My new Favorite App - Auto Wifi Toggle!

Hogan773 · Aug 18, 2012

So there has been a lot of discussion about battery life on these GS3 boards, and I've been participating in them. For the first month I was pretty lazy about turning off wifi during the day while I'm at work (where there's no wifi). Recently I started doing it and notice a marked improvement in battery drain.

I also found a great app which I am going to plug here on the board for anyone else who might like to try it....

Auto Wifi Toggle by Hideki Kato

Great and simple app that does what it intends to do and doesn't get all balled up. Basically you can set it to

1) Turn OFF Wifi whenever you become disconnected from your wifi connection. This is perfect because when I leave the house in the morning, as soon as I get away from my router, Mr. Kato turns off the wifi on my Android automatically. Thanks Mr. Kato!

2) Turn ON Wifi at predetermined intervals to "check" to see if there is a connection. Basically you can set it to turn on wifi for 1 minute (or other period) every XX minutes or hours.......when it fires up for that short period if you're in range of a known wifi that connects automatically, then BAM Mr. Kato leaves Wifi on .....if it doesn't find a connection then he turns it back off after that minute.

There are also lots of fine-tuning options, for example you could say "no checking at all between 9am and 5pm" (if you're away from home) but if you generally get home around 6:00 you could begin having it check every 15 mins, or even shorter periods, to "catch" your wifi as soon as you get home.

I love the app and while it is free, I might "buy" the paid version just to give Mr. Kato a few bucks.

Anyway if you want a "set it and forget it" way of shutting wifi off when you're away from the house, go see Mr. Kato on the Play Store (the app name is Wifi Auto Toggle)

motoracer1486 · Aug 18, 2012

Sounds like a neat app, I'll check it out. Thanks for the heads up.

lexluthor · Aug 18, 2012

You plugged the wrong app.
You wanted to plug Auto WiFi Toggle
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.appspot.eikatou0.autowifionoff&hl=en

There's also WiFi Auto Toggle and Wi-Fi Auto Toggle, so very confusing.

The one you linked doesn't use cell tower data to turn wifi on/off. Many apps do and I think that's a better solution.

I have been using Y5 battery saver for a long time, but, even though it still works, it hasn't been updated in a long time.

I recently started using Smart WiFi Toggler
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sebouh00.smartwifitoggler
That seems to be working pretty well so far.

Personally, I don't think leaving wifi always on is too big a drain, but it's pretty easy to install something like this to automatically turn wifi on/off, so why not.

Captain Brick · Aug 18, 2012

You should have given a shout out to Tasker. Tasker does the same thing but with more options. Without looking into this app here is what Tasker does concerning auto wifi
You can set it to turn on wifi when u get home(work, etc) and off when u leave. When on wifi you can disable your lock screen since ur at home you really don't need a lock screen.

Tasker is the ultimate 'auto' app for any function. I use it to auto on / off my GPS when I load up maps, yelp, navigate and Facebook check ins.

Rachel A · Aug 18, 2012

Captain Brick said:
You should have given a shout out to Tasker. Tasker does the same thing but with more options. Without looking into this app here is what Tasker does concerning auto wifi
You can set it to turn on wifi when u get home(work, etc) and off when u leave. When on wifi you can disable your lock screen since ur at home you really don't need a lock screen.

Tasker is the ultimate 'auto' app for any function. I use it to auto on / off my GPS when I load up maps, yelp, navigate and Facebook check ins.

I also use Tasker to switch off my Mobile Data when I'm connected to a WiFi point...

lexluthor · Aug 19, 2012

Captain Brick said:
You should have given a shout out to Tasker. Tasker does the same thing but with more options. Without looking into this app here is what Tasker does concerning auto wifi
You can set it to turn on wifi when u get home(work, etc) and off when u leave.

I'm pretty new with tasker.

How would i do this?

Captain Brick · Aug 19, 2012

The truth is, we are all new at Tasker, it's something like a OS all by itself.

But, if you download it there is a support tab that takes you to a wiki for tasker. There you will find already made profiles(or tasks) to install. Along with step by step help. They are grouped into beginner, inter, advanced profiles. There is no way I could explain how to in a message like this.

