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Android 6.0 Marshmallow may only be an incremental upgrade over 5.1 Lollipop, but it does come with a number of interesting new features like an app permissions manager, native support for fingerprint scanner, Google Now on Tap, an all-new app drawer and of course, more intuitive volume controls. However, the latest version of Android also comes with deep-seated changes that allows for better power management, especially when the device is not in use, seeing as unsolicited notifications and network connections not only use up pricey mobile data, but also consumes battery. Enter ‘Doze’, an important feature in Android Marshmallow that disables cellular network access for just about all apps excluding the high priority ones, alongside of course, incoming calls and texts.
As it is, smartphone battery life is already a cause for concern amongst a lot of heavy users, so the new ‘Doze’ feature is one of the many interesting new additions to Marshmallow that are appreciated by its users, and envied by many who are yet to get the update on their handsets. While not all current handsets will get a Marshmallow update, users stuck on Lollipop or an earlier version of Android can now get Doze on their handsets, thanks to an app now available on the Google Play Store from developer YirgaLab. This latest app from the dev is called Doze and can be downloaded for free. The software comes with a really small footprint, with an apk file that’s smaller than 2 MB is size and requires Android 4.1 Jelly Bean or higher to work, although the power saving feature will apparently work only with the two Lollipop versions. The app is currently on version 1.0 and has already been download over 50,000 times from the Play Store, as per the listing page.
According to the developer, the app will neither entirely mimic Doze in Marshmallow nor the default power saving mode in Lollipop, but will come with more intuitive features. Unlike the built-in feature in Marshmallow, Doze from YirgaLab will be activated immediately when the phone goes into sleep mode rather than waiting for a full thirty minutes for the phone to be idle. Also, unlike the Power Saver feature in Lollipop, where apps continue to remain cut off from the internet unless users choose to manually open the particular app, this piece of software will allow apps to resume normal activity the moment the phone senses any activity on the part of the user. The one point to note here however, is that the app will ask for permission to set up a VPN at the time of installation, which will be “a barrier to block data flow” rather than working as a true VPN. The developer says, the app will not work as intended without the requisite permission.
