Develop Reference

WorkManager stops scheduling periodic Worker after the app closes

maybe this is yet another question about WorkManager, but I really can't find a solution...
I'm trying, as the title suggests, to run a periodic work every 15 minutes. Actually in the worker I'm polling some data every minute. After every poll, every almost 1 second I check if the worker is being stopped and if so return, otherwise keep waiting until 1 minute is reached and poll data again.
According to the documentation this should work and indeed it is, until I kill the app from the recent app screen.
Here is the code:
package com.qsea.app.cordova;
import android.content.Context;
import android.os.SystemClock;
import android.util.Log;
import androidx.work.Worker;
import androidx.work.WorkerParameters;
public class ServerListenerWorker extends Worker {
public static final String TAG = "ServerListenerWorker";
public ServerListenerWorker(
Context appContext,
WorkerParameters workerParams
) {
super(appContext, workerParams);
}
#Override
public Result doWork() {
Log.d(TAG, "Doing work");
final long startTime = SystemClock.elapsedRealtime();
final int maxDelta = 840000; // 14 minutes
while (true) {
// I did this to stop this worker until 15 minutes
// and then let the next worker run
if (SystemClock.elapsedRealtime() - startTime >= maxDelta) {
break;
}
// Here I'm polling data, if the polling results in a failure
// I return Result.retry()
// It avoid waiting if it remains only 1 minute until the max time
if (SystemClock.elapsedRealtime() - startTime >= (maxDelta - 60000)) {
break;
}
for (int i = 0; i < 60; i++) {
SystemClock.sleep(950);
// Here it checks if it is stopped
if (isStopped()) {
Log.d(TAG, "Detected stop"); // this is actually never reached
break;
}
}
}
return Result.success();
}
}
And I do as following to start the work
Constraints constraints = new Constraints.Builder().setRequiredNetworkType(NetworkType.CONNECTED).build();
PeriodicWorkRequest periodicWorkRequest = new PeriodicWorkRequest.Builder(ServerListenerWorker.class, 15, TimeUnit.MINUTES)
.addTag(serverListenerWorkerUID)
.setConstraints(constraints)
.build();
WorkManager.getInstance(cordova.getActivity()).enqueueUniquePeriodicWork(serverListenerWorkerUID, ExistingPeriodicWorkPolicy.KEEP, periodicWorkRequest);
I check the correct working of the worker by viewing the log of my server (If I receive the request it is working fine) and it seems to work ok until I close the app. Then it stops running the actual worker and never run a worker again until I reopen the app, where the work seems to be enqueued and resumes right after the app opening.
Am I doing something wrong in the initialization?
I have also <service android:name=".ServerListenerWorker" android:permission="android.permission.BIND_JOB_SERVICE" /> in my AndroidManifest.xml
Is this expected behavior?
I read that chinese ROM have additional restriction to background services and I have a HUAWEI, which seems to be the worst in this. So could it be the device? And if so, how do Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and others manage this to work even in these devices?

Let's split this in two different problems.
What are you doing in your workers is battery heavy and would be better if you use a foreground service that notifies the user that your application is running continuously in the background. You can also use WorkManager with the newly introduced support for long-running workers (that under the hood uses a foreground service). More on this in the documentation.
If have a problem with a specific OEMs, please open an issue on the Android issuetracker as this maybe a CDD violation. Google can contact the OEM and request that they fix the ROM. This is going to take time, in the meanwhile, you can take a look at sites like don't kill my app to understand what are the constraints on a specific device and use a library like autostarter to help the user to navigate to the right setting.
BTW, you don't need to be list your workers in the AndroidManifest.xml file

