What's the issue about
Some manufacturers implement into their phones "Power saving features" that kill apps running in the background. Once the apps are killed:
- This causes the apps to lose accessibility permissions, which is necessary for the correct functionality of some features. This influences especially:
- Closing blocked apps automatically
- Uninstallation protection
- Some features are also affected directly by the junior app being stopped from running in the background by the system power saving:
- Location tracking is not available at all or shows an outdated or incorrect data
- VPN from the junior app might get disconnected which affects content filtering
- Web activity/screentime might show incorrect data or have no data at all.
The only solution for this is to set up the built-in power-saving feature in a way that it will ignore (aka not kill) WINDTRE Junior Protect apps.
How to solve it on Samsung running Android 5 and 6
The power-saving is handled by a "Smart Manager" app
- open the Smart Manager app
- tap on "Battery"
- in the App power saving tap on "Detail"
- in the list of the apps tap on the WINDTRE Junior Protect app
- switch the app power saving to "Turned off"
How to solve it on Samsung running Android 7 and 8
There is a special "Unmonitored apps" menu in the "Device maintenance" settings:
- go to your device´s settings
- tap on "Device Maintenance"
- select "Battery"
- at the bottom tap on "Unmonitored apps"
- add the apps in this menu
How to solve it on Samsung running Android 9
There is a special menu to disable the power saving feature for the apps:
- go to your device´s settings
- tap on apps
- tap the 'Menu' button in the top right corner (three dots)
- tap "Special Access"
- select "Optimise battery usage"
- select "All" (instead of "Apps not optimized")
- switch the feature off for WINDTRE Junior Protect app
How to solve it on Samsung running Android 10 and 11
- go to your device's settings
- tap on "Device care"
- select "Battery"
- tap on "App power management"
- disable "Adaptive battery" and "Put unused apps to sleep"
Once done:
- go back to your device's settings
- tap on "Apps"
- on the top select the list to "All"
- select the WINDTRE Junior Protect app
- tap on "Battery"
- tap on "Optimize battery usage" and turn the optimization off
How to solve it on Xiaomi phones with MIUI 10
MIUI is very aggressive when it comes to killing apps to save the battery so there might be quite a lot of settings to change in order to disable the battery saving.
- go to your device's settings
- tap on "Installed apps" (or "Apps")
- select the WINDTRE Junior Protect app
- make sure the "Autostart" is turned on
- tap on" Battery Saver" and set it to "No restrictions"
Further changes following system settings:
Device Settings > Apps > your app > Battery > Power-intensive prompt and Keep running after screen off
How to solve it on Xiaomi phones with MIUI 11 and 12
MIUI is very aggressive when it comes to killing apps to save the battery so there might be quite a lot of settings to change in order to disable the battery saving.
- go to your device's settings
- tap on "Installed apps" (or "Apps")
- select the WINDTRE Junior Protect app
- make sure the "Autostart" is turned on
- tap on" Battery Saver" and set it to "No restrictions"
After settings are changed please lock the application to keep it running:
- open the "Recent apps" (the overview where you see the windows of all the opened apps)
- hold your finger on the WINDTRE Junior Protect window
- "Lock" the app (so it cannot be swiped away)
How to solve it on some Huawei phones
Huawei tends to at least slightly change the settings for almost every new device, so the following might not apply to all Huawei devices:
- go to the device's settings
- tap on "Battery"
- tap on "Launch" - make sure the App for Smartwatch is allowed to run
- Go one step back, pick "Optimise" - make sure the App for Smartwatch is not optimized
- further, make sure to not use any power saving mode (all the power saving modes kill apps running in the background)
How to solve it on Asus devices
ASUS can be quite aggressive when it comes to killing apps to save the battery so there might be quite a lot of settings to change in order to disable the battery saving.
