Notifications Delayed or Stopped?

[Will_T]

Turns out my problem was somehow related to the fact that I had disabled notifications in Chrome on the PC I use at work. I don't even remember doing that, and I don't really understand how that suddenly started affecting the notifications on my phone. Sync or no sync. Nevertheless, since re-enabling notifications in that browser, I'm back to hearing and seeing all of my Gmail notifications again.

That is too weird, unless you were only having trouble with gMail notifications? My problem is with most or all apps and it is the sound notification that is not getting through.

 

[Will_T]

Me, too, and I've never used an ad blocker. But i do use a VPN.

I have no VPN. In fact, since I factory reset the phone and limited what apps I reinstalled, I have a pretty basic setup right now. And notification sounds are still delayed unless the phone is awake.

 

[Nauga]

That is too weird

Tell me about it! But it was either that or the fact that I switched back to the "traditional" Gmail inbox on that same computer. And, yes, Gmail notifications were my major concern; I only allow notifications from about a half dozen apps.

 

[speedtrap63]

A friend with a Pixel 2 had the exact same issue after Pie installed and a reset fixed it.

My replacement phone came with Oreo, so I’ve left it there. That said the old phone actually started receiving calls when I returned home from my trip. I realized the only difference was that Fi was connected to T-Mobile at home and was connected to Sprint when I upgraded to Pie when I was away and developed the incoming call issue. So it could have been a Sprint issue maybe?

Anyway I’ll try again when I have some time to troubleshoot and I’ll use your factory reset idea as needed. Thanks for the tip!

 

[R4840]

Will_T I am having the identical problems as you. I just switched to a Samsung S9 plus but I am still on Orero, just like you I do not get any notifications from Gmail or Kuna when phone goes to lock mode once I unlock phone I will get notifications. I do get notifications on the lock screen for text messages and Amazon but that is it. I have tried all the same things you have also but no luck. I think you are correct in that it is some sort of battery sleep problem. I have notice if I leave the phone plugged in to the charger all the notifications work (Kuna,Gmail) with no delay when the screen is locked. This is really frustrating, like you have gone thru all the settings. I do not think this is just a PIE problem maybe a Samsung problem.

 

[SRFast]

I am having a similar issue with my Pixel XL running Android 9 Pie. I receive notification of my Textra messages immediately, but not new Google Inbox/Gmail messages. There is a long delay and if the phone is locked, I usually get the notification of new mail AFTER I unlock the phone. This is quite annoying because I usually don't look at my phone unless I get a new message. Thankfully Textra still works as it should. None of my Google mail or calendar apps are battery optimized or restricted and can use data in the background. Any insight into this issue is appreciated.

 

[J Dubbs]

I brought my concerns up about the extreme lengths Google seemed to be willing to go for battery optimizing/extreme doze features back when nougat came out......I was running marshmallow and getting STELLAR battery life without any app issues of any kind. I suspected they were going to start impacting features if they got too carried away. When I upgraded to nougat I noticed no real difference in battery life....in fact it may have gotten a tiny bit worse. But either way there was no real change. I've been reading that Oreo had no real battery advantage over nougat, just a few more app battery optimizing settings to have to mess with. Now I'm reading pie has a LOT more app/battery settings to have to mess with, but still not getting any better battery life than Oreo, which really wasn't any better than nougat, which wasn't really any different than marshmallow.

This was what I kind of expected, more app issues with no real battery life improvement to show for it..

Maybe Google needs to ease off focusing so much on the extreme battery optimizing (which seems to be causing the end users more problems), and worry more about leading the industry to put bigger and more advanced batteries in phone's, along with more energy efficient hardware.

 

[Will_T]

I agree with you J Dubbs! I am having notification issues with Pie that I can not get resolved. It is definitely related to the phone going into some different sleep state with Pie. I have turned off all battery saving and optimization that I can find and still have some issues with notifications being very delayed or not coming through at all until I unlock the phone with the fingerprint sensor. Then all the delayed / missing notification sounds come through immediately! Even with all battery optimization I can find turned off, my battery life is fine so I agree Google could be less aggressive with that to avoid all the problems it seems to cause. Unfortunately I am also having some of the Pie trouble with the fingerprint sensor.

 

[Will_T]

Will_T I am having the identical problems as you. I just switched to a Samsung S9 plus but I am still on Orero, just like you I do not get any notifications from Gmail or Kuna when phone goes to lock mode once I unlock phone I will get notifications. I do get notifications on the lock screen for text messages and Amazon but that is it. I have tried all the same things you have also but no luck. I think you are correct in that it is some sort of battery sleep problem. I have notice if I leave the phone plugged in to the charger all the notifications work (Kuna,Gmail) with no delay when the screen is locked. This is really frustrating, like you have gone thru all the settings. I do not think this is just a PIE problem maybe a Samsung problem.

So you are having these issues and are not using a Pixel phone? And not on Pie? Very odd. I thought with me it was definitely a result of the Pie update on my Pixel 2XL. I have not tested what happens to notifications when plugged in, I will do that.

 

[yiddo13]

Having the exact same issue as described by the OP.