Android altbeacon ranging in intervals when app in background

I'm working on an app that runs a background service to range bluetooth beacons in intervals.
I start a ForegroundService with a timer to start ranging beacons for 10 seconds every minute, with an interval of 200 millis, calculates the strongest beacon and submits it to the backend API.
This works neatly while the app is in foreground, and, when the screen is off, as long as i'm hooked up using adb logcat. As soon as I take it off, nothing gets submitted to the servers anymore, meaning that no beacons are being ranged anymore.
Here are the relevant code pieces, I hope I didn't simplify too much:
class BeaconService : Service(), BeaconConsumer {
private var beaconManager: BeaconManager? = null
private var rangingTimer = Timer("rangingTimer", true)
private val region = Region("com.beacon.test", Identifier.parse("f7826da6-4fa2-4e98-8024-bc5b71e0893e"), null, null)
override fun onStartCommand(intent: Intent?, flags: Int, startId: Int): Int {
return Service.START_STICKY
}
override fun onCreate() {
if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.O) {
val notificationManager = MyNotificationManager.getInstance()
val notification = notificationManager.buildBeaconServiceNotification(this, "iBeacon service", null)
startForeground(NOTIFICATION_ID, notification)
}
initBeaconManager()
}
private fun initBeaconManager() {
BeaconManager.setDebug(true)
beaconManager = BeaconManager.getInstanceForApplication(this)
beaconManager?.foregroundScanPeriod = 200L
beaconManager?.beaconParsers?.add(BeaconParser().setBeaconLayout("m:2-3=0215,i:4-19,i:20-21,i:22-23,p:24-24"))
beaconManager?.bind(this)
}
override fun onBeaconServiceConnect() {
beaconManager?.addRangeNotifier { beacons, _ ->
if (beacons.isNotEmpty()) {
//code add ranged beacons to list
}
}
startRanging()
}
private fun startRanging() {
//code to reset the list of ranged beacons
beaconManager?.startRangingBeaconsInRegion(region)
rangingTimer.schedule(10000L) {
stopRanging(50000L)
}
}
private fun stopRanging(restartRangingAfter: Long? = null) {
beaconManager?.stopRangingBeaconsInRegion(region)
//code calcuate the strongest beacon and submit to server
if (restartRangingAfter != null) {
rangingTimer.schedule(restartRangingAfter) {
startRanging()
}
}
}
}

On OS Versions 8+, Android limits background processing unless it is part of a foreground service or a job initiated by the JobScheduler. As a result of this limitation, the Android Beacon Library will by default use the JobScheduler on Android 8+. In the foreground, an "immediate" ScanJob will run constantly to do scans. In the background (meaning when no activities are visible with the screen unlocked), Android does not allow this. A job may be scheduled at most once every ~15 minutes. This is why you see scans stop.
It does not matter that you have your own foreground service. Android still enforces these limits on any background processing performed outside that foreground service.
Two alternatives:
Live with the job limitations (scan once every 15 minutes). Use BackgroundPowerSaver to auto switch between foreground/background mode and set beaconManager.setBackgroundScanPeriod(5000) (for a 5 second scan every 15 minutes.) For clarity, you should also set beaconManager.setBackgroundBetweenScanPeriod(15*60*1000) (15 minutes), although you can set a lower value that will be disallowed by the OS on Android 8+.
Set up the library to scan with its own Foreground Service (yes as second foreground service) as described here. You can then stop using your own foreground service, or keep it. If you keep it, you will see two notification icons about the two foreground services running. It is possible to combine those two notifications if you want to keep two foreground services and show just one notification.

JobService does not get rescheduled in android 9

I'm trying to get my app working on Android 9. The following code works fine up to Android 8, but for some reason, the JobService does not get rescheduled on android 9. It gets scheduled the first time but does not get rescheduled according to the set periodic.
class RetrieveJobService : JobService() {
override fun onStartJob(params: JobParameters): Boolean {
doBackgroundWork(params)
return true
}
private fun doBackgroundWork(params: JobParameters) {
Thread {
try {
doRetrieveBackgroundStuff(this)
jobFinished(params, false)
} catch (e: Exception) {
jobFinished(params, false)
}
}.start()
}
override fun onStopJob(params: JobParameters): Boolean {
return false
}
}
And here my JobInfo.Builder
val builder = JobInfo.Builder(jobID, componentName)
.setPersisted(true)
if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.N) {
builder.setPeriodic(millis, 15 * 60 * 1000) //15 min
} else {
builder.setPeriodic(millis)
}
builder.setRequiredNetworkType(JobInfo.NETWORK_TYPE_UNMETERED)
val scheduler = context.getSystemService(JOB_SCHEDULER_SERVICE) as
JobScheduler
val resultCode = scheduler.schedule(builder.build())
Any ideas?
EDIT: Just to be clear, this code worked fine on Android 8 and below and does also work on the Android Studio emulator running Android 9. As far as I can test, it does not work on any physic device running Android 9.

