Your Samsung Galaxy S10 May Be Waking Unexpectedly Due To This Display Bug

Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S10 family of devices last month. Anticipation for the smartphones was high, and when preorders launched the device set records in the U.S. Now that the smartphone has been in the hands of users for a bit, an issue has surfaced that is annoying some owners. Reports are coming in that the accidental touch protection afforded by the proximity sensor on the S10 appears to be malfunctioning.

Users are reporting when they place the smartphone into their pocket; the fingerprint sensor is activating and waking the screen up. One user on Samsung's support forums says that not only is the screen waking up, but that the smartphone is sensing the touch of the pocket and playing music via Spotify, turning on the flashlight, and launching random apps. That would have a significant impact on battery life. Some users believe that the screen wake issue has to do with the Galaxy S10 tap to wake feature, but the issue doesn't appear to be limited to users who have that setting turned on.

One recommended fix for the screen issue is to turn off touch sensitivity, but users are reporting that the screen wake issue persists even after the touch sensitivity feature is turned off. The issue appears to be random with some reporting they haven't seen the problem with their device. Perhaps Samsung produced some devices with faulty proximity sensors.

These sensors are supposed to detect when something is near the scree — like your face or the inside of a pocket — and disable the screen. The catch here is that the sensor appears to be working without issue when it's near the face on calls. Some S10 owners suspect that the proximity sensor may not be on unless an active call is underway. Users seeing these issues do report that the "prevent accidental touches" setting, which is on by default, is running on their devices. Samsung has made no official comment on the issue so far leaving owners unsure if this is something that will require a device replacement or can be fixed in a software update.