For anyone that has used an LG smartphone in the last couple of years you might know how useful the double tap to wake feature can be. Now, anyone with a Nexus 6 can regain this functionality and you don’t even have to have root access to do it.
I saw the word regain because the Nexus 6 used to have this functionality before it was released. If we take a look at this commit to the Shamu(aka Nexus 6) source code, then we can see that on September 10th the feature was disabled. The comment attached to this commit says “shamu: disable double tap in power HAL” so we’re like 99.9% sure this means the double tap to wake functionality.
Naturally, when the Nexus 6 was released and Android’s community developers started to dig around in the Nexus 6, a workaround was created. A workaround that enabled this double tap to wake functionality. Shortly after this trick was found we saw a 3rd party application released in the Google Play Store. This application, Nexus 6 Double Tap to Wake, cost $0.99 and it required root access in order to work.
This feature isn’t perfect and the developer of this application admits this. There are reports from users that say when the device has been in deep sleep mode for a long time, then it can sometimes fail to trigger when you double tap on the display. So the question remains, why was this feature disabled in the first place? Google might have had issue with it and simply didn’t have time to fix it properly. Then again, it’s possible that Google thought Ambient Display rendered the double tap to wake functionality unnecessary.
For whatever reason, Nexus 6 users didn’t have the double tap to wake feature unless they were willing to unlock and root their smartphone. Today, however, this has changed and there is now another workaround that will reactivate this feature without having to root your Nexus 6. You will need to unlock your bootloader though and this is rather disappointing. Still, if you are worried about the security risk with rooting and you are willing to unlock the Nexus 6 bootloader then this step by step guide will help you regain this double tap to wake functionality.
Nexus 6 Double Tap to Wake
- Download a Recompiled power.shamu.so File
- Use TWRP to Backup the Original File at. . .
- /system/lib/bw/power.shamu.so
- Copy the Recompiled File(from step 1) to. . .
- /system/lib/bw/
- Change the Permissions of power.shamu.so to 0644
- Reboot Back Into Android
Explanation
This basically just adds back the original code that was disabled in the source code back in September. I’m sure the same thing is done with the $0.99 Google Play Store application as well it’s just that the application uses file explorer type permissions which require root access. Since we are able to do all the work from the TWRP file explorer, we don’t need root access with this method. Unlocking the bootloader will wipe your smartphone so please be aware of that beforehand.
So what we’re doing is replacing the file that got changed back in September and since we’re keeping a backup of the original, we can always revert back to how it was and no one will ever be the wiser. The permissions will need to be changed to 0644 which equates to the User having RW access, Group having R access and Other having R access. If anyone has any questions about how to do this then please ask in the comments section below.
As always, I want to thank the actual developer for coming up with this modification. This person goes by qwerp_ and they have been on XDA since 2010. They don’t have a donation account setup on XDA but if you ask them for one via PM then they might give you one if they are interested in accepting donations. At the very least you can head on over to XDA and hit that Thanks! button at the bottom right of the original post.
[Source: XDA]
