Proximity Wake for the OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T enable you to check the lock screen without touching it, and you can do that by following these steps.
Smartphones these days have a proximity sensor built into them so they know when the phone is close to something. Most use this sensor to temporarily turn off the screen for when you’re in the middle of a phone call. This prevents your cheek from touching the actual screen of the device and accidentally hanging up on someone.
The OnePlus 3 and the OnePlus 3T have a feature built into OxygenOS called Proximity Wake that actually uses this sensor for something else.
Now, we’ve seen this type of feature in 3rd-party applications from the Play Store. One of the more popular ones is likely AcDisplay, but there are a number of other apps that use the proximity sensor in the same way. Thankfully, we don’t need to install this 3rd-party application in order to gain this functionality on these devices. You do, however, need to follow this guide on how to enable Ambient Display on the OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T since it’s required in order to enable Proximity Wake.
OnePlus 3 Proximity Wake
- Launch the Settings application
- Scroll down to the Device section
- Then tap on the Display option
- Scroll down again until you get to the System section
- Then tap on the Proximity Wake option to toggle the feature on
- Press the Home button to go back to the Home Screen
Explanation
Like yesterday’s guide, it’s easy to turn this feature on and off once you know it’s there and where the toggle is. Again, you are required to have Ambient Display enabled on the OnePlus 3 and the OnePlus 3T in order to turn Proximity Wake on. I’m not sure why this feature has to be turned on, since Ambient Display doesn’t really use the proximity sensor (or than to maybe prevent the screen from turning on if it thinks the phone is in your pocket).
Either way, that is how things are set up right now. So once you have Ambient Display turned on, you can then go back into the Settings application and tap on the Display option. Toward the bottom of this screen you should see a feature labeled Proximity Wake. This is what needs to be toggled on in order to use the proximity sensor to show you what is on your lock screen. Once you have this feature toggled on, simply tap on the Home button and go back to the Home Screen.
You can then press the Power button to lock the device and test out this new feature. As shown in the video above, this feature will let you wave your hand over the front of the OnePlus 3 or OnePlus 3T and then it will show you the contents of your lock screen. Like with the Ambient Display feature, this is only shown in a low-power black and white state and notifications cannot be acted upon (replying, expanding or dismissing).
So while it’s cool to pretend like you’re a Jedi and use the Force to check the lock screen, I think the real usefulness of this feature comes when the phone in other locations. So yes, you can keep it face up on the desk and wave your hand over it to check the lock screen. But if you’re the type that keeps the phone face down, then you can also simply grab the device and turn it over to check it (the lock screen will activate automatically).
This feature works anytime the proximity sensor goes from not detecting light to then detecting light. So it even works when you pull the phone out of your pocket. You’ll be able to instantly see the time, date and notifications without having to touch the display, press the Power button or unlock the device.
