Why does my audio stop when my phone goes to sleep?

A common issue that smartphone users face is audio from music, podcasts, or videos stopping when the phone’s screen turns off or the device goes into sleep mode. This can be frustrating, especially if you are listening to audio to fall asleep and it suddenly cuts out. In this article, we’ll examine why this occurs and provide potential solutions.

Sleep Mode Overview

Sleep mode refers to a low power state that smartphones enter after a period of inactivity in order to conserve battery life. When a phone goes into sleep mode, the display turns off, background processes are limited, and certain hardware components are powered down while the device remains on standby. Sleep mode allows a phone to sip power while idle but still quickly wake up when needed.

Phone manufacturers implement sleep mode for a few key reasons (Android Police):

• To extend battery life when the phone is not actively being used
• To save energy since the display and radios are big power draws
• To prevent accidental touches and keep the device secure when not in use
• To enable fast wake times so the user experience remains responsive

Overall, sleep mode plays an important role in balancing performance and battery life on modern smartphones.

Audio Sources on Phones

There are several common ways that audio is played on smartphones, including:

• Music apps like Spotify, Pandora, Apple Music, etc. These apps allow you to stream or download songs, albums, playlists, podcasts, and other audio content.
• Video apps like YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, etc. These apps play audio along with video content.
• Gaming apps with sound effects and music.
• Phone call audio for making calls.
• Notifications and ringtones.
• Audio recording using the smartphone’s microphone.
• Navigation app voice guidance.
• Audiobooks and ebooks with narration.
• Voicemails.

Most smartphones today have powerful onboard audio capabilities, often with support for 24-bit/192kHz hi-res playback, Dolby technologies, and other features for an immersive listening experience from a variety of sources (Source 1).

Battery Drain from Audio

Playing audio on a smartphone can significantly drain the battery, even when the screen is turned off. This is because the phone is still actively processing and outputting the audio, which requires power from the battery.

As noted in discussions on Apple forums, audio playback when the screen is off can use up a considerable amount of battery life. In one case with an iPhone 11, audio playback over 24 hours with the screen off drained 17% of the battery charge.

The Audible app in particular is known to be quite battery-intensive during audio playback. As described in one Reddit thread, Audible can completely drain a full battery within 5-6 hours of continuous playback. This level of battery drain is much higher compared to other podcast apps.

In essence, playing audio files requires the phone’s processor to continually decode the audio data and send it to the speakers or headphones. This continual computational workload strains the battery, even if the screen is not on.

Phone Prioritizes Sleep

Android and iOS operating systems are designed to prioritize battery life and system performance over background activity from apps. When a phone’s screen turns off and enters sleep mode, the OS will begin restricting background processes to preserve battery charge (1).

Apps that play audio in the background, like music or podcast apps, are considered lower priority tasks by the OS. To optimize battery life, the OS will force these audio apps into a suspended state once sleep mode activates after the screen turns off (2). This prevents them from draining battery power with constant audio streaming.

So in essence, the phone’s sleep mode takes priority over background audio processes. The OS fundamentally favors preserving battery over allowing background audio to play indefinitely. This automatic shutdown of background audio is by design on both Android and iOS (3). The OS makers prioritize general performance and battery life over unrestricted background audio.

[1] https://www.androidpolice.com/prevent-apps-from-sleeping-in-the-background-on-android/
[2] https://www.techloy.com/how-to-optimize-android-apps-to-avoid-background-sleep-mode/
[3] https://www.samsung.com/us/support/answer/ANS00088422/

Preventing Audio Shutdown

There are a few settings and workarounds you can try to prevent your phone audio from shutting off when the screen goes to sleep:

• Go to Settings > Battery and enable “Unrestricted” mode. This will prevent the phone from restricting background activity when the screen is off.
• Disable battery optimizations for audio apps like Spotify under Settings > Apps. This prevents the OS from limiting background audio.
• Try using a different music app like Apple Music or YouTube Music, as the issues may be isolated to Spotify. The app developers can better optimize background audio.
• Enable developer options by tapping Build Number 7 times under Settings > About Phone. Then go to Settings > Developer Options and disable “Suspend execution for cached apps.”
• Some launchers like Nova Launcher have settings to prevent the phone from sleeping when media is playing.

