Keep WiFi Connected on Your Lumia Even When Screen is Locked with “Keep Alive”- Now in Marketplace
One of the more annoying qualities of WP is its preference to switch off WiFi when the screen is locked, meaning that any applications running on Push updates will use your data, and if you don’t have a data plan then you’re out of luck. “Keep Alive” does exactly what it should, it keeps the WiFi running even when the screen is locked, this sort of application has been available before but this is the first time it’s been made available through the Marketplace, meaning there is no need for a developers unlock of any kind to run it. Pick it up for free by scanning the QR code below or by following the link, but either way hurry because I don’t see this lasting very long in the marketplace (mainly because of the incorrect description of the app; as well as some other possible violations).
*Note- I’m not sure exactly how WP manages WiFi when the screen is locked, I think it connects at random intervals to check for updates, as sometimes I get a notification when my data is off and using WiFi only; but that could be app specific.
http://www.windowsphone.com/en-US/apps/cfabf92c-79ca-4015-a385-ef1a9edd085f
Category: Applications, Nokia, Windows Phone
About the Author (Author Profile)
Heyyo, names Ali- Currently a fourth year Dental Student from Chicago; studying in Jordan. I love all sorts of gadgets almost as much as I love my cookies! (Have: Green Nokia N8, Cyan Lumia 800, Black N9, Stormtrooper White Lumia 900, Black 808 PureView, Red Lumia 920). Follow my twitter handle '@AliQudsi' - no pressure. Thanks.Subscribe
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It can check when you receive a message and your screen turns on. Only than can it check for updates.
I don’t get this obsession with the wifi on WP.
- A properly written app will keep the wifi open as expected, so I start tune-in radio, and listen the whole day over wifi with the screen locked. [1]
- If you have no data connection (tried this on holidays when I was roaming) it still notified me of new emails in the morning, so somehow during the night it still used a nearby friendly wifi to check my messages (i use imap poll, not MS push)
[1] What I would rather like is an option to force this app to ONLY use wifi. If my wifi router is conking out (damn you stupid Elisa with your shit crap retarded forced useless kotiboksi[2] with wireless that dies all the time) it will silently start to use mobile data and chew through 60-80MB per hour.
[2] Off topic: this box has an enormous upload buffer, so if you upload ANYTHING to the internet, you’ll fill a 10-20MB buffer in a second, and then for the next 20 seconds you watch every other single freaking connection DIE because it’s now first sending out this 20MB at < 1mbit, without any TCP ACK prioritization. Damnit I hate this box so much.
/End rant
i was wondering why did they launch wp7 in first place.
Is it for beta testing??
Just wonder how a SIP client could work? No incoming calls with locked screen? But then, IS there a SIP client? Maybe MS wouldn’t allow this, as users have to use Skype for such things, or pay for operator services.
Welcome ex-Apple users, from one walled garden to the next!
There IS space for a 4th ecosystem! Jolla, I am waiting for you!
Have you even tried using a WP before? If not, go try it for yourself and see if the above holds true or not.
SIP, ugh, worked with that for years and it’s a gigantic PITA protocol. It’s completely and utterly firmly set in a no-NAT no-firewall IPv4 world, with extension on top of incompatible ambigious extension trying to work around it. I guess it works inside a cozy corporate LAN but across WAN it sucks and sucks and sucks some more.
You’re suggesting a “good” solution would be to have a phone permanently spamming SIP REGISTER across its mobile connection every 30 seconds to keep all NAT bindings alive and allow incoming INVITEs to arrive over the NAT hole ?
Well, it sucks balls for a mobile device, regardless of “walled garden” derp.
Even so, it you absolutely would want to make this work, you’d REGISTER using a separate endpoint which would accept your INVITE, reply 180 RINGING, and use a PN or the same mechanism as Skype to pop up the natural WP call dialog screen and allow you to answer, then to the SIP stupid handover to route the call to your device.
(You’ll also find, if you watch the WP8 video, this native call functionality is open to other developers, not just Skype).
(Of course SIP to your mobile operator counts as “cozy lan”, so that would work, but who does that nowadays and why? There are so many ambiguous holes in the SIP flows.)
Well, although I have to agree with you partly, SIP is widely used and it works great with my N9 without sucking too much battery power. Most SIP providers provide a PSTN number cheap or for free, while it’s a more costly thing with Skype and the like.
Coming home, incoming PSTN calls reach me on my N9 via my WLAN, free of charge. Works absolutely trouble free.
And the NAT pinholing is problem all the VoIP protocols have, except that we have to manage the user plane traffic separately with SIP.
Anyway, I would expect that a mobile phone has a build-in SIP client, or at least allows / supports this as an add-on.
With LTE, ALL voice calls will use SIP (with IMS extensions) once the transition period with CSFB is over.
Ah, the 3gpp versus ietf standards, and having to support them both. Bad memories
I have nothing against more choice, so I hope there will be an offering that works for you. As far as we know, native calling should be possible using different protocols, and hopefully Nokia has added SIP as one of these, as they previously had on Symbian and N9 (or allow ‘normal’ developers to add new protocols, that’d be even better). I also hope for native Whatsapp integration in the messaging hub for WP8 in a similar fashion.
IIRC, there was some talk of that during the WP8 developer announcements and it sounded pretty open to me. Or am I mistaken?
I Love QR Codes
“Keep Alive” seems to be a completely irrelevant app for CPR best practices…..
Am I missing something here?
The description for the app is deceiving, which is why I assume it’ll be removed soon.
Best news I have ever heard about an app!
If you are in a place with WiFi and a low signal, when WiFi goes off, you’d have fun watching your battery drain as your phone keeps trying to look for better signal.
Also tests were conducted and proved that WiFi uses less power than 3G/4G data. Research Jim’s detailed benchmarks over at Mobility Digest for proof.
Nice app, and downloaded it just now. Will try it soon.
Hope that Microsoft will tweak the Wi-fi to do exactly that in WP 7.8/8.
Windows Phone is ****ng joke. S60, Symbian and Android can maintain connection.
or can it…
http://mynokiablog.com/2012/08/04/poll-is-your-808-dropping-wifi-connection-randomly/
There is another app very similar but paid
Active WiFi
http://www.windowsphone.com/en-GB/apps/0e8a1924-213d-4da4-9aca-37dbf4715e62