Question about notifications while phone screen is off and battery optimization

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Android Central Question

Hello,

I now possess a Mi 11 since its release date in Europe in 2021, and I always had trouble with notifications not being instant.(for information the version of Miui is 12.5.5.0 RKBEUOR)

I thought it was just "normal" but I don't think I had the problem before (I had a Xperia XZ1, I still have it and I'll do some testing because I didn't pay much attention) it's on Android 9.
Those problems happens with Discord and a third part mail app (The one of the internet provider) and Gmail (Yes, Gmail, a google app, does have this issue too) and it's the worse one. Without any settings changed mails could come more than an hour after being actually received.

So now I'll just explain myself, here is everything that I tried :

- Set battery optimization to "not optimized" in the app info settings and the more hidden one too
- Unlimited network usage set to yes (very hidden option)
- Set cache delete when phone lock to Never
- Notifications effect set to "Wake up screen"
- Whitelist discord and the mail app with ADB

And it didn't work well. Until I learned about that famous "doze mode", which I disabled using ADB.
For the most part, it worked pretty well. Or so I thought, because last day I saw a Discord notification coming after 6 whole minutes. Most of the time with doze mode disabled, notifications were coming quite fast for the most part, and the maximum I had was a delay of ~2minutes.. until a few days ago.

I don't know if I'm being picky but a phone is supposed to work as intended, and there that's not the case.

I'd wanna know if that happens with google's pixels or samsung's galaxy phones (which are the only one non-chinese premium Android phone brands that I know of)

I'm gonna say the bad word here, it made me really want to switch to Apple again because that seems to be an Android only problem, from what I have read. That's too bad because I love the recent android versions, and Android 12 looks cool (One Ui 4 from samsung looks also very nice)

So yeah, my question here is simple: Does that come from ****ty chinese rom battery management OR is that just Android being .. badly optimized ?

And, can you get an Android phone to display notifications instantly even if the phone sleeps for hours without any wake up ?

Hope someone will be able to answer me.
 

B. Diddy

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Welcome to Android Central! What you're experiencing is likely due to the manufacturers' tweaking of the firmware to kill apps in the background, as part of a misguided attempt to save battery: https://dontkillmyapp.com/. It doesn't happen on Pixels. There may not be much you can do, if that behavior is deeply ingrained in the firmware.

I'll give you another example of this kind of silliness -- I had a TCL Tab 8 (originally sold through Verizon) that would not keep Spotify playing music in the background. I'd start playing music, and then switch to another app, and almost immediately, the music would stop. It would only continue playing if Spotify was in the foreground. This would not change no matter what kind of optimization I turned off in the settings. It was mind-bogglingly short-sighted.

Please register on this forum, which will allow you to engage in discussion more easily, as well as post images. https://forums.androidcentral.com/ask-question/409154-join-android-central-community.html
 

smvim

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Android's memory and power management are pretty sophisticated and improve with each version release. By manually disabling so many different processes in an effort to micromanage your phone's operating system and apps, that's created multiple situations with how the installed Android operating system functions.
At this point, try flashing the appropriate stock ROM for model (this will replace the current OS with a clean, unaltered one, then try using the options already available in the Settings menu. Then use adb to customize and optimize further.
As for just switching to an iPhone, it's also a popular environment and the phones are really good, but keep in mind that the entire development process with iPhones is highly curated and restrictive (Apple retains almost all control over both the hardware and software). Tweaking how iOS functions in the background won't be as seamless as with Android..
 

