Problems with specific phone brands

Even though we designed our app to be compatible with all devices, sometimes, the device might act a bit differently than expected. On this page, you can find some good-to-know information about the most common and problematic devices and useful tips. However, you should always check important in-app steps (recommendations, error messages, and especially our Troubleshooting section).

To search for a specific phone brand, you can press CTRL+F (Windows) keys or CMD+F (MacOS) keys for a search bar to appear and type the desired name. In case you cannot use the search on your phone, you can scroll down to your brand or open Help section on our web.

NOTE: each phone model might have a different path to a specific option/permission. If you are unable to locate it, please try searching on the internet your phone model and the option/permission you need. You should be able to find more specific guides.

Huawei

Unfortunately, Huawei is one of the most troubled phone brands in the current market. Chinese vendors tend to ignore Android’s best practices and implement very bizarre custom modifications which make background tasks nearly impossible to run. This includes stable and reliable run of AppBlock as well.

Please do:

• Phone settings > Advanced Settings > Battery Manager > Power plan is set to Performance..
• Phone Settings > Advanced Settings > Battery Manager > Protected apps – check for AppBlock as Protected
• Phone Settings > Apps > AppBlock > Battery > Power-intensive prompt [x] and Keep running after screen off [x]
• Phone settings > Apps > ‘Advanced (At the bottom) > Ignore optimizations> Press ‘Allowed’ > All apps > Find AppBlock on the list and set to ‘Allow’
• (Huawei P9 Plus) Phone settings > Apps > Settings > Special access > Ignore battery optimization> select Allow AppBlock app.

If all fails, please try to set the app as device administrator (AppBlock > Setting > CAPTCHA > Prevent escaping CAPTCHA). This may also prevent the system from killing AppBlock.

NOTE: AppBlock version installed from AppGallery might differ from the Google Play Store, each version might require other permissions. To check all needed permissions, please go through the initial onboarding process carefully and our in-app Troubleshoot.

You can visit the following link to find out more about this brand: https://dontkillmyapp.com/huawei.

Xiaomi

Xiaomi might be the most troubled phone on today’s market. Chinese vendors tend to ignore Android best practices and implement very bizarre custom modifications which make background tasks nearly impossible to run.

The specific steps depend on which version of the MIUI you have. Things to try:

• APP PINNING
  If AppBlock stops working correctly, the blocking suddenly does not work and/or you are experiencing issues with Accessibility, you should try pinning AppBlock. How to do it?
  When you open the recent apps tray, just drag AppBlock downwards – it will be locked. On some devices, you will have to tap the down arrow next to the app name for the options to pop-up. There, you need to select the „Lock“ icon. After that, even if you clear recent apps it will not be removed from the background. Drag downwards again to clear AppBlock from the background.
• BATTERY MANAGEMENT
  Please enable:
  • Settings > Advanced Settings > Battery manager > Power plan is set to Performance
  • Device Settings > Advanced Settings > Battery Manager > Protected apps – AppBlock needs to be Protected
  • Device Settings > Apps > AppBlock > Battery > Power-intensive prompt [x] and Keep running after the screen off [x]..
• BATTERY MANAGEMENT 2
  Settings > Additional Settings > Battery & Performance > Manage apps’ battery usage
  and here:
  1) Switch Power Saving Modes to Off
  2) Choose the next options: Saving Power in The Background > Choose apps > select ‘AppBlock’ > Background Settings > No restrictions
• APP BATTERY SAVER
  Security > Battery > App Battery Saver > AppBlock > No restriction
  then enable SaA to autostart in the security center
• AUTOSTART
  (according to https://in.c.mi.com/thread-253478-1-0.html):
  • Open security app > permissions > auto-start
  • Enable Autostart for desired apps.

If all fails, please try to set the app as device administrator (AppBlock > Setting > CAPTCHA >Prevent escaping CAPTCHA). This may also prevent the system from killing AppBlock.

NOTE: It is recommended to not start “Ultra Battery Saver” mode on Xiaomi devices as it will stop all not needed background apps from running correctly. On some models, you should be able to make app exceptions, but it might still cause some minor issue with correct blocking.

You can visit following link to find more about this brand: https://dontkillmyapp.com/xiaomi

OnePlus

The app might experience some issues on OnePlus phones unless you turn off battery optimizations for AppBlock.

System Settings > Apps > Gear Icon > Special Access > Battery Optimization.

WARNING: Recently OnePlus phones started reverting this setting randomly for random apps. Even when you set it to be “not optimized”, it may automatically reverse back to “optimized” the next day. There is no workaround and you may have to check system settings every once in a while.
There is a bug report filed to OnePlus.

On some OnePlus phones there is also a thing called App Auto-Launch which essentially prevents apps working in the background. Please disable it for AppBlock.

Also do:

Phone settings > Battery > Battery optimization > switch to the All apps list (Top menu) >
AppBlock > Don’t optimize

NOTE: Some of our users indicated that you need to disable Doze mode in Developer options.

You can visit following link to find more about this brand: https://dontkillmyapp.com/oneplus

OnePlus 5 specifically

Disable Settings > Battery > Battery optimization > (three dots) > Enhanced optimization. This option may also be called Advanced optimization.

