You are likely aware that most electronic devices need to be rebooted occasionally. However, when do you do it? Many people wait until there is a problem or their devices start acting strangely. Why not be proactive and auto-reboot your devices on a schedule? In a previous article, “Your Home Network Maintenance“, the network reboot necessity and a way to do it automatically using a weekly timer were described. This article is an expansion of that article in that it will cover other ways it can be done, including setting up your smartphone for automatic rebooting.
Another Automatic Network Reboot Method
Your network likely consists of several devices (i.e. Cable Modem, VOIP box, Router, etc.). To reboot them all they all need to be plugged into the same power strip. Then it is possible to use a smart switch to reboot your network instead of using a timer, but it has one BIG caveat. There are many smart switches available such as the Kasa smart switch from TP-Link and the Wemo smart switch from Belkin. My preference is the Kasa switch for one important reason: during a power outage, when the power comes back on, the Kasa device returns to the state it was in just before the outage. However, the Wemo switch always returns to the “OFF” state after a power outage. So your network will be dead until the Wemo switch calls for turning the network back on. That means it could be as long as a week depending on how you set up the reboot in the switch.
I tried using my “Kasa Smart WiFi Plug Slim model KP125” switch for the network reboot. It’s important to realize that the Kasa switch stores the on/off schedule within the device as well as on the Internet. It’s also important to realize that the switch always has power (except during a power outage) but the network does not! I scheduled the switch “OFF” every Wednesday at 3:00 AM and switch “ON” again every Wednesday at 3:01 AM. That works fine with this one caveat: NEVER TURN THE SWITCH OFF THROUGH YOUR NETWORK CONNECTION! If you do, you will not be able to turn it back on again through the network due to the network being down. Of course, if you are home and turn it off, you could go to the Kasa smart switch and push the button on the side to turn it back on. However, if you do it remotely when you are in Timbuktu it may not come back on for up to a week later in this example.
If you are determined to use a smart switch to reboot your network, one possible way to get around this caveat could be to install an app like “NetGuard – no-root firewall” on any phones you are using to control the smart switch. NetGuard allows you to easily block network access for any phone app. You can program the smart switch the way you want it BEFORE setting NetGuard to block control of the smart switch from your phone. With power input to the smart switch always on, the internal schedule stored in the smart switch will make the switch operate the way you want. It is suggested that you set the switch to turn “OFF” one early morning and turn back “ON” one minute later. For example, I turn my network hardware “OFF” at 3:00 AM and back “ON” at 3:01 AM every Wednesday.
An Android Automatic Reboot Method
There isn’t a native built-in function for auto-restart at set times within the stock Android operating system. However, some phone manufacturers (i.e. Samsung) offer this feature as a custom user interface (UI) on top of Android. Earlier versions of the current Samsung UI 6 had the capability, but it was removed. However, it came back in UI 6. My UI 6.1 has it at:
“Settings” > “Device care” > “Auto optimization” > “Auto restart”.
I recommend you turn on both options; “Restart when needed” and “Restart on schedule”. For the schedule, choose any or all of the 7 days and choose a “Time” when you are not using your phone, like 3:00 AM.
If you don’t have a phone with the restart capability, apps like “Restart – Auto Reboot, No Root” may work for you, but I haven’t tried them.
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