If you go through THE LINK, you will find:
Unfortunately, some devices implement killing the app from the recents menu as a force stop. Stock Android does not do this. When an app is force stopped, it cannot execute jobs, receive alarms or broadcasts, etc. So unfortunately, it's infeasible for us to address it - the problem lies in the OS and there is no workaround.
It is a known issue. To save battery, many manufacturers force close the app, thus cancelling all the period tasks, alarms and broadcast recievers etc. Major manufacturers being OnePlus(you have option to toogle),Redmi,Vivo,Oppo,Huwaei.
UPDATE
Each of these devices have AutoStartManagers/AutoLaunch/StartManager type of optimization managers. Which prevent the background activities to start again. You will have to manually ask the user to whitelist your application, so that app can auto start its background processess. Follow THIS and THIS link, for more info.
The methods to add to whitelist for different manufactures are give in this stackoverflow answer. Even after adding to whitelist, your app might not work because of DOZE Mode, for that you will have to ignore battery otimizations
Also in case you might be wondering, apps like Gmail/Hangout/WhatsApp/Slack/LinkedIn etc are already whitelisted by these AutoStart Managers. Hence, there is no effect on their background processes. You always receive timely updates & notifications.

Periodic Work manager not showing notification on android pie when not charging or screen off

I have an app that should show a notification every 2 hours and should stop if user has already acted upon the notif. Since background services are history now, I thought of using WorkManager ("android.arch.work:work-runtime:1.0.0-beta01") for the same.
My problem is that although the work manager is successfully showing the notifications when app is running, but it won't show notification consistently in the following cases(I reduced the time span from 2 hours to 2 minutes to check the consistency):
when app is killed from the background.
device is in screen off.
state device is in unplugged state(i.e not charging).
By consistency , i mean that the notifications show at least once in the given time span. for 2 minutes time span, the freq of notifications went from once every 4 minutes to completely not show any notification at all. for 2 hours timespan( the timespan that i actually want), its been 4 hours and i haven't got a single notification. Here is the Code i am using for calling WorkManger:
public class CurrentStreakActivity extends AppCompatActivity {
...
#Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
...
setDailyNotifier();
...
}
private void setDailyNotifier() {
Constraints.Builder constraintsBuilder = new Constraints.Builder();
constraintsBuilder.setRequiresBatteryNotLow(false);
constraintsBuilder.setRequiredNetworkType(NetworkType.NOT_REQUIRED);
constraintsBuilder.setRequiresCharging(false);
if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.M) {
constraintsBuilder.setRequiresDeviceIdle(false);
}
Constraints constraints =constraintsBuilder.build();
PeriodicWorkRequest.Builder builder = new PeriodicWorkRequest
.Builder(PeriodicNotifyWorker.class, 2, TimeUnit.HOURS);
builder.setConstraints(constraints);
WorkRequest request = builder.build();
WorkManager.getInstance().enqueue(request);
}
....
}
Here is the worker class(i can post showNotif(..) and setNotificationChannel(...) too if they might be erroronous):
public class PeriodicNotifyWorker extends Worker {
private static final String TAG = "PeriodicNotifyWorker";
public PeriodicNotifyWorker(#NonNull Context context, #NonNull WorkerParameters workerParams) {
super(context, workerParams);
Log.e(TAG, "PeriodicNotifyWorker: constructor called" );
}
#NonNull
#Override
public Result doWork() {
// Log.e(TAG, "doWork: called" );
SharedPreferences sp =
getApplicationContext().getSharedPreferences(Statics.SP_FILENAME, Context.MODE_PRIVATE);
String lastcheckin = sp.getString(Statics.LAST_CHECKIN_DATE_str, Statics.getToday());
// Log.e(TAG, "doWork: checking shared preferences for last checkin:"+lastcheckin );
if (Statics.compareDateStrings(lastcheckin, Statics.getToday()) == -1) {
Log.e(TAG, "doWork: last checkin is smaller than today's date, so calling creating notification" );
return createNotificationWithButtons(sp);
}
else {
Log.e(TAG, "doWork: last checkin is bigger than today's date, so no need for notif" );
return Result.success();
}
}
private Result createNotificationWithButtons(SharedPreferences sp) {
NotificationManager manager =
(NotificationManager) getApplicationContext().getSystemService((NOTIFICATION_SERVICE));
String channel_ID = "100DaysOfCode_ID";
if (manager != null) {
setNotificationChannel(manager,channel_ID);
showNotif(manager, channel_ID, sp);
return Result.success();
}
else {
return Result.failure();
}
I am using a xiaomi miA2 androidOne device with Android Pie(SDK 28). There are a few other things that are troubling me:
What can i possibly do to know if my WorkManager is running? Other that just wait for 2 hours and hope for a notification. I actually tried something like that, keeping my phone connected to pc and checking android studio's logcat every now and then. It DOES run all the logs when the worker is actually called, but i don't think that's a correct way to test it, or is it?
In the above Code, the setDailyNotifier() is called from the onCreate() every time the app is opened. Isn't it Wrong? shouldn't there be some unique id for every WorkRequest and a check function like WorkManger.isRequestRunning(request.getID) which could let us check if a worker is already on the given task??If this was a case of AsyncTask, then boy we would have a mess.
I have also checked #commonsware's answer here about wakelock when screen is off, but i remember that work manager does use alarm manager in the inside when available. So what am I missing here?

