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I have a Lumia 920 which allows me to select "never" for the "screen times out after" option. I like this since I can decide to leave Groove Music on the download screen while multiple albums are downloaded. Having the screen timeout is problematic since the downloads only complete if the screen is "on".

I just upgraded to an unlocked Lumia 950 XL from the Microsoft Store. This phone doesn't have the "never" option. The maximum timeout is 5 minutes.

How can I get my screen to never timeout?

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  • Possible duplicate: windowsphone.stackexchange.com/q/2781/106 – Rowland Shaw♦ Nov 30 '15 at 8:48
  • I did see that question and answer however that seems to be about Windows 8.1; I thought it might be good ti have a different question for Windows 10, since it is a totally different code base. – Hannah Vernon Nov 30 '15 at 13:54
  • This varies by hardware. I'm guessing that the 950XL simply doesn't support the option. This may have to do with display burning or something like that. I'd try making sure that the phone is up to date. – RareNCool Nov 30 '15 at 15:11
  • The phone is on the Windows Insider "fast track", and no updates are available. – Hannah Vernon Nov 30 '15 at 16:18
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The timeout options vary by hardware and provider - as Shawn noted this might be due to display burning concerns. Unfortunately it seems like you can't force other options to show up at this point. However, developers can force the display to stay on as long as their app is visible.

Still, the real issue is that Groove should not stop downloading when your phone is on standby - you should add this as a feature request in the Windows Feedback app!

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    Oh, I certainly gave that feedback, and quite a lot more to be honest ;-) – Hannah Vernon Dec 13 '15 at 23:18
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As a matter of fact you can set the timeout to be never.

Warning

This can cause serious problems such as compatiblity issues and others. You should proceed at your own risk.

Steps:

  1. Go to Settings->Update & Security->For developers.
  2. Enable devoleper mode.

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  1. Download Interlop Tools from here.
  2. After downloading the appx file install it on your phone.
  3. You can find the Interlop tools in Settings->Extras->Interlop Tools.

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  1. Open the Registry Browser
  2. Go to This Phone\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Settings\Lock.

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  1. Click on Disable Never
  2. Set the value to 0.

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Now you can set your screen timeout to never.

References

  1. Interop Tools for Windows 10 Mobile lets you edit your registry for some hacking fun - WindowsCentral
  2. Interop Tools Useful Finds - Windows Central
  3. List of Interlop tools Edits
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    Ostensibly, you could then uninstall Interop Tools, and take the phone out of developer mode, and the setting would of course stay there until you hard-reset the phone. Nice find! – Hannah Vernon Dec 7 '16 at 22:27
  • @MaxVernon That could work too. – Kolappan N Dec 12 '16 at 14:51
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    Thank you so much for this workaround. I listen to streaming music and radio content from the BBC, Soundcloud etc and it's intensely irritating having to swipe the screen every 5 mins to stop it going to sleep and pausing the stream. Cooking, whilst following a recipe on screen is also incredibly annoying on the Lumia 950, especially when your hands are covered in something incompatible with touchscreens when it decides to go to sleep! This small fix will increase my happiness no end! P.S. if you can make applications continue to run in the background with a similar registry tweak, please post – Rupert Dec 22 '17 at 15:04
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At least in OS build 10.0.14393.448 and with Lumia 1520, the option "Never" is already selectable without any registry tinkering. My 1520 has the developer mode enabled.

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    The timeout options can be set by the device manufacturer and are not depending on the OS version or developer mode. – Thomas Nov 23 '16 at 22:14
  • Isn't all Lumia phones from the same manufacturer? – Daniel Ahrari Nov 30 '16 at 19:09
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    They used to be Nokia, now its Microsoft. Still, a manufacturer can set different timeouts for different models, usually depending on what type of display the phone has (some might be damaged perhaps by staying on too long) – Thomas Dec 1 '16 at 12:22

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