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SMS messages fail to be delivered when the app has not been active for a long time

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#824 3 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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Assessment

Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Newbie friendliness
50/100
Issue type
Bug
Clarity
Clearly specified
Activity status
Active
Tech stack
android, kotlin
Domain
mobile-dev

Research direction

First locate the SMS broadcast receiver and incoming message handling logic in the Android app codebase. Verify the receiver is configured to trigger when the app is not in the foreground, and confirm the app has the correct SMS and notification permissions with Do Not Disturb exemption enabled. Reproduce the issue by force-stopping the app, turning on DND, and sending an SMS, then confirm the fix stores the message in the inbox and displays a notification.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Description

bug needs triage
Checklist
  • I can reproduce the bug with the latest version given here.
  • I made sure that there are no existing issues - open or closed - to which I could contribute my information.
  • I made sure that there are no existing discussions - open or closed - to which I could contribute my information.
  • I have read the FAQs inside the app (Menu -> About -> FAQs) and my problem isn't listed.
  • I have taken the time to fill in all the required details. I understand that the bug report will be dismissed otherwise.
  • This issue contains only one bug.
  • I have read and understood the contribution guidelines.
Affected app version

1.8.1

Affected Android/Custom ROM version

Android 15

Affected device model

Motorola moto g15 power

How did you install the app?

F-Droid

Steps to reproduce the bug

Have Fossify Messages set as the SMS app. Lock the screen and leave the phone unattended for at least 30 minutes; enabling “Do Not Disturb” mode, forcibly terminating the messaging app or removing it from the list of recently opened apps may shorten the waiting period required to reproduce the issue. Then have the phone receive an SMS message.

Expected behavior

All messages received by the phone appear in the inbox when the app is opened.

Actual behavior

The SMS message fails to appear anywhere. Messages are apparently received by the phone, as evidenced by adb logcat traffic, but they are not routed to the app. The app does not manage to notify about the message or even store it in the inbox; the message is essentially dropped on the floor as soon as it is received and no record of it appears.

Screenshots/Screen recordings

No response

Additional information

Discovered by having the phone permanently in “Do Not Disturb” mode. Messages do arrive if the app has recently been opened (which triggers silent notifications). Creating a “People” exception to “Do Not Disturb” mode covering “Messages” from “Everyone” at first appeared to work around the problem. Adding an “Apps” exception covering the messaging app itself does not. The app otherwise has all power-management and data traffic limiting exceptions enabled.

Google’s messaging app (com.google.android.apps.messaging) does not seem to be affected. Device is not rooted, though it has been considerably de-bloated, including disabling Google Play Services (these need to be re-enabled to use Google’s app).

Dominant language
Kotlin
Stars
1.6k
Forks
187
Avg merge
2d 9h
Merged PRs (30d)
20

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