App with background usage off somehow still runs in the background

ahacom

Hi im curious if anybody else experienced this problem?

I turned off background usage at all for messenger, it has no silent notification to keep running and in the list of background apps it does not appear (list from screenshot 2)
Yet it somehow consumes battery when in the background, why?

Same thing happens for stuff like SMS APP and launcher but that is ofc to be expected

i know a fix would be to make a sep. profile but thats too unconvienient for me.

ig it does not run 24/7 but still why does it even run

problematic app
the active list (no messenger!)

ahacom

the image links seem broken so Herę
https://imgur.com/a/tzPXorN
https://imgur.com/a/nfUj7T4

Oggyo

This is not a surprise and has been discussed many times.
The app can be waken up by other events, e.g. push messages, scheduled alarms, etc.

Possible mitigations:

Disable the app if not used. There is an app (e.g. Activity Manager) which can put shortcut to app settings in your home screen for faster access for enable/disable.
Move the app to the Private Space or User Profile where you control if it should work in background and therefore the apps inside.

Onlyfun

Oggyo Activity Manager

Can't find the shortcut feature

vont

Onlyfun I'm not sure where a shortcut is but, all you have to do is long press the app icon and tap "app info". From there you can disable it. It's fairly quick, that's how I do it anyways.

Edit: I forgot to mention, when you want to re-enable it you would have go to settings and dig through your apps to find it and re-enable it.

Maybe not the most convienient way for you.

Novalissoide

Onlyfun

vont

Longpress your Settings app, tap 'widgets' and put a settings widget on your homescreen. It will ask for what the widget should do, and tap the entry called 'App info'.
Now you've got a shortcut to all apps.

Onlyfun

vont

Thank you.

Onlyfun

Novalissoide thanks, didn't know this.

ahacom

Apologies for my lack of research, i see it's a well known issue are there any plans on fixing it? Even going as far as setting bg limit to "no background processes" in Developer Options didn't fix the issue...

As for the shortcut, yes you can use the app "Activity Manager" from F-Droid. Once in the app:

scroll down/search for the Settings app
search for the activity "InstalledAppDetails" -> click the 3 dots on the right -> click on launch activity with params
put inside data field: "package:com.facebook.orca" (for messenger, for any other app just check the name)
make sure "Save to history" is checked and click on ✅
then go back to the app and on the top-right is the history, click on the entry and click "Create shortcut"
customize it and yeah

Now you can just replace the app's icon with this and quickly and almost convienietly disable/enable (and even launch it by clicking the top-right button)

Why it sucks anyways: the shortcut has to be on the main screen, if you launched the app via the "app drawer" like I did, now you have to have an additional icon take up space.

PLEASE does anybody have a real fix to the issue? Why is it impossible to forbid an app from running in the background via Developer Tools or anything? It's kinda not that deep but let's consider it a security issue 🫠

Johnnyloans

ahacom

Only way I am aware of is to place the app in private space or another profile and make sure the session is ended for that profile.

Novalissoide

ahacom disable/enable

Really? I cannot disable from a Activitymanager custom shortcut.

Oggyo

ahacom PLEASE does anybody have a real fix to the issue? Why is it impossible to forbid an app from running in the background via Developer Tools or anything? It's kinda not that deep but let's consider it a security issue 🫠

I'm not a developer and I might be wrong, but perception is that is by design and how the Android platform works.

The provided workarounds are the best ways to mitigate it and thanks to GrapheneOS you can disable the apps in contrast to other OEMs where this option is usually missing.

P.S.
It's highly recommenced not to keep the Developer Options enabled, not even changing the stuff there. You can search the forum about it.

Please note, that even you disable the Developer Options - not all changed settings are reverted back to their defaults, and this usually leads to unexpected device and OS behaviour.

Novalissoide

Oggyo this usually leads to unexpected device and OS behaviour.

ahacom

This is causing so many of the more mysterious issues.

ahacom

Novalissoide

oh i mean its just a shortcut to this specific app's details page.
no idea if its possible to directly disable enable :(

Novalissoide

ahacom possible to directly disable enable

Understood. I think it is ruled against in android for 3rd party apps to disable each others.

ahacom

Novalissoide also what do you mean?

Novalissoide

Developer options running enabled is also an open door for anyone picking up your device when screen is unlocked and quickly enable wireless debugging. If those options are turned OFF, they are met with a prompt for unlock credentials to do this.

ahacom

Thats really niche, someone stealing ur phone would assume you dont have dev opts enabled

I only use them for disabling animations, that should be fine, unless its fingerprintable 🥀

and also ADB 🤫 but :/ i hope its not very blunt mis-use of the hardened os

Johnnyloans

ahacom I only use them for disabling animations, that should be fine, unless its fingerprintable 🥀

I did this too. I turned off developer options then turned off animations in regular settings

Settings > search "animat" > click remove animations > turn on

ahacom also ADB 🤫 but :/

I rarely use adb. It is a risk if your computer is compromised which is unlikely.

Chipper

ahacom PLEASE does anybody have a real fix to the issue? Why is it impossible to forbid an app from running in the background via Developer Tools or anything? It's kinda not that deep but let's consider it a security issue 🫠

I enjoy the technical exercise of attempting to exercise control over a device that should be wholely in the owners control, of course it should be noted that the real solution whether seen to be realistically practical by the user or not, is infact to not accept the terms and conditions of a product or service that you dont accept the terms and conditions of...