Caffeinated

Caffeinated is an Android app that keeps your screen on after you switch away or lock the phone, for a set time or indefinitely. No account, no data collection, no network calls.

Working name. "Caffeinated" hasn't been through a naming or trademark check yet, so it may change.

Why Android only

Staying on after you leave the app needs a real background wake lock. iOS gives third-party apps no equivalent: once an app is backgrounded, the OS suspends it within seconds, and no public API keeps the screen alive from there. A foreground-only iOS build would stop working the moment you switch apps, so there isn't one. The cut list in docs/rules.md has the full reasoning.

How it works

• A native Android foreground service (KeepScreenOnService) holds a PowerManager wake lock and shows an ongoing, low-priority notification while active. Android requires that notification for any app keeping the device awake in the background.
• Pick 5, 10 or 30 minutes, or forever, before starting. The notification counts down with Android's native chronometer, and the service schedules its own auto-stop, so the app doesn't need to stay open.
• Reopening the app re-syncs with the service's actual state instead of a remembered guess, because Android can kill the service independently of the app.

Running it

There's no prebuilt release yet, so you build it from source.

flutter pub get
flutter run

You need the Android SDK and a device or emulator. There is no iOS, web, desktop or Linux target (see "Why Android only").

Project structure

• lib/main.dart: UI and app state.
• lib/screen_awake_service.dart: the MethodChannel bridge to native Android. The widget tree never talks to platform channels directly.
• android/app/src/main/kotlin/.../KeepScreenOnService.kt: the foreground service, with the wake lock, notification and auto-stop timer.
• android/app/src/main/kotlin/.../MainActivity.kt: the MethodChannel handler that connects Dart calls to the service.
• docs/rules.md: the design decisions behind the app, including what was left out and why.

Permissions

Permission	Why
WAKE_LOCK	Keeps the screen and CPU on while the service is active.
FOREGROUND_SERVICE / FOREGROUND_SERVICE_SPECIAL_USE	Required to run a foreground service that isn't media, location or another predefined type. "Special use" is the right Android 14+ category here, with a justification declared in the manifest.
POST_NOTIFICATIONS	Shows the ongoing notification Android requires while the wake lock is held. Without it the wake lock still works, but you won't see the status notification.

No other permissions, no analytics, no network access.

License

MIT