I had a Oneplus 6, once the phone screen has been locked and off for 3mins the notifications for every app seemed to stop. However the only difference for me was that I was only affected on mobile data, wifi was fine and this occurred on Oreo, however I did try Pie beta and it didn't fix the issue.

All data saving modes off, battery optimisations correctly set (off). I even used adb debugging to disable doze mode as there's no option to in developer options from Oreo onwards. All had no effect.

I've returned my phone back to Oneplus and been refunded, I'd switched from an iPhone 6.

After reading this forum and others, I'm majorly concerned about purchasing another android phone.

 

[voldejour]

I also have the exact same issue described by the OP, with my Note 9 (it's on Oreo 8.1). All battery optimizations for the notification generating apps are off, data saver is off (with background limit overrides for the apps just in case), no third party battery saver app, no ad blocker; I even disabled the Google app as some people found it to be helpful, makes no difference.

My gmail notifications are delayed after my Note 9 has been put to sleep for a few minutes (my old Note 4 connected to the same wifi gets them almost immediately), and all the notification settings on the gmail app are correct as well. One interesting exception seems to be Hangout. I send an e-mail using my desktop and confirm that there is no notification on Note 9, and then I use my wife's phone to send me a Hangout message - the Hangout notification shows up immediately on Note 9. I only the get gmail notification when I wake up the phone.

It's also revealing that the delays don't seem to happen when the phone is connected to a charger - somebody mentioned it here and I confirmed it. That tells me that it is indeed a kind of deep sleep feature that only becomes activated a few minutes after the phone is put to sleep AND the phone is not connected to a charger, that is causing the delayed notifications. (This could mean that there are a bunch of people who don't realize they also have this problem) If we can find the exact set of parameters that leads to delayed notifications (at least on certain apps), it should be an easy task for Google and phone manufacturers to figure this out. So far, below is what I have:

1. The phone should NOT be connected to a charger.
2. The phone should be put to sleep (screen off; AOD is on in my case)
3. Once the phone is put to sleep, it should not be waken up for at least 5 minutes (no notification, no pushing buttons, etc)

Under these conditions, I get no gmail notifications on my Note 9 (can't say exactly how long they are delayed, it seems to vary depending on whatever event causes the phone to wake up).

 

[Will_T]

Very nice summary of what is happening! One thing I might add although I am only 90% sure of this so far.... It seems that when this happens, if you wait long enough, eventually the notifications will come through. BUT, because this does not always seem to happen, and at other times, the delay is greatly varied, I think the following might be happening.

Phone screen times out and eventually phone goes into a deep sleep. Seems to take at least 5 minutes as if a notification comes through right after the screen times out, the phone delivers it.

Once in that deep sleep stage, sound notifications do not come through, although sometimes looking at the lock screen, I will see a visual icon notification.

After a period of time, I suspect maybe one of my apps is waking up to "call home" so to speak. This then wakes the phone enough so that sound notifications come through. But sometimes this does not seem to happen and it may have been hours without sound notifications.

The problem varies slightly from app to app. Gmail for instance is better than Kuna for me. Often Gmail notifications come through OK, other times not. Kuna notifications are always delayed though.

This is a very confusing problem.

 

[viaboheme]

Same issue as OP

Hi - I have been experiencing the same issue as the OP, and it has affected my business in a negative way, as I make it a point to respond to and sales that I have incoming (as notified by notifications) immediately as they happen. This lack of trustworthy notifications has negatively impacted my perception of my new phone (I have always been Apple, but recently switched to my first ever Android - Galaxy S9 Plus, because I felt there could be "more" out there in terms of what a phone can do for me and my business)...

I have read through the whole thread, and have been having identical perplexing issues...more notably, after a forced update on the OS about two weeks ago (don't ask me OS specifics - I don't have the slightest idea how to find that out..)

HOWEVER - this issue has been plaguing me...as it seems that important notifications are paused/put on a permanent hold/etc. when my phone isn't regularly in use, no matter the time of day... I definitely use my phone often...but sometimes, I am not able to when I am busy working, etc... This is where the issues begin...

I have been perplexed with *why* this has been happening, and have turned off all battery saving/data saving features, downloaded third party notification generators, etc. - yet, the problem persists... VERY frustrating - as mentioned, I try to have exceptional customer service when it comes to my business...and this issue has made me heavily reconsider the reliability of the Android notification system, and contemplate migrating back to Apple...NOT a good problem

After reading through this thread, I went back into my settings (for the 100th+ time), and wanted to see if maybe my phone was entering some sort of "deep sleep" as the OP mentioned (something I have been wondering myself also)...I made a change to one section, and it seems to have actually resolved the entire problem for me... As soon as I made the change "official" on my phone, a swath of notifications that were otherwise paused came in literally all after one another...and what a great influx of sounds that was to hear!

Here is what I did...I hope it helps - I think it has resolved my issue - albeit prematurely, but I can say from the line of audible notifications that came in all at once, this is promising, to say the least...

Settings >> Sounds and Vibration >> Do Not Disturb >> ((Turn this setting to: Turn ON as Scheduled)).... I set my parameters between 5:00 & 5:01AM (same day) Monday-Sunday...