Few comments:
WorkManager has a minimum periodic interval of 15minutes and does not guarantee to execute your task at a precise time. You can read more about this on this blog.
All the usual background limitation you've on newer Android releases are still relevant when you use WorkManager to schedule your tasks. WorkManager guarantees that the task are executed even if the app is killed or the device is restated, but it cannot guarantee the exact execution.
There's one note about the tasks being rescheduled when your app is killed. Some OEM have done modification to the OS and the Launcher app that prevents WorkManager to be able to accomplish these functionality.
Here's the issuetracker discussion:
Yes, it's true even when the phone is a Chinese phone.
The only issue that we have come across is the case where some Chinese OEMs treat swipe to dismiss from Recents as a force stop. When that happens, WorkManager will reschedule all pending jobs, next time the app starts up. Given that this is a CDD violation, there is not much more that WorkManager can do given its a client library.
To add to this, if a device manufacturer has decided to modify stock Android to force-stop the app, WorkManager will stop working (as will JobScheduler, alarms, broadcast receivers, etc.). There is no way to work around this. Some device manufacturers do this, unfortunately, so in those cases WorkManager will stop working until the next time the app is launched.

As of now , i have this app installed for last 8 days and i can confirm that the code is correct and app is working fine. as said by pfmaggi , the minimum time interval for work manager to schedule the work is 15 minutes, so there is a less chance that the WorkManager would have worked as expected in my testing conditions( of 2 minutes ) . Here are some of my other observations:
Like I said in the question that i was unable to recieve a notification for 4 hours even though i have passed the repeat interval as 2 hours. This was because of Flex Time. I passed in the flex time of 15 minutes and now it shows notifications between correct time interval. so i will be marking pfmaggi's answer as correct.
The problem of repeated work request can be solved by replacing WorkManager.getInstance().enqueue(request) with WorkManager.getInstance().enqueueUniqueWork(request,..)
I was still unable to find a way to test the work manager in the way i have described.

