Android Mobile App Intermittently Slow

[MaxK99]

Home Assistant Android app version(s): 2023.1.1-full Android version(s): 13 Device model(s): pixel 4a Home Assistant version: 2023.2.5 HA OS Last working Home Assistant release (if known):

Description of problem, include YAML if issue is related to notifications: The Android mobile app is intermittently slow to startup (5-10 seconds to start) and slow when navigating in the app (up to 5 seconds to navigate to a different screen). The issue is persistent when it occurs until the phone is rebooted. This issue has been reported by others in the Home Assistant Forum

https://community.home-assistant.io/t/mobile-app-2022-11-0-full-slow-lately-solved-after-reset-but-now-slow-again/504816

https://community.home-assistant.io/t/ha-app-has-become-slow-on-android/534341/6

Companion App Logs: homeassistant_companion_log_1-28-2023_5-59-6.txt

Screenshot or video of problem:

Additional information: WebView version: 110.0.5481.153 No custom cards No HACS components

[Mincka]

Does anyone has this behavior but don't use or almost don't use notifications (clicked or not)?

It's just to check if the performance could decrease with notifications.

[nagyrobi]

I do use notifications...

[smarthomefamilyverrips]

I get 2 notification a day at 8:30 in morning and one in the night when Alarmo arms on a regular day

[werkstrom]

Does anyone has this behavior but don't use or almost don't use notifications (clicked or not)?

It's just to check if the performance could decrease with notifications.

I use notifications, but the issues are very intermittent, i.e. can go several weeks with no issue. And I have several notifications a day sent from HA so correlation (in my case) between notifications and issues is very weak IMHO

[werkstrom]

It would be usefull with some sort of troubleshooting function. If it was possible to export the cash some how that would perhaps be useful. I don't know that exporting it is possible though ;(

[TomK]

I also use notifications, i send images from my doorbell when someone is present.

[Mincka]

Sorry guys, maybe I was not clear. I think it would be interesting to know if some people don't use notifications but also have this problem, so we could exclude that the issue is related to notifications.

[TomK]

Sorry guys, maybe I was not clear. I think it would be interesting to know if some people don't use notifications but also have this problem, so we could exclude that the issue is related to notifications.

We need to establish a baseline. if nobody replies saying they do not use notifications, we don't know if that's because everybody uses them or nobody does, or simply nobody replied. Really we need a matrix table for this issue, people tally what features they use and what they don't. Google forms?

[quhar]

That's not super scientific, but recently I see these issue happening much less often while at the same time receive fewer notifications (from few a day to once very couple of days), but I'm not sure if it got better after I modified my automations to notify less.

[earion68]

It would be usefull with some sort of troubleshooting function. If it was possible to export the cash some how that would perhaps be useful. I don't know that exporting it is possible though ;(

Definitely, this is what we need. Pretty good logging system on the backend, but lovelace is definitely missing one

Especially with all custom (HACS) cards lots of us use

[JurajNyiri]

I am experiencing this issue consistently. Clearing cache or killing the app did not help. I see a very slow start with a msg server is not available, which dissapears after a few seconds. Then it slowly loads, going to settings and for example devices takes a long time with nothing on the screen.

I installed the web version from chrome and that works instantly and without any issues.

Pixel 6 latest ha, app.

Edit: Restarting the phone helps.

[werkstrom]

In my case I notice that only clearing the cache does help in the (very) short term. The app becomes responsive immediatly. However. The next time I open it up (even if only a few minutes later) it is back to the slow response times again. However, first clearing the cache, and then force-killing the app appears to help for a longer period of time.

I'd also like to note that when opening grafana within the app (from the left hand menu) the app is still very, very slow, and since my understaning is that grafana in this instance is running on it's own server (it's own docker image) I think it would be safe to say the issue lies within the app and not on the server. IMHO.

[CommanderROR9]

I have been seeing this issue for many months now. The app slows down for no discernible reason. WebUI is fine and app recovers after closing it and reloading it. Seems like some kind of memory leak or something like that, but if it were something obvious it would have been patched long ago.

[whosmatt]

Same behaviour on Pixel 8 Pro, temporarily fixed by force closing app.
The reviews on google play make it seem like this is pretty common.

[werkstrom]

Can add this happens even when on a completely different WiFi (spending a few day at parents), connecting to HA via WireGuard VPN. Still on Pixel 7a. Force close end flush cache resolves issue immediatly

[slungs]

Still an issue on 2023.11.1, Pixel 7 Pro.

While apparent when opening the app, the biggest issue this is causing for me is that notifications could be severely delayed. I've moved over to Telegram notifications in the meantime as this is unacceptable for my usecases.

[nagyrobi]

A quick note that since the latest HA update (2023.11) this is much frequent now. Force close+cache clear helps.