Reishin_Sama

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Hello I'm OP just created an account (Who knows maybe I'll need it for later)
@B Diddy: Are you sure it doesn't happen on Pixels & co ? I've done some researches and I found out a lot of people were saying that's Android's optimization that was in fault, even stock roms. Compared models between them vs iPhone for comparison the Android notifications were always late at a certain degree.
@smvim: Yeah, I did do that, I flashed the official rom (not the carrier one) that was up to date, and I tried later to update it to android 12 but sadly that was a beta (My bad I didn't read the disclaimer haha) and it got stuck in EDL mode (blackscreen, phone on but dead, no recovery or anything showing) I managed to get a replacement because I was lucky enough that the repair team from the carrier scratched the screen so I got a free new one, but then, it is still on the carrier rom this time (don't want to attempt to do that a second time)
And for Apple being restrictive I know I had 2 by the past so I'm familiar with that.
The thing I'm asking there is because I play several games on my phone and I heard that when transfered to iOs you basically loose in game currency (even the free farmed one strangely) and I'd like to stay on Android if that's possible.
If someone can do some testing (disabling notifications for all apps except one, let the phone sleep tight for like 15mn, and send an email/discord message/anything to see if that's instantly being received.
I don't receive much notifications and, but I didn't know that was a so widespread issue with Android !
 

B. Diddy

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I have never had a problem with notifications on my Pixel phones, but then again, I don't set my Gmail app to give me audible notifications (because that would be a lot of annoying notifications frequently throughout the day). Audible notifications for other apps like Messages, Google Chat, my hospital's secure messaging app Voalte, and many others have never had any problems coming through immediately while the phone is asleep.

Just to give you a bit of perspective, I have an iPhone 8 that I use to supervise my daughter's iPhone 12. Whenever she sends an approval request for an app she wants to install from the App Store, I don't always get the approval notification immediately -- and this is when I have my iPhone turned on and unlocked. So even Apple is not perfect in this regard.
 

Reishin_Sama

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Okay, thank you for your answers
Then I'll just have to think about it
The iPhone 8 is considered an old model now, and the delay for this might also be server side.

Any experience with Samsung over there ? I've heard they got a pretty restrictive battery management.
 

mustang7757

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Okay, thank you for your answers
Then I'll just have to think about it
The iPhone 8 is considered an old model now, and the delay for this might also be server side.

Any experience with Samsung over there ? I've heard they got a pretty restrictive battery management.
Welcome to AC!
Some members have had a issue with delay notifications on Samsung so they optimize battery pretty well also
 

B. Diddy

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Okay, thank you for your answers
Then I'll just have to think about it
The iPhone 8 is considered an old model now, and the delay for this might also be server side.

Any experience with Samsung over there ? I've heard they got a pretty restrictive battery management.

True, the iPhone 8 is old, but I don't think the age in itself would affect how it handles notifications. It's not like the simple act of triggering a notification would require a really fast processor or tons of RAM.
 

Laura Knotek

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I'm using a Samsung S22 Ultra, and my Gmail notifications arrive at the same time as they do in Chrome on my PC. However, I use Samsung Mail rather than the Gmail app.

I never use any battery saving settings.
 

smvim

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.....
@smvim: Yeah, I did do that, I flashed the official rom (not the carrier one) that was up to date, and I tried later to update it to android 12 but sadly that was a beta (My bad I didn't read the disclaimer haha) and it got stuck in EDL mode (blackscreen, phone on but dead, no recovery or anything showing) I managed to get a replacement because I was lucky enough that the repair team from the carrier scratched the screen so I got a free new one, but then, it is still on the carrier rom this time (don't want to attempt to do that a second time)....!

ROMs are not interchangeable so there's not much if any leeway as to which ROM is used to flash a particular model. Since it sounds like you weren't flashing the phone with the correct, matching firmware, that's a likely source of the power management issues you're having.
 

Reishin_Sama

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No I assure I flashed the correct rom, but as my phone was exchanged I still have the carrier rom that comes with new phones now, as I don't want to brick it again.
I did that while updating to Android 12 but that was a very early beta and there were some disclaimer that I sadly missed.

But I have some news, I don't know if that's a sign things works now, but I downloaded an app that let you access Android settings that Xiaomi hides (Because of Miui) and I disabled Adaptative Battery.
Everything coupled together, disabling doze, all google services/apps put to no restriction, unlimited network usage, and whitelist seems to have fixed the problem.
So yeah I'll still do more testing but things seems okay now (I hope).

Thank you for the answers that's kinda solved, now I just have to choose which one I'll get for my next phone, stock android or one ui, still hesitating haha.
 

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