What's going on in the background ?: The Corona warning app is not alone

Not only the Corona warning app has problems because manufacturers want to extend the life of their smartphones. It also affects many other applications, especially email and messenger apps. The developers of WhatsApp competitor Threema clear their anger and explain what is going on in the background.

The Corona Warning app is currently heavily criticized because users would have been notified too late or not at all in an emergency. But although developers and the federal government can be accused of not having given offensive information about it, they are probably not to blame for the technical problems. Because for the function that causes difficulties, they are not responsible at all, but the smartphone manufacturers. And the Corona Warning app is far from the only application affected.

The current iPhone failure is probably the responsibility of Apple, which has made a mistake in the operating system that prevents encounter data from being regularly compared in the background. According to "Tagesschau.de", the US company also admitted this. Until Apple breaks the gap, a temporary solution is to remedy the situation next week.

Tough battery optimizer at work

Things look very different with Android devices. Because there are many different manufacturers here that adapt Google's operating system to their needs. These include functions that are intended to extend the stamina of the narrow-breasted smartphones. It is particularly effective here to limit background activities of apps to the bare minimum.

This is basically not wrong, however, some manufacturers overshoot the target and generally refuse to run applications in the background as long as the user does not change this in the settings. The few exceptions are pop stars like Whatsapp and of course the manufacturers' own applications. In addition, the corresponding settings are often difficult to find.

The user usually doesn't know about this, unless the developer points out the problem himself during installation or operation and shows which settings need to be changed. However, SAP and Telekom failed to do this with the Corona Warning app, or hid it in the frequently asked questions on the project website. Now there is a way to activate the "prioritized background activity" directly in the app's settings. However, users are not explicitly advised of this either during the installation or at any other time.

Threema takes the opportunity

Basically, the problem lies with the manufacturers who have to add the Corona warning app to their whitelists. In view of the great public interest, this will probably also happen or has already been implemented. For other developers, whose application receives less attention, this is almost impossible. This is particularly fatal for messenger or email apps. For example, the secure Whatsapp competitor Threema uses the excitement about the Corona warning app to point out the grievances in a blog entry which, in the opinion of the Swiss developer, also violate the official guidelines in Google's "Compatibility Definition Document" (CDD).

The CDD defines the conditions manufacturers have to meet for an Android version. Already for the current Android 10, users have to be informed about restrictions on background activities. According to "Heise", the upcoming version will add a certain period of time to the CDD and a note that the rule explicitly applies to switching off apps in the background.

Threema are also a big thorn in the side of the "whitelists". If notifications were displayed immediately on Whatsapp, but not on Threema, the impression would arise that Threema was not working properly, which would have devastating consequences for an instant messenger, the blog entry says. On "Don't kill my app" you can see which manufacturers restrict the background activities particularly rigorously. OnePlus and Huawei occupy the top two spots, followed by Samsung and Xiaomi. Huawei has now reacted, the other manufacturers have not changed anything, writes Threema.