How to release a wake lock?

Question

I am setting a wake lock using wl.acquire(). This works fine. I need that wake lock as long as my application lives, so calling release() can only be done when the application is left.

Do I have to call release() somewhere? For example in onStop()? I would say no, but I am not sure.

Answer 1

if you refer yourself to these 2 pages:

http://developer.android.com/reference/android/os/PowerManager.html

http://developer.android.com/reference/android/os/PowerManager.WakeLock.html#release()

You should release the wake lock as soon as you can: therefore if your app is closing/pausing release it!

Also, word of advice, make absolutely sure you need a wake lock, when you need it and for ho long.

in my case I put one only for the in game screen to avoid the users screen going black while thinking (since it is an opengl app it takes a few seconds to fully load), but in the other views I release it.

Trust me when I say that it is annoying for a user to end up with a empty battery because an app was forcing itself to stay awake.

Answer 2

Beside the others useful answers you already received, I just found this interesting answer about how to force screen on, maybe you'll find it useful too, if you don't really need a wake lock.