You know those super useful tap to wake gestures you get on handsets from HTC, LG, and OnePlus? Now you can get them on almost any Android with an AMOLED display, thanks to a new app called KnockOn.

Just like the tap to wake gestures on the handsets mentioned above, KnockOn lets you tap twice on your smartphone’s display to wake it up, then tap twice again to put it back to sleep. It’s particularly useful on larger phones because it means you don’t have to keep reaching for the sleep/wake button when you want to use your device.

KnockOn is running all the time, but it displays a black screen so it consumes very little power. This is why it’s only designed for AMOLED displays (LCD displays continue to consume power when displaying black images). This allows it to detect your taps at all times.

The tap to lock function also works on smartphones with LCD displays.

KnockOn has a few teething problems that need to be ironed out, but it’s been working well on my Galaxy Note 5 so far. There’s a free version that lets you trial the app, and a paid version priced at $1.10 that removes the ads. You can download them now from Google Play.

• ViaPhoneArena
• Google Play StoreKnockOn