This topic is to collect what we know about the power saving modes on Android and how they affect BackCountry Navigator. You are welcome to contribute your own knowledge.
Users are asking for help if they come across a situation where track recording died on its own, or another condition where they see a track that is missing many points in the middle. In this case, it may look like you have traveled in a straight line where it is not
We usually do ask users about power saving modes in these cases. Power saving modes can be different on every device and are often vague about what exactly they do in order to save battery.
It usually involves not letting apps run or use resources. Sounds great unless you want to create a complete track or finish a download.
The following are some that are fairly common, though they may look different on different devices.
This is a screen on a device with Android. It has a power saving mode. You reach this screen by going to settings and choosing Battery. One of the options.
Power Saving Mode 6.0.1
Not all power saving modes tell us what they do, but this one specifically mentions restricting location services and background data.
In testing on devices, when this power saving was activated, track recording continued but did not receive any locations during the time the device was in power saving mode. This resulted in a straight line where there should have been more points. Set this to OFF for good tracking data.
Power Saving Modes 7.0
On my Samsung Phone with 7.0, the settings look more like this.
It is notable that the descriptions for these power modes say nothing about location updates. Nonetheless, it makes a difference.
In testing on devices, when this power saving was at MID, track recording continued but did not receive any locations during the time the device was in power saving mode. This resulted in a straight line where there should have been more points. Set this to OFF for good tracking data.
Battery Optimization
Phones often have settings for "battery optimization" of apps. Sometimes this is referred to as App power monitor. The "optimized" apps are put to sleep or restricted from running.
It has some unmonitored or whitelisted apps. You could add other apps to this list that would presumably avoid these restriction.
In our testing, we found no difference when BCN was placed in the exclusion list here. Track Recording behaved normally with or without it.
Other Settings
Devices are not consistent in what settings they have and not always clear about what they do.
One user found a setting called "Aggressive Hybernate" on a ONEPLUS A3. Exempting BCN in this case resolved problems he had with a track that stopped recording repeatedly.
Comments
5 comments
1. Zendesk. I am very sorry for that inconvenience.
2. That is correct. They are not very honest or open about what the mode actually does.
I don't think you can configure what the mode does. I believe, though, that you will get most of the benefits and more by putting device in airplane mode.
Samsung Galaxy 10+ plus, android version 10, Settings, search for "special access", Optimize battery usage, change the pull down to "All", uncheck BCN.
Also try, in Special Access, Allow app while data saver on, enable BCN.
This might also be helpful on android 7.0
Settings
Battery
Settings (little cog top right of screen)
Close excessively power-intensive apps (set it to off)
On my Nexus 5x 7.1.3. Most battery options stated above not available. Only app optimisation can be changed.
The entire tracklog is recorded correctly, its just that the track lines disappear an hour or so after operation. We do switch off screen at rest intervals to save batt. It might have something to do with screen lock being enabled too long, hence triggering a batt save shutdown.
BUT given the tracklog is still recording correctly, which means your program is still active and recording, can your program do a "refresh or redraw of tracklog lines" upon entering it? This will eliminate the dropoff of lines. Very dangerous for tracker doing reconnaissance work.
1. Off-topic: When I am at the bottom of this page, it says "Please, sign in to write a comment". I click sign-in and.....nothing. It took a while to figure out that the login pop-up appears at the very top of the page (not screen) and it is not visible. I wonder, who has designed this?
2. On Samsung A5 under Android 6 I indeed noticed that when I set power saving on MID-mode the phone shortly says what it is doing while entering MID-mode and the last thing it writes is to disable location service or so. But, this is NOT mentioned in the description of MID-mode under the button ;-) I wonder, can one somehow configure WHAT exactly MID-mode does or this is hard-coded? Just in case I put BCN in the list of non-sleeping apps.
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