^^^ IMMEDIATELY after making/saving these changes, my notification problems were revlieved ^^^

I truly hope this helps someone - it sure has me... I hope my confidence in the Android notification system will be restored...

Best,
Brianna

Very nice summary of what is happening! One thing I might add although I am only 90% sure of this so far.... It seems that when this happens, if you wait long enough, eventually the notifications will come through. BUT, because this does not always seem to happen, and at other times, the delay is greatly varied, I think the following might be happening.

Phone screen times out and eventually phone goes into a deep sleep. Seems to take at least 5 minutes as if a notification comes through right after the screen times out, the phone delivers it.

Once in that deep sleep stage, sound notifications do not come through, although sometimes looking at the lock screen, I will see a visual icon notification.

After a period of time, I suspect maybe one of my apps is waking up to "call home" so to speak. This then wakes the phone enough so that sound notifications come through. But sometimes this does not seem to happen and it may have been hours without sound notifications.

The problem varies slightly from app to app. Gmail for instance is better than Kuna for me. Often Gmail notifications come through OK, other times not. Kuna notifications are always delayed though.

This is a very confusing problem.

 

[DustBow]

FWIW, I've been dealing with this as well and I'm still on Oreo 8.1
So frustrating....2018 and I can't get real time email

 

[Will_T]

Re: Same issue as OP

Settings >> Sounds and Vibration >> Do Not Disturb >> ((Turn this setting to: Turn ON as Scheduled)).... I set my parameters between 5:00 & 5:01AM (same day) Monday-Sunday...
^^^ IMMEDIATELY after making/saving these changes, my notification problems were revlieved ^^^

Interesting but settings are a bit different on different phones. My Verizon Pixel 2XL does not match your description. The only place in Do Not Disturb I can set time like that is for sleep. So just for fun I did change that to 5:00 am to 5:01 am. No fix for me.

 

[J Dubbs]

Guys I finally got the nerve up to upgrade to pie..... and I was doubting myself the whole time :-[
What I did was do the upgrade, and gave the phone several restarts letting it run a bit between each one. It actually didn't completely finish updating to pie till the third restart..... and was VERY warm through the process. After that I did a factory reset, which actually changed the home screen slightly, and gave me 2 extra gigs of space on the phone.

But the best thing was that everything's working as it should.... notifications, rapid charging, clock/local weather info, lift for all notifications on the lock screen, no abnormal battery drain etc. Everything's working perfectly so far. Just upgrading from Oreo to pie was NOT the same as factory resetting after upgrading to pie. I think a factory reset is mandatory to get the complete pie experience without it being a hybrid of Oreo and pie..... which it was on my og pixel. I also have no dim screen issues of any kind..... everything's set on default and auto brightness is working the same as before pie.

The only thing I've probably done differently than most of you is I'm not running a screen lock. I'm OCD about keeping my phone in my pocket (always use a Bluetooth earpiece), and I've found through past experience that screen locks can interfere with apps I like to use.... especially the assistant apps like Cortana and Google assistant. Otherwise my phones bone stock settings wise.
I would highly recommend a factory reset after the pie update ;-) :-D

 

[DustBow]

It's definitely a Gmail app issue w/ Doze or some kind of sleep after 5 minutes or so.
Saw suggestions to switch to BlueMail and that app does work. Syncing just fine in real time.
I'll send a test email to 1 of my accounts & BlueMail will give me a notification & pop up on the locked screen... Gmail does not immediately do the same.

Pretty sad, Google....

 

[Will_T]

The only thing I've probably done differently than most of you is I'm not running a screen lock. I'm OCD about keeping my phone in my pocket (always use a Bluetooth earpiece), and I've found through past experience that screen locks can interfere with apps I like to use.... especially the assistant apps like Cortana and Google assistant. Otherwise my phones bone stock settings wise.
I would highly recommend a factory reset after the pie update ;-) :-D

As noted, I, and others, did a factory reset and it made no difference.
If your screen never times out and is awake in your pocket, how do you prevent it from doing things. If I put my phone in my pocket without turning the screen off, then when I take it out all sorts of things have happened on the screen.

 

[Will_T]

It's definitely a Gmail app issue w/ Doze or some kind of sleep after 5 minutes or so.
Saw suggestions to switch to BlueMail and that app does work. Syncing just fine in real time.
I'll send a test email to 1 of my accounts & BlueMail will give me a notification & pop up on the locked screen... Gmail does not immediately do the same.

Pretty sad, Google....

So maybe it is something about Pie and certain apps because I have delayed notifications with apps other than gmail. Kuna has delays, as does phone and a few others. The SMS app I use, mysms, does not notify at all since Pie. There are a couple that do seem to work. So it is not only gmail for most of us.

 

[DustBow]

I'm still on Oreo w/a Pixel 2 ...
Google has definitely changed something in the background settings somewhere because lots of people being affected this way, with different apps, accounts, etc. But it's all related to locked screen notifications after phone had been sleeping for a bit.

I use Textra & have had no issues on that front, just Gmail.