[gitlaman]

I still dont have problems after ~month i use auto clear cache every day only for HomeAssistant, i use Sd Maid SE for the auto cleaning on Android 13.

[Mincka]

I still dont have problems after ~month i use auto clear cache every day only for HomeAssistant, i use Sd Maid SE for the auto cleaning on Android 13.

How can you say that "you don't have problems" when you need to pay for an app to clean the cache daily? By the way, the last time you posted here, you were advertising another paid application. Are you here for spam?

[slungs]

A quick note that since the latest HA update (2023.11) this is much frequent now. Force close+cache clear helps.

Same here, didn't have this issue before 2023.11 (though I'm not a heavy user of the companion app). Now, notifications are severely delayed, causing huge problems for time sensitive notifications (fire alarms, house alarms, medication reminiders etc).

[gitlaman]

I still dont have problems after ~month i use auto clear cache every day only for HomeAssistant, i use Sd Maid SE for the auto cleaning on Android 13.

How can you say that "you don't have problems" when you need to pay for an app to clean the cache daily? By the way, the last time you posted here, you were advertising another paid application. Are you here for spam?

I'm advertising?? No man im saying what helped with my issue, i know that the app have problems bht what can i do??? Do you have fix maybe so i can use Homeassistant without delays??? No you dont! And also i changed that crap app because it was not working as it should. As for Sd Maid SE you have trial so you can try, and 1$ for a year is not much so i can live as i should in my home for now until there is a real fix for the app. And no i am not advertising. You are free to use Homeassistant with lags.

[jpelgrom]

Same here, didn't have this issue before 2023.11 (though I'm not a heavy user of the companion app). Now, notifications are severely delayed, causing huge problems for time sensitive notifications (fire alarms, house alarms, medication reminiders etc).

This issue concerns slowdown of the dashboard / WebView interface, not native features. If you're having problems with push notifications, please create a new issue.

[slungs]

Same here, didn't have this issue before 2023.11 (though I'm not a heavy user of the companion app). Now, notifications are severely delayed, causing huge problems for time sensitive notifications (fire alarms, house alarms, medication reminiders etc).

This issue concerns slowdown of the dashboard / WebView interface, not native features. If you're having problems with push notifications, please create a new issue.

It is also slow to do the initial request (connecting to server), before loading any dashboards. You closed my other isse as a duplicate (#4001).

[nagyrobi]

It is also slow to do the initial request (connecting to server), before loading any dashboards.

Confirming! It even times out and shows a popup with the option to change the URL or wait/retry. This doing on local network, or remotely.

[MarshallCS]

This is occurring to me as well. Doing a force quit on the app resolves the issue temporarily

[jeremykeen]

Severe slowdown in the companion app makes it unusable for me. I have 2 HA instances, one local (2023.11.1) and one remote (2023.10.5), both having the same issue in the companion app. Web is fast. This just started happening in the last week or so.

Pixel 7 Pro App version 2023.10.2

I have not tried force closing or clearing cache. Is there anything I can grab to help troubleshoot?

I saw some comments in Reddit that point to Bluetooth sensors. I do have BLE transmitter enabled.

[Mincka]

I do have BLE transmitter enabled.

I don't, so unrelated for that one.

[rsaffi]

I think it could be related to the sensors that the companion can expose to HA? I haven't done any actual deep dive to investigate, but I think that it's a potential source of problem (say, memory leak?). One way to (cumbersomely, I admit) mitigate could be to disable all and start to enable them back one by one, with enough spacing between those to see whether the issue comes back or not. The issue is that sometimes (at least for me) it takes 2 weeks until the slowness reappears, so debugging this way would take a long time.

[clau-bucur]

Sorry guys, maybe I was not clear. I think it would be interesting to know if some people don't use notifications but also have this problem, so we could exclude that the issue is related to notifications.

I was "suffering" too of this problem, very often. My system was relying heavily on notifications to inform me of different things.

After seeing your message here, I trimmed down many of my notifications (sent them to log files instead) and created automations to clear existing notifications in a few hours after they are posted.

After doing this, I have NEVER had the issue described here again. So I can say that in my case it seems 100% related to notification.

LE: I waited 2-3 weeks to see if the efect is real after I made the changes, and it is.

[nagyrobi]

I do use notifications, getting only 2-3 a week. And the slowness is almost daily.

