… or are notifications just really bad on Android?

For background, we’ve got an old, sick, dog and my wife often needs to get help from me urgently. I’m still running an old Pixel 4a - it worked really well for me until Google crippled the battery and even now it works well enough that I’m not tempted to upgrade.

My notifications always seem to be delayed - in batches. I have 3 buildings on my property and each has a Nest doorbell. Some days I can be walking around and I’ll constantly hear ding, ding, ding as I walk past each doorbell. Other days I can walk around and hear nothing, and then I’ll get 5-10 notifications all at once.

Today was a perfect example of why this is so frustrating - I’m sitting at my desk with my phone in front of me. It’s plugged in an charging. My phone starts ringing and it’s my wife upset that I have not responded to her messages. I go help her with the dog and come back to my phone and sure enough, 8 minutes ago there’s a notification from Google Chat, 6 minutes ago there’s a notification from Google Messages and 4 minutes ago there’s the phone call. The Google Chat and Google Messages notifications never came through - until the phone call came in!

I’ve been through and made sure that all the battery optimisations are turned off for all the apps that I want instant notifications from - but that shouldn’t have any impact here - my phone was plugged in.

Is this normal Android? (kinda rhetorical question - I’ve been running Android since my Nexus 4 and don’t think this is normal but it feels like it’s somehow the “new” normal)

I’m not running the stock Pixel launcher - does the launcher get involved in notification delivery at all?

  • Xanza@lemm.eeEnglish
    82·
    3 days ago

    I still use my 3a XL without issue. This is very likely a usage issue, settings issue or even a hardware issue. It’s not a software issue.

    Clear your application cache. If that still doesn’t work, try uninstalling Google Chat, then re-install it. If it’s built in, uninstall the updates, and then re-update. This resets all the notification settings.

    • Great Blue Heron@lemmy.caOPEnglish
      1·
      3 days ago

      Knowing that your 3a is still performing well enough promted me to double double check things.

      I found that “Do Not Disturb” in the notifications settings is not just a simple on/off toggle but a sub menu. Under schedules in there I had “Flip to shh” on. In my example today it was sitting face up on my desk so should not have been in DND mode, but in general maybe being in my pocket is triggering this.

      I’ve also cleared cache and data for Chat and Messages and they both prompted me to enable notifications when first run after that. (I’m sure I’ve already done this recently but can’t hurt to do it again)

      And, I’ve switched back to Pixel Launcher as a test. I much prefer Niagara and will switch back as soon as I notice and improvment, or determine that changing launcher has not improved anything.

      Thanks.