Titanium (Android) check for running Services

I'm trying to implement a convenient-to-use system for handling status bar notifications for android, and i was thinking about the following:
Create a database, where i store when and what to show
Create a service what runs in the background using the 'interval' Service, what the API provides
In that service check if any notification needs to be shown according to the database, then show it.
The only problem is, that, i cannot detect, if i need to start the service or not. I tried these things, but none of them worked well so far:
1.) Save if the service was already started on the local storage:
// Do this on application startup
var isRunning = Ti.App.Properties.getBool("service_running", false);
if(!isRunning)
{
var service = Titanium.Android.createService(...);
service.addEventListener('start', function()
{
Ti.App.Properties.setBool("service_running", true);
});
service.addEventListener('stop', function()
{
Ti.App.Properties.setBool("service_running", false);
});
service.start();
}
This obviously won't work, because the android systems native onStop and onDestroy events will not be dispatched, if the Service doesn't terminates unusually (like the user force stops the app), so the stop event also won't be fired.
2.) Try to access any active service via Titanium.Android.getCurrentService(), but i got an error saying Titanium.Android has no method called getCurrentService(). This is pretty strange, because the IDEs code completion offered me this method.
3.) Use an Intent to clear the previously running Service
var intent = Titanium.Android.createServiceIntent
(
{
url : 'notification/NotificationService.js'
}
);
intent.putExtra('interval', 1000 * 60);
//Stop if needed
Titanium.Android.stopService(intent);
//Then start it
Titanium.Android.startService(intent);
But it seems like i need to have the same instance of Intent, that started the service to stop it, because doing this on application startup, then exiting and restaring it results in multiple Services to run.
At this point i ran out of ideas, on how to check for running services. Please if you know about any way to do this, let me know! Thanks for any hints!
EDIT
Here are the source materials which gave me the idea to try the above methods (maybe only i use them incorrectly):
The local storage: Titanium.App.Properties
The method for accessing running services: Titanium.Android.getCurrentService
The method for stoping a service with an Intent: Titanium.Android.stopService
And the full source for the NotificationHandler "class" and NotificationService.js that I wrote, and their usage: link

Use Bencoding AlarmManager and it will provide all you need to schedule an alarm notification : https://github.com/benbahrenburg/benCoding.AlarmManager
This module provides what you need. It's really easy - just set repeat to daily when sheduling a Notification or Service.
Refer https://gist.github.com/itsamiths/6248106 for fully functional code
I am checking if the service is started then show daily notification or else start service and then show daily notification
var isRunning = Ti.App.Properties.getBool("service_running", false);//get service running bool status
if (isRunning) {
Ti.API.info('service is running');
} else {
Ti.API.info('service is not running');
alarmManager.addAlarmService({
service : 'com.mkamithkumar.whatstoday.DailyEventNotificatoinService',
hour : "08",
repeat : 'daily'
});
}

I come one year late, but maybe this can help others in the future.
We had the same idea: run the service forever and do the checks on every cycle (I must check 20 different communications).
And I had the same problem: how to detect that the service is running, to don't run again to don't duplicate the checks.
To solve that problem, what I did is get the current time on every cycle and save it to store.
Then, before launch a new service, I check if the last execution was to far in time: if true, then the service was stopped, else is running.
Not very elegant, but was the only way I found to avoid the problem of the user killing the app (and the service).
This is my code for the "launcher" of the service. In my case, I test 30 seconds far away:
exports.createAndroidServiceForNotifications = function(seconds) {
var moment = require('alloy/moment');
var diffSeconds = moment().diff(Ti.App.Properties.getString('serviceLastRun', new Date().getTime() - 60000), 'second');
if (diffSeconds > 30) {
var now = new Date().getTime();
var delta = new Date(now + (seconds * 1000));
var deltaMS = delta - now;
var intent = Ti.Android.createServiceIntent({
url : 'notificationsService.js'
});
intent.putExtra('interval', deltaMS);
Ti.Android.startService(intent);
}
};