Even better, search YouTube for "wicked4u2c" this guy has made a 3 part intro into Tasker that should really get you running full speed. Videos are short and sweet. Search for Hollywoodfrodo for some videos as well.

Example of tasker. I made a task to silence my calls and texts at night, except for my Dad, Daughter and roommate.

Hogan773 · Aug 20, 2012

lexluthor said:
You plugged the wrong app.
You wanted to plug Auto WiFi Toggle
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.appspot.eikatou0.autowifionoff&hl=en

There's also WiFi Auto Toggle and Wi-Fi Auto Toggle, so very confusing.

The one you linked doesn't use cell tower data to turn wifi on/off. Many apps do and I think that's a better solution.

I have been using Y5 battery saver for a long time, but, even though it still works, it hasn't been updated in a long time.

I recently started using Smart WiFi Toggler
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sebouh00.smartwifitoggler
That seems to be working pretty well so far.

Personally, I don't think leaving wifi always on is too big a drain, but it's pretty easy to install something like this to automatically turn wifi on/off, so why not.

I dunno....the one I plugged seems to work just fine. I'll look into the benefits of the cell tower thing, but not sure why that is better. I know some of them use GPS which I definitely DON'T want to use....GPS drain will swamp the benefits of wifi off.

On mine as soon as I leave the house and get away from my router, it clicks wifi off. Then it checks periodically for wifi connections and you can control that period. So yes it is firing up wifi for short periods every 30 mins, 1 hour, whatever you want, but I don't think that eats much battery. On the location-based service I can see the benefit but only if the app doesn't drain battery by constantly trying to find your location! I'd think the power draw from firing up wifi for 30 seconds every hour isn't that much but what is the power draw from constantly trying to know whether I'm physically near my house?????

Captain Brick said:
You should have given a shout out to Tasker. Tasker does the same thing but with more options. Without looking into this app here is what Tasker does concerning auto wifi
You can set it to turn on wifi when u get home(work, etc) and off when u leave. When on wifi you can disable your lock screen since ur at home you really don't need a lock screen.

Tasker is the ultimate 'auto' app for any function. I use it to auto on / off my GPS when I load up maps, yelp, navigate and Facebook check ins.

I did look at Tasker but as soon as I saw it costs $6.95 I just moved on because I can get the functionality for free elsewhere. I'm sure Tasker is awesome for many other things but I'll revisit if I have another need later that isn't already served by a free app somewhere.

Papadroid · Aug 20, 2012

Y5 is a great option because it remembers the cell towers in the area that you're connected to your router(s) and turns it on and off accordingly.

Hogan773 · Aug 20, 2012

lexluthor said:
You plugged the wrong app.
You wanted to plug Auto WiFi Toggle
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.appspot.eikatou0.autowifionoff&hl=en

There's also WiFi Auto Toggle and Wi-Fi Auto Toggle, so very confusing.

The one you linked doesn't use cell tower data to turn wifi on/off. Many apps do and I think that's a better solution.

I have been using Y5 battery saver for a long time, but, even though it still works, it hasn't been updated in a long time.

I recently started using Smart WiFi Toggler
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sebouh00.smartwifitoggler
That seems to be working pretty well so far.

Personally, I don't think leaving wifi always on is too big a drain, but it's pretty easy to install something like this to automatically turn wifi on/off, so why not.

I downloaded Smart Wifi Toggler and it seems promising however there is one thing I very much don't like about it....you need to wake the phone for it to search for wifi. So for me, if I throw the phone in my bag on the way home and then don't look at it for three hours when I get home, it is sleeping and won't catch my router. On Mr. Kato's app, the Auto Wife Toggle will automatically ping out wifi at a time interval of your choosing so it would catch onto my router even if I left the phone in my bag all night long.

I'm going to email the Dev of Smart Wifi Toggler to see if he can address this issue....I saw the thread in XDA where you guys were discussing his creation so he seems very tuned in right now.....

My new Favorite App - Auto Wifi Toggle!

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