Mobile devices aggressively dim screens and lock them after a period of inactivity. This can be frustrating when using an application like 1pm where you don’t want to unlock your screen everytime to continue viewing the runsheet or a checklist of tasks contained within it.

While the screen timeout setting can be changed in ‘Display Settings’ on most devices, within 1pm there is a built-in feature that prevents the browser from dimming and switching off the screen. There are some caveats with this feature though, due to the way iOS devices and Safari works currently.

For all Windows and Android devices the ‘Keep Screen Alive’ mode is automatically activated when the page loads in both the Admin area and Crew Portal.

For iOS users you will need to switch this on by clicking the ‘Keep Screen Alive’ button at the base of the page. That’s a limitation imposed by Apple unfortunately that requires user interaction before granting the ‘WakeLock’ request.

As browsers may change their behaviour without warning, or your browser version may differ you may have to manually switch the ‘Keep Screen Alive’ button off and then on again on Android if it does not prevent the screen from dimming or switching off. If you are using an older version of Chrome, this feature may not work at all (until you update Chrome to the latest version).

Please note that 1pm transparently requests the Wake Lock from the browser which accepts or grants the request. The underlying device may reject the request, which is beyond our control for example where the device battery is low or is in power save mode. In these circumstances, you may wish to manually change your display settings to extend the time before the screen times out (if this is desirable).

Chrome Desktop Tab Discarding Prevention

Tab discarding is another method that devices use to preserve memory.

This happens transparently to the user by the browser discarding or suspending tabs after a certain amount of time (which may vary depending on the number of tabs open, your battery level etc.)

There is currently no full proof or reliable way to prevent tab discarding completely, nor would it really be ideal or even necessary for all users.

The way 1pm handles tab discarding is that when the page becomes visible again (for example you switch your phone screen back on) 1pm will check whether the page has been discarded. If it has been and the connection to the server has been lost, 1pm will immediately reload the page.

You can however prevent tab discarding on desktop computers when using (for example) Chrome.

On your computer, open Chrome.

At the top right, select Settings.
On the left, select Performance.
To the right of Always keep these sites active, select Add.
Click on Add sites manually.
Enter au.1pm.app (or the address of the 1pm server you are using).
Select Add.

This will prevent Chrome from discarding any tabs in the 1pm application in both the Admin area and Crew Portal on desktop Chrome only.

Tab Discarding on Mobile Devices

For all mobile devices including Android phones, tablets, iOS devices (whether using Safari or Chrome) if you require the use of 1pm continuously without the tab dicarding or screen dimming or locking, then we recommend ensuring the KEEP SCREEN ALIVE is ON and not locking your screen. This will generally use more battery, but by reducing the brightness of your screen this can be mitigated.

How will you use 1pm?

Admin User Desktop Computer (Laptop)

Think about how you will use 1pm at the event. If you are an Admin user, you will most likely be accessing 1pm from a laptop computer (Mac or Windows) on a desktop browser plugged into a wall socket. If so, you should follow the steps above to add 1pm to the list of sites that will stay active.

You can then activate the KEEP SCREEN ALIVE (ON) button and the screen will not dim or lock. 1pm will then receive all notifications such as chat notifcations with associated alert sounds and you will not miss any messages (unless your internet connection is interrupted).

Urgent chat messages should be sent together with SMS notifications to ensure every Crew member receives the alerts and can respond accordingly.

1pm recommends that Admin users where possible use a laptop computer at events so that audible alerts are triggered as Crew members send through chat messages.

Admin User Mobile Device

As an Admin user you are probably the event organiser. You may wish to also keep the 1pm app running on your mobile phone device with the screen switched on at all times (by using the KEEP SCREEN ALIVE (ON) switch). This is in addition to the Admin User Desktop Computer that you might setup in a back room or Admin area.

You will then receive incoming Crew chat messages together with the audio alert sound and haptic feedback whenever they come in. This will alert you to any urgent incoming messages.

You shouldn’t be too worried about battery drain using this method, as a modern iPhone 15 Pro Max for example claims up to 29 hours of video playback with the screen on and sound playing. 1pm would never use that much battery, so you could easily run 1pm with the KEEP SCREEN ALIVE (ON) mode for more than a day without draining the battery.

Crew Member Mobile Device (Phone/iPad)

Most Crew members will access 1pm in a ‘bring your own device’ situation on their mobile phone or tablet. In this case, there may be less need for every Crew member to maintain a constant connection to 1pm by enabling the KEEP SCREEN ALIVE (ON) feature. Or Crew members might want to enable this during key times, and switch it off (or manually lock their phone) to conserve battery at other times.

Importantly, urgent chat messages will still be received by those Crew Members regardless of whether they are running 1pm in the background (so this is not an issue in terms of getting messages through to Crew that are important).

Remember that studies have shown SMS messages have very high open rates, often cited as 98% with most messages being read within 3 mintues of delivery. This is because SMS messages are delivered directly to the user’s messaging app, which a common and core funciton of mobile devices everyone is extremely familiar with.

Push notifications from mobile applications have lower open rates, around 20-30%. SMS are perceived by Crew Members as more urgent than a mobile app notification which can easily be missed, which is why urgent 1pm notifications are all be sent via SMS (and not via less reliable push notifications).

Use Keep Screen Alive Mode to Prevent your Device Screen from Dimming/Switching Off