Phone keeps having multiple invisible notifications every 3 hours

[Android Central Question]

I started noticing it probably a couple of months ago, and it is driving me insane. I usually have my phone on vibrate during the day, but it will vibrate up to 10 times exactly every 3 hours that I've noticed now after paying more attention to it. If I restart the phone, this time changes, but it still happens every 3 hours. It vibrates 5 or 6 times, then the period between buzzes increases a bit and eventually stops after about a minute after the first one. I don't actually see any notifications pop up, and nothing comes up in the settings for recent notifications. I have noticed sometimes it quickly pops up with what looks like a file downloading notification that quickly disappears, but it's not there long enough for me to see it properly.

I'm really frustrated, the only other option is to do a factory reset, which I don't want to do. But I'd really like to know how do I figure out what's going on, I've tried searching but can't find anything happening to others like this???

 

[mustang7757]

Hi, welcome to Android Forums

I'd like to recommend creating a account so me or other members can assist you, as guest have limitations in replying here and if we need further Information to communicate with you.

I'll provide a link to register, please come back to your post so we can further assist
https://forums.androidcentral.com/showthread.php?t=409154

 

[gabs_247]

Ok, I think I've registered now.

 

[Laura Knotek]

What phone do you have?

 

[gabs_247]

Moto G6 Plus

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! First, see if the problem goes away if you turn off NFC. If that doesn't help, then add the Settings widget to the homescreen and select Notification Log as the option (if it's still a choice). The next time these vibrations happen, check the notification log to see if it caught anything.

 

[gabs_247]

Welcome to Android Central! First, see if the problem goes away if you turn off NFC. If that doesn't help, then add the Settings widget to the homescreen and select Notification Log as the option (if it's still a choice). The next time these vibrations happen, check the notification log to see if it caught anything.

Thanks. I don't have NFC turned on. I've added in the widget and log, that's quite handy to know! I'll see what happens next time...I'm due for another round in about an hour :S

 

[gabs_247]

Ok, I thought I could briefly see what looked like a file being downloaded in the past, but they would disappear so quickly it was really hard to tell. The Notification Log was a HUGE help, I could see at the exact time, a number of files coming up against the Download Manager (system app). And subsqeuently, I could see them again 3 hours later, the same files, about half a dozen files that I'd downloaded quite a while ago. NOt sure why this happened all of a sudden, and why a restart didn't solve the problem. My understanding is that it's a System app? I've Disabled it, and so far I haven't had this happen again, but downloading files still works...what is this even for?

The main thing is, that I'm so glad I posted the question on the forum, thanks so much for your help, that was really starting to bug me a lot! Especially to B. Diddy for the Notification Log suggestion...great to know for future!

 

[B. Diddy]

Glad it shed some light on things (it's something I actually learned from one of our other Ambassadors, Javier P)! What did you disable -- the Download Manager? I'd keep that enabled, since it's important for downloading in general (especially when installing an app). Instead, try clearing the Download Manager's app cache/data.

 

[gabs_247]

I just realsied it was required for the Play Store! I've re-enabled it, and yes, I'll try clearing the cache and see how that goes...I'm just interested to see if it goes off again in 3 hour now that I've re-enabled it first. If so, I'll clear cache and monitor it again...hopefully that'd do the trick, it seems to keep thinking it hasn't notified me or it' keeps downloading the files, I don't know what it's doing :S

 

[gabs_247]

FYI, the problem came back with a vengeance (heaps of of pings with the Download Manager 'downloading' a whole bunch of old files). So this time, I did as suggested and cleared the cache for Download Manager; that has worked, so I'll keep my fingers crossed it doesn't resurface again

 

[Laura Knotek]

FYI, the problem came back with a vengeance (heaps of of pings with the Download Manager 'downloading' a whole bunch of old files). So this time, I did as suggested and cleared the cache for Download Manager; that has worked, so I'll keep my fingers crossed it doesn't resurface again

I hope this does the trick.