Sensors are one of the most important components of any smartphone. They are necessary for the proper functioning of many applications. Well, smartphones are also considered a personal device and contain a lot of your information and private data, which you sometimes might not want others to view. As your mobile is capable of sensing everything you do, it would sometimes be a good option to turn off sensors on your Android smartphone.
Nowadays, we are provided with easily accessible options in mobile phones to turn off location, mobile data usage and some other basic sensing features but the rest of all the sensors can’t be turned off easily like that.
Fortunately, Android does provide its users to have a better control on their smartphones. People can turn off all type of sensors in android using the developer tools which can be accessed from the mobile settings.
Does Airplane Mode Turns off All Sensors?
Before going further, let’s first talk about Airplane mode. A lot of people think that turning Airplane mode on will also turn off all the sensors. Well, it does block “some” of the sensors like Cellular data, Wifi and Bluetooth etc. Still majority of the sensors carry on working in their usual manner and are not effected by airplane.
So conclusively, airplane mode does not turn off all sensors.
Turn Off Sensors using Developer Mode
Ok, so let’s get back to how we can use the developer tools in android to turn off all sensors simultaneously.
Enabling Developer Mode in Android
A lot of apps rely on sensors to function properly and turning off all sensors might make these apps refuse to work as they would not be allowed to use the sensors. Most probably an error message will be shown when those applications would be activated. In that case, turn the sensors back on.
Developer Mode can be accessed from the settings but is usually hidden, as it is only made for the users/developers who want to tweak certain functionalities that can influence the performance of the device in certain ways.
To enable the Developer Mode, open your smartphone settings and go the About Phone section. Usually, this option would either be at the extreme top or the bottom of the settings page.
Some mobile phones usually display all the information here at one, but if you use a Samsung mobile, you would be provided 4 different information options. Click on Software Information to proceed.
Here the General information about your Phone and Software will be shown like the Android version being used, Kernel version of your smartphone and other information. Just like that the Build number of your phone will be there.
You are required to tap on this build number continuously multiple times. Usually, it takes around 8 taps to activate Developer Mode on Android.
After you tap it, a message will appear on your screen saying, “Developer mode has been enabled”. You might also be required to enter the security password or passcode which you use to unlock your phone.
Congratulations you have successfully turned on the Developer options of Android which you can access by going back to the main settings page.
Android Developer Options contain a lot of settings which the user might not be aware of. It is advised not to play with them as they can affect the smartphone’s functioning and performance. If changes have been made, you should turn off developer options and restart your device.
Enabling Sensors Off Option in Android
Click on Developer Options in settings. Now you will be shown multiple options settings which you previously could not access. In these options, click on Quick settings developer tiles.
Here all the buttons will be shown which you can activate and add to the Quick Panel (Shortcut panel) of your Android mobile for use.
Find the “Sensors Off” option and toggle it on.
After you toggle it on, the option to turn sensors off will appear in your Quick Panel. To see it, swipe down the notifications shade.
Clicking it on will turn off all the sensors on your android device and app access would be stopped.
Advantages of Turning Off Sensors in Android
The most major benefit is that your privacy would be protected and the apps which were previously monitoring you would not be allowed to do so now.
Secondly, your mobile phone would save a nice amount of battery power as the power which was previously being consumed by sensors would not be used now.
Another good thing about this is the rest of your smartphone will still carry on to work in a normal way and you will also be able to use Wifi or Mobile Data just as usually.
Remember as mentioned before, some of the apps which require sensors to work might not be able to function. Just by tapping it again will turn the sensors back on and everything will be back to where it was before.
