How do I prevent Android from going to sleep?

Question

I never want my Android tablet to go to sleep, can I prevent sleep mode?

Answer 1

Depending on your tablet, you may have the option to set the screen timeout to "never" under Settings > Display > Sleep.

If you do not have this option, you can enable Settings > Developer options > Stay awake. This will keep your tablet awake while it is charging. This could be useful if your tablet does not support the "never" screen timeout.

Note: If you don't see Developer options in Settings, you may find them and Stay awake in one of these places:

• You may first need to unlock developer options, as described here.
• Simply search for Stay awake in Settings.
• Settings > About > Build number. Developer options should appear after tapping the build number several times.
• Settings > System > Advanced > Developer options
• Settings > About > Android version > Kernel version

(Rowan) Note: Developer options are not always under Build number; they can be in other places such as Kernel version. The developers apparently try to hide them in various locations and I know this because I myself have found them in different locations on different devices.

Answer 2

There is a stay awake option while charging. For the older Android Froyo 2.2, it can be found under:

Settings > Applications > Development > Stay awake

"Screen will never sleep while charging."

The same option is still present up to the current 8.1 version, but you first have to unlock developer options.

Answer 3

You can probably prevent you tablet from sleeping using an automation app like Tasker (paid) or Automate (free).

Here’s a automation “flow” for Automate to keep the screen and CPU awake, but you can easily modify it to only keep the CPU awake: http://llamalab.com/automate/community/flows/374

Answer 4

I use the app Caffeine, and it works very good. It's free, and highly helpful. It's very small also (few kb).