You can visit following link to find more about this brand: https://dontkillmyapp.com/oneplus

Samsung Galaxy

Unfortunately, some new models tend to cause issues with AppBlock running correctly. Please, see the text below for critical information.

1. S8 (and apparently also some older phones) has introduced a flawed attempt at prolonging battery life called “App power monitor“. For AppBlock to work correctly, please whitelist AppBlock from the App power monitor.
   How to do it: Open the Settings app > Device maintenance > Battery and at the bottom you’ll see a list of your most frequently used apps. You can put apps to sleep individually or in a group by selecting them then tapping the big SAVE POWER button. Apps that are sleeping will appear in the SLEEPING APPS list at the bottom (tap it to expand the list). Scrolling further — all the way to the very bottom — and you’ll find Unmonitored apps. These are apps that you specifically want to exclude (white list) from App power monitor. When inside the Unmonitored apps menu, you can tap the three dots menu to add or delete apps from the list. Rather than bothering with any of that, you can just turn off the App power monitor feature completely as it has little-to-no impact on battery life and only serves to handicap the normal functioning of your Galaxy phone. It’s excessive and in some cases downright misleading, using scare tactics to keep you reliant on Samsung’s software when other Android devices get by just fine without it.
2. On other Samsung phones, the path may look like this:
   Phone settings > Applications > select three dot menu (top right corner) > Special Access > Optimize Battery usage > Find AppBlock on the list and make sure that it is not selected.

NOTE: If you enable Edge Lighting for AppBlock, then AppBlock will not be able to wake your screen up when the alarm starts. To allow AppBlock to work as intended, please remove AppBlock from the Edge Lighting applications list.

NOTE: Please check out this link to find other guides, how to keep the permissions active and AppBlock running: https://dontkillmyapp.com/samsung

Oppo

On those devices, background services are often being killed (including accessibility services). Here are some steps that should prevent this problem:

·        Pinning AppBlock to the recent app screen
When you open the recent apps tray, you will have to tap the down arrow next to app name for the options to pop-up. There, you need to select the „Lock“ icon. After that, even if you clear recent apps, it will not be removed from the background.

·        Turning off battery optimizations
Open app info (holding app icon for a long time and selecting “app info” (i) ) > Battery usage > Run in the Background

·        Allow launch after restarting device
Settings > App Management > Auto-launch apps > find AppBlock and toggle the switch to allow.

You can visit following link to find more about this brand: https://dontkillmyapp.com/oppo

Vivo

On those devices, background services are often being killed (including accessibility services). Here are some steps that should prevent this problem:

·        Pinning AppBlock to the recent app screen
When you open the recent apps tray, you will have to tap the down arrow next to app name for the options to pop-up. There, you need to select the „Lock“ icon. After that, even if you clear recent apps it will not clear from the background.

·        Turning off battery optimizations
Open App info (holding app icon for a long time and selecting “app info” (i) ) > Battery usage > Unrestricted.

NOTE: It is recommended not to start “Ultra Battery Saver” mode on Vivo devices as it will stop all unnecessary background apps from running correctly. On some models, you should be able to make app exceptions, but it might still cause some minor issues with correct blocking.

You can visit following link to find more about this brand: https://dontkillmyapp.com/vivo

Realme

On those devices, background services are often being killed (including accessibility services). Here are some steps that should prevent this problem:

·        Pinning AppBlock to the recent app screen
When you open the recent apps tray, you will have to tap the down arrow next to app name for the options to pop-up. There, you need to select the „Lock“ icon. After that, even if you clear recent apps it will not be removed from the background.

·        Managing battery optimizations
Open Settings > Battery > App battery management > select AppBlock > Allow background activity, Allow foreground activity and Allow auto-launch

·        Settings > Battery > Power saver options > disable Sleep stand-by optimization

You can visit following link to find more about this brand: https://dontkillmyapp.com/realme

Meizu

Meizu are one of the most troubled phones on the market. Chinese vendors tend to ignore Android best practices and implement very bizarre custom modifications which make background tasks nearly impossible to run.

Please enable:
Settings > Advanced Settings > Battery manager > Power plan is set to Performance >
Device Settings > Advanced Settings > Battery Manager > Protected apps – check for AppBlock as Protected
Device Settings > Apps > AppBlock > Battery > Power-intensive prompt [x] and Keep running after screen off [x]..

If all fails, please try to set the app as device administrator (AppBlock > Setting > CAPTCHA > Prevent escaping CAPTCHA). This may also prevent the system from killing AppBlock.

You can visit following link to find more about this brand: https://dontkillmyapp.com/meizu

Sony

Sony Stamina Mode makes 3rd party alarms not work. There is no workaround from our side, please disable Stamina mode or whitelist our application.

Please go to your Phone settings > Battery > Three dots in the top right corner > Battery optimization > Apps > AppBlock.

You can visit following link to find more about this brand: https://dontkillmyapp.com/sony

Nokia

It seems under some circumstances Nokia behaves differently from standard Android and puts our app on the list of apps with background restrictions.

Take a look in Phone settings > Apps > Battery > AppBlock

You can visit following link to find more about this brand: https://dontkillmyapp.com/hmd-global