4

There are 3 states an Android phone can be in: Awake, Asleep and Off. See: Android: Sleep stages/levels on an Android device?

In sleep mode screen goes off, CPU shuts down along with Wi-Fi and GPS radios. See: http://developer.android.com/reference/android/os/PowerManager.html and Android Sleep/Standby Mode

But GSM or CDMA radio still works and the device can receive incoming calls, SMSes, and IP packets. Also, Google introduced new Google Cloud Messaging service that sends data to devices and can, as I understood, wake the device if necessary. See: http://developer.android.com/guide/google/gcm/index.html

So, my question is: can application on Android device be updated via Google Play if the device is in sleep mode? I mean is Google Play allowed to receive some kind of messages from the cloud, wake the device and update applications? I assume that the application is allowed to be updated automatically and can be updated through mobile network (3G/4G).

Thank you.

UPDATE: I did some research and it happens that Nippey's answer and comments are correct. I did not see any updates to wake my device but as soon as the device is awake updating mechanism starts to work normally. So, theoretically, Google Play Store can start updating your applications right after the device wake up.

Community
  • 1
  • 1
Nikolai Samteladze
  • 7,699
  • 6
  • 44
  • 70

1 Answers1

2

The device is able to process push-messages while in sleep mode.

As soon as you trigger an update via the play.google.com, this will issue a push request, which, as a consequence will wake up your device. The update will be installed immediately.

So, it doesn't work in sleep mode, but if the device gets a trigger to wake up, it will do what has to be done.

Nippey
  • 4,708
  • 36
  • 44
  • Yes, I believe this behavior occurs if user explicitly tells Google Play to install/update application by pressing a button in Google Play Store (on his laptop for example). But my question was can Google Play do it automatically, for example with auto-updates. I mean without any input from user except, of course, permission to update application automatically and use mobile network for that. – Nikolai Samteladze Sep 12 '12 at 07:04
  • It won't wake up just because of updates, but your phone wakes up so often for short times (for: lets call it "system administration"), that it can be seen as if installs updates without user interference. *OT:* My phone just updated "Google Drive"! I didn't touch it! ;) – Nippey Sep 12 '12 at 07:16
  • If the "update automatically" is set in your app, it will also happen in "sleep mode". There is no "push" like installing over the website so you can't rely on fast updates this way... – WarrenFaith Sep 12 '12 at 08:35
  • You're right. This are two different principles: Update via Webiste: Push; Update via Automatic Update: Poll. – Nippey Sep 12 '12 at 08:40