App closing / crashing randomly on Android.

[Nafnlaus0]

I've now twice discovered that the app has just spontaneously stopped running (XPeria XZ2 Premium / Android 10). One was after an update, so I blamed the update, but it's since stopped again, without an update.

This is a problem; the fact that the app stops running is a very subtle thing, noticeable only by the change in battery drain (Android 10), which they might assume was just the battery bug being fixed. I imagine that a lot of people have not noticed that it's stopped running, and think they're running the app when they no longer are.

[eirikurn]

That's definitely worrying.

Do you have/use Stamina mode or battery optimizations for this app? https://dontkillmyapp.com/sony

[Nafnlaus0]

It's possible that - thanks to the battery drain problem - it's sometimes gone into stamina mode (that happens at something like 15% charge remaining if I remember right). But that shouldn't kill an app; it should just deprive it of CPU time until the phone is charged. Which is IMHO proper behavior; if something is eating all my battery in the background, it should be disabled when the battery is getting close to running out.

I'm not sure what you mean by "for this app". I just installed the App through the play store; I haven't done anything special. If it's possible to customize Stamina on a per-app basis, I've never discovered how (nor had interest in doing so). AFAIK, Stamina is just a system-wide mode.

[Nafnlaus0]

I just tested turning Stamina on and shutting the screen off for 3 minutes. It did not kill the app (although it probably robbed it of CPU). I'll do a longer test now.

ED: completed a half-hour test. No crash. I doubt it's connected to Stamina.

[MathewJDees]

I wish I knew how to help you guys with this stuff but I don’t because that’s very important to be tracking this virus

[Nafnlaus0]

For what it's worth: the app died again today. That's the third time now. Maybe once every two days or so?

The funny thing is, the way I've been realizing that it's dead is that the terrible battery drain caused by the app stops occurring ;)

[hordurhauks]

For me the app doesn't restart after BOOT_COMPLETED. I checked the code and I saw that you are indeed trying to restart the app after phone reboot (startOnBoot: true in tracking.ts) so unfortunately I can't see what's wrong with your code. Phone is Samsung Galaxy S9, Android 10. Also happens on another SGS9 that we have at home.

[bjarkithordarson]

Just went to check the battery usage on my phone. Noticed the app hadn't made the list for the last 3-4 days. Then noticed the notification wasn't there anymore. The phone hadn't been restarted, in fact the uptime (Settings/About phone/Status) is 6 days.

Does the app dump any useful logs anywhere? I can't find the data directory.

Phone is Galaxy S20 Ultra.
Installed June 29th.
Crashed June 30/31st.
Power mode = Optimized
Adaptive battery = Enabled
Put unused apps to sleep = Enabled

[eirikurn]

Afaict, this is out of our control. Usually, it is some power optimiser killing backgrounded apps. Seems to happen more on some devices than others.

I think the only solution is to remind users to check the notification and re-open the app periodically. Which of course many won't know or remember.