You may need to experiment with different combinations of these settings to find what works best for your phone model and OS version. Just remember that preventing sleep will drain battery life faster.

Exceptions

While stopping audio during sleep is the default behavior for most phones, there are certain exceptions where the audio will continue playing even when the screen is off.¹ For example, some apps are designed to keep playing audio in the background, like music streaming apps, podcast players, meditation/sleep apps, etc. These types of apps usually require special permissions or exemptions from the system to prevent the audio from stopping during sleep mode.

Certain Android devices also allow users to specify apps that should be exempt from shutdowns during sleep. In the Battery settings, there is often an option to designate apps as “Unrestricted” which will prevent them from being killed in sleep mode.² So users can choose to exempt their favorite music or podcast app so the audio keeps playing with the screen off.

Overall, while stopping background audio is the standard, phone manufacturers provide options for certain apps or use cases to be exempt from this battery-saving measure during sleep mode.

Workarounds

There are some workarounds to prevent your phone from stopping audio when it goes into sleep mode. One option is to adjust your phone’s settings to keep the screen dimly lit instead of having it go completely black in sleep mode. This prevents the phone from fully entering sleep mode and allows audio to continue playing uninterrupted.

You can enable this setting in different ways depending on your phone model. On an iPhone, go to Settings > Display & Brightness and toggle “Keep Screen On” to on. For Android phones, go to Settings > Display and enable “Screen saver” or “Daydream” and select an option like “Colors” or “Photo Table” that will keep the screen lightly illuminated.

You can also try using an app like Caffeine or Keep Awake to keep the phone’s screen on and prevent sleep mode while you’re listening to audio. Just be aware this may drain your battery faster.

Adjusting your phone’s sleep settings is typically the simplest workaround to allow uninterrupted audio playback and prevent the annoyance of audio stopping whenever your phone’s screen turns off.

Future Improvements

While current phone operating systems shut off audio playback during sleep mode to conserve battery life, future advancements may allow audio to continue playing uninterrupted. According to an article on TechCrunch, Google has been working on new “Bedtime” features for Android that optimize the phone for sleep. These updates allow users to customize when sleep mode activates, as well as which apps and notifications can still interrupt during this time.

Similarly, Google’s blog announced improvements coming to Pixel phones, including battery saving features during sleep along with settings to enable exceptions for alarms, phone calls, messages or other audio that users want to continue uninterrupted. As mobile operating systems advance, they may be able to analyze usage patterns and apply sleep mode selectively to avoid disrupting playback unless battery is critically low. Machine learning algorithms could also learn which apps and audio sources are priorities to keep active even during sleep.

With smartphones increasingly functioning as entertainment hubs for music, videos, podcasts and more, users reasonably expect uninterrupted playback experiences. Phone manufacturers have incentive to meet this demand by developing smarter sleep modes that conserve battery life without abruptly halting audio that consumers want to keep listening to while resting.

Summary

In summary, when your phone goes into sleep mode, the audio stops playing in order to conserve battery life. Audio sources like music, videos, and phone calls are all suspended when the device sleeps. Sleep mode essentially pauses any unnecessary activity to preserve power. Since the audio and screen are not needed when the phone is idle, your device prioritizes the sleep function. While this can be frustrating if you want the audio to continue, it’s a necessary tradeoff to prevent battery drain. There are some exceptions and workarounds, like allowing certain apps to run in the background or using a wired connection, but in general audio will stop during sleep mode. Improvements to battery technology in the future may provide better options to keep audio playing in sleep mode. But for now, the brief interruption of audio allows your phone battery to last longer between charges.