Multiple Android Devices having Instant Screen Timeout Issue

[sobsupport]

Starting this weekend, with no known changes to our MDM Settings, several (at least 6 so far) of our Android devices have had their screen timeout settings set to "Maximum ()" with that being the only visible option on that settings page, and the tooltip down the bottom explaining the other options are hidden. If you touch the "more information" text there it prompts you with a Meraki SM window saying "Can't perform that action"

This results in the screen timing out after about 1 second of idle time.

I have gone into the Meraki SM app on the devices and looked at the policies line by line and nothing mentions screen timeout.

This is not effecting every Android device, in fact it's also effecting a BYOD that has minimal profiles applied to it.

I've looked through the profiles in the settings of our Meraki MDM dashboard and can't even find a setting that would allow me to configure this setting on the devices in the first place.

I don't have an effected device that would be easy to restore to current condition after a factory reset, so I'm hoping to find other avenues to look into before going down that route.

Help please! I'm at a total loss here.

[CliffAnstey]

Hey Steven, I went through this with a user yesterday and was able able to get the user working. Last night around 8 PM EST, it started all over again. Anyone have anymore ideas?

[chadbazzett]

Do they have the latest version of the Meraki SM app? Google Play is showing the latest as being today (5/21) for me. Maybe it breaks when the device gets plugged in or unplugged from charging? We haven't had the chance to do any testing since the app was updated so unfortunately I don't have insight there yet.

[stevenwhiting]

From what I can tell Meraki SM 5.7.1 is the version that broke it. 5.8.1 fixes it.

From my testing on another phone I've just had, I tried pushing out 5.8.1 to a borked phone. It still had the issue even after a reboot. The only way to fix an affected phone it appears, is to remove the Work Profile and start again with 5.8.1

Annoying.

[CliffAnstey]

The user had the latest version as off yesterday. I will have him try the version for today and see what happens. Hopefully it is a later version and fixes the issue.

[emblimited]

we also have had some Android phones screen timeout after 0 seconds, we also thinking its related to the Meraki app update, v5.15 seems ok, 5.17 breaks the screen timeout, 5.18 fixes it

[stevenwhiting]

You can have 5.8.1 and if it was already broken it will still be broken until you un-enroll the device and then set it up again. Very annoying as we've had to have users bring their devices in for the fix.

Still no word from Meraki themselves. Their support is shockingly poor.

[sobsupport · Accepted solution]

I have found that this issue can be resolved without having to reset / unenroll the device:

If you haven't already add Meraki SM app into your MDM list of apps.

You can then check the devices to find the effected devices that have the 5.1.7 version.

These people should be able to go to the play store on their device. Find the Meraki Systems Manager in the list and update it.

Once it has been updated I have found that the screen timeout options became available after doing a restart, a power off and on and then waiting about 20 minutes.

I don't know exact time frames or even if the restarts were needed. But I have done this for 2 devices so far and the options have appeared eventually.

[stevenwhiting]

Nice. Customer Support was next to useless. Once I told them we'd found a fix via the Community all they said was that they were glad the issue was resolved. Never acknowledge the problem or give any fix for it.