Recreating a Lost Feature with Android's Routines

A tech writer accustomed to using Google Pixel phones found himself missing one of its unique features after switching to the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8.

The feature in question was the charging screen that displayed useful information such as the weather, a clock face at night, and more. The writer missed this feature so much that he decided to recreate it on his new phone using Android's Routines feature.

Routines is an 'if this, then that' system that responds to triggers with specific actions. To replicate the charging screen, the writer set up a Routine to turn on the Always-on display whenever his phone was plugged in to charge. He also added another trigger for nighttime to start the Always-on display without his wallpaper on.

While this homemade solution works during the day, it has some limitations, including no weather screen and reliability issues due to Do Not Disturb mode overwriting the Routine at night.