Checking for Power Saver Mode programmatically

Question

I have written an app (AutoWifiSwitch) and one of the features I plan to add is automatically disabling the wifi scanning service in my app if power saving mode is enabled.<

Answer 1

PowerManager powerManager = (PowerManager)getSystemService(Context.POWER_SERVICE);
boolean powerSaveMode = powerManager.isPowerSaveMode();

Docs: developer.android.com/.../PowerManager#isPowerSaveMode()

Added in API level 21 (Android 5.0)

Answer 2

I've eventually figured out how to do this with HTC and Samsung devices. Both store their power manager settings in Settings.System.

HTC (Sense) uses the key user_powersaver_enable. Samsung (Touchwiz) uses the key psm_switch.

Both store the boolean as a String, "0" being false and "1" being true. You can then listen for changes using a ContentObserver like so (requires API level 16 or higher):

getContentResolver().registerContentObserver(Settings.System.CONTENT_URI, true, new ContentObserver(){
  @Override
  public void onChange(boolean selfChange, Uri uri){
    super.onChange(selfChange, uri);
    String key = uri.getPath();
    key = key.substring(key.lastIndexOf("/") + 1, key.length());

    if (key.equals("user_powersaver_enable") || key.equals("psm_switch")){
      boolean batterySaverEnabled = Settings.System.getString(getContentResolver(), key).equals("1");
      // do something
    }
  }
});

However this will only be applicable until Android L is release, when L is released HTC and Samsung will likely move over to the AOSP battery saver which means you will be able to use the new battery saver api in L.

Answer 3

"power saving mode" is not an official AOSP feature and there are no ways to detect it via official SDK. it is manufacturer specific. check this link

Answer 4

It did not work for me on my Samsung S8, Android 9, instead I used:

• to set: $adb shell settings put global low_power 1
• to get: $adb shell settings get global low_power

...and it worked!

Translating it into java it goes something like this:

final String result = Settings.Global.getString(getContentResolver(),"low_power");

Answer 5

This answer is only for the Samsung power saver mode, since as usual Samsung still chooses to mess with the standard APIs.

iKeirNez posted an excellent answer that confirmed a suspicion of mine. This still happens on lower end devices you can buy that have 5.1.1. I have a list compiled of the devices which I know of that suffer from a camera crash when on power saving mode, but I have not yet checked for all the possible keys that relate to power saving mode.

I know about these ones so far:

content://settings/system/powersaving_switch

content://settings/system/psm_switch

You can register a ContentResolver and listen for changes OR you can check it when necessary:

final String result = Settings.System.getString(getContentResolver(), "psm_switch");
Log.v("Debug", "Powersaving active: " + TextUtils.equals(result, "1"));