- go to your device's settings
- tap on "Battery"
- tap on "PowerMaster"
- tap on "Battery saving options"
- disable "Detect battery-draining apps"
- disable "Clean up in suspend"
- disable "Auto deny apps from auto-starting"
- go back to the "Power Master" menu
- select "Battery modes"
- set it up to "Balance" (all the other modes will kill apps)
- go back to the "Power Master" menu
- select "Auto-start Manager"
- switch the list to "Downloaded"
- switch the auto-start for the WINDTRE Junior Protect app on
- go back to the "Battery" menu (two steps back)
- select "Battery optimization"
- switch the list to "All apps" (instead of "Not optimized")
- switch the feature off for the WINDTRE Junior Protect app
- back to the "Battery" settings
- disable "Detect battery-draining apps"
- disable "Adaptive battery"
How to solve it on One Plus devices
One Plus devices can be quite aggressive when it comes to killing apps to save the battery so there might be quite a lot of settings to change in order to disable the battery saving.
- go to the device's settings
- tap on "Battery"
- select "Battery Saver" and make sure it is turned off
Further:
- Go back to "Battery" settings
- tap on "Battery optimization"
- select the WINDTRE Junior Protect app
- set it to "Don't optimize"
Further:
- in the "Battery optimization" settings
- tap the "three-dots" in the upper right corner
- select "Advanced optimization"
- disable both "Deep optimization" and the "Sleep standby optimization"
Further:
- back to "Battery" settings
- tap on "Adaptive Battery"
- turn the "Use Adaptive Battery" off
Further:
- back to the device's settings
- tap on "System"
- select "Recent app management"
- make sure it is set to "Normal clear"
And to make sure that the app is not killed, the following is recommended:
- open the app
- go to the "Recent apps" view (the icon of the square in the bottom right corner)
- tap the "three-dots" in the upper right corner of the window representing the app
- tap "Lock" (using the same steps you may "Unlock" the app again)
How to solve it on Wiko Lenny devices
- Open "Settings" > "Battery" > tap ⋮ (Menu) button in the top right corner > "Battery optimization": select “All apps” and make sure the Family protect app is not optimized (to stop Android putting it to sleep)
- Open "Phone Assist" (a pre-installed Wiko app) > "Power Saver" > "Optimized mode" > make sure this is either set to OFF or if it set to ON, make sure Family Protect is enabled
- Open "Phone Assist" (a pre-installed Wiko app) > "Power Saver" > "Advanced settings & tips" > tap the cogwheel icon (Settings) > "White-list apps background" > make sure Family Protect is whitelisted
How to solve it on Google Pixel XL
- From a Home screen, swipe up to display all apps.
- Open the “Settings” menu and then select the “Battery” option
- Tap Battery saver.
- Tap Set a schedule then choose an option:
- No schedule
- Open your phone's Settings app.
- Tap Battery and then Adaptive Battery.
- Turn off Adaptive Battery if it was on
- Open your phone's Settings app:
- Tap Apps & notifications and then Advanced and then Special app access and then Battery optimization.
- If our app is listed as “Optimized,” tap the app and then 'Not Optimized' and then Done.
Further:
- Open your phone's Settings app.
- Tap Battery and then select “More” and tap on “Battery usage”.
- Under "Battery usage since full charge," see a list of apps with the percentage of your battery used.
- Tip: To see services as well as apps, tap “More” and then “Show full device usage”.
- To see or change how a listed app uses a battery, tap it.
- For some apps, you can turn on Background restriction - please turn it OFF for WINDTRE Junior Protect app
How to solve it on OPPO
- To disable Smart Power Saver, go to [Settings] > [Battery] > toggle [Smart Power Saver] to disable.
- Please also open Battery - Power Saving - toggle to turn it off
- Custom Power Saver, please click on Custom Power Saver, choose an app then click Allow Background running
- pin your app to the recent apps screen
- enable your app in the app list inside the app’s “startup manager” and “floating app list” (com.coloros.safecenter / com.coloros.safecenter.permission.Permission)
- turn off battery optimizations
- give the service a persistent notification to remain in the foreground
Where to look for more info and help
One of the best pages where you may find guides about how to set up the devices to not kill the apps is https://dontkillmyapp.com/