on again and so on.
To actually do something in the background when the app is not active (i.e. screen off or showing another app) we need to refactor most parts of phyphox to put the data acquisition into a service that is separate from the main app - and we do not have the capacity to do this (and even then I am not entirely sure if the system would allow all the things we need to do while the screen is off).
So, this is not something that phyphox can offer anytime soon.
However, there might be a slightly hacky workaround: In the phyphox settings (i menu on the main screen) you can find an option to use the proximity sensor to turn off the screen. This sensor normally turns off the screen when you are holding the phone to your ear during a call to prevent accidental input on the screen. If you turn on this feature, the system will turn off the screen while a measurement is running and while the proximity sensor detects something close to the display. You will have to place something on this sensor for it to trigger, so it is a bit hacky, but it might work for your usecase.
Here is an example of this feature being used to turn off the screen while phyphox is runnning measurements in a pocket: https://youtu.be/VBNgNMhrT0Q?si=oMTXPOBl_BZWpTX4&t=74
To actually do something in the background when the app is not active (i.e. screen off or showing another app) we need to refactor most parts of phyphox to put the data acquisition into a service that is separate from the main app - and we do not have the capacity to do this (and even then I am not entirely sure if the system would allow all the things we need to do while the screen is off).
So, this is not something that phyphox can offer anytime soon.
However, there might be a slightly hacky workaround: In the phyphox settings (i menu on the main screen) you can find an option to use the proximity sensor to turn off the screen. This sensor normally turns off the screen when you are holding the phone to your ear during a call to prevent accidental input on the screen. If you turn on this feature, the system will turn off the screen while a measurement is running and while the proximity sensor detects something close to the display. You will have to place something on this sensor for it to trigger, so it is a bit hacky, but it might work for your usecase.
Here is an example of this feature being used to turn off the screen while phyphox is runnning measurements in a pocket: https://youtu.be/VBNgNMhrT0Q?si=oMTXPOBl_BZWpTX4&t=74