[Benniepie]

Using Samsung Z Fold 5 / Android 13 and barely using the home assistant app notifications (use telegram instead). I have got into the routine of closing/reopening the app multiple times a day. It slows to a crawl particularly on dashboards with auto-entities or when using entity/icon drop downs initially but eventually it lags to the point the whole thing becomes unusable, I assumed the number of entitles in my HA had increased to the point my setup couldn't handle it (there are so many I should disable that I never use) until I found this thread - no idea if this is the same issue, but here's my setup+error from when it occurred if it helps:

HA Core: 2023.11.2 App version: 2023.11.2-full

Possible related error: Logger: homeassistant.components.websocket_api.http.connection Source: components/websocket_api/http.py:203 Integration: Home Assistant WebSocket API First occurred: 02:30:13 (4 occurrences) Last logged: 02:30:56

[XXXXXXXXXX] Bennie Pie from 10.0.XX.XX (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; Android 13; SM-F946B Build/TP1A.220624.014; wv) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Chrome/119.0.6045.66 Mobile Safari/537.36 Home Assistant/2023.11.2-11694 (Android 13; SM-F946B)): Client unable to keep up with pending messages. Reached 4096 pending messages. The system's load is too high or an integration is misbehaving; Last message was: {"id":2227,"type":"result","success":true,"result":null}

[maurerle]

I also have this issue that the mobile app (play store or f-droid) are very slow. I am using the mobile page as a workaround which is considerable better.

[bachoo786]

homeassistant_companion_log_0-15-2024_15-19-45.txt I am having the same issue as described in the OP. "Force stop" the HA app and it works fine. I have attached my app logs.

[vbueschken]

At the moment the app starts slower and slower every day... Every 3-4 days I have to stop the app and clear the cache to have an acceptable performance

[Saduff]

At the moment the app starts slower and slower every day... Every 3-4 days I have to stop the app and clear the cache to have an acceptable performance

I just use the PWA (open in browser -> Install/Add to home screen), no slowness issues with that. The Android app is only for push notifications.

[energywave]

The Android app is only for push notifications.

That's not true at all! Benefits of using the app is the switching from internal/external address, all the sensors that the app sends to Home Assistant (I use them a lot! Think about the location, the zone you're in, SSID connected, if you're sleeping, etc etc), the reading of NFC, the integration with android smartwatches, toggles in the android pane of toggles, configurable widgets (!) and yes, push notifications that are a very powerful feature of the app. So maybe it's the same for your specific use case but that's not true for all!

[Saduff]

Yeah, I mostly meant that I only use the Android app for push notifications.

all the sensors that the app sends to Home Assistant

Wouldn't those still work with the app in the background? The slowness is only when opening the app.

I also use the Android smartwatch integration, but that works fine without ever opening the Android app on the phone.

So it's more like Android app for background tasks and PWA if you actually want to open HA.

[energywave]

Yeah, I mostly meant that I only use the Android app for push notifications.

Oh ok, I interpreted your sentence in another way, sorry if I was too rude... :)

all the sensors that the app sends to Home Assistant Wouldn't those still work with the app in the background? The slowness is only when opening the app.

That's an interesting question! It could be true... Some tests must be done when the app is in that condition about sensors.

I also use the Android smartwatch integration, but that works fine without ever opening the Android app on the phone.

Ok, not opening but at least you have to have the app running in background (I suppose, but maybe the app on the sw can contact autonomosly HA...? However that's OT)

So it's more like Android app for background tasks and PWA if you actually want to open HA.

That could be an interesting workaround in the meanwhile that this long running problem will be fixed (finger crossed...) That said the correct solution is that the app should work as it's expected, let's hope that it will be possible to bust this bug sooner or later.

[eric10k93]

This is interesting, I expected this to be a new problem, as I am now experiencing this as well. It seems like something specific must've changed recently in how the app loads, as I had never had a slowdown problem until 2024.1.1 (and later)

EDIT: A few more interesting points... I had to reboot HA today due to some HACS upgrades. After the reboot to HA, my companion app is running great again. I'll report back if it slows down again. I wouldn't expect anything in HACS to have an effect on the mobile app that would be different from viewing HA in a browser. To clarify, when my app is running slow, I am able to load HA in a browser just fine without the same slowness that the mobile app has.

[contactnat]

yes, this started for me somewhat recently too, although I can't pin point when. I keep HA up to date along with add ons and HACs, and I keep the android app up to date. I tried the clear cache in the android app work around which seemed to work, It slowed down within a few hours again though, so I tried another method I found (maybe on Reddit) that suggested to delete the known_devices.yaml file and restart HA - since then (now going on approximately 16hrs) its been good. waiting for the slow down to return though.

edit: found the source I mentioned above: https://www.reddit.com/r/homeassistant/comments/172umia/comment/k446m8t/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

[vbueschken]

@contactnat - where can I find the known_devices.yaml file ?

[contactnat]

@contactnat - where can I find the known_devices.yaml file ?

In your homeassistant, find it in the same location as configuration.yaml using either the file editor addon or visual studio addon. I also read somewhere that It may have been deprecated already so if you are new to ha it may not be there - I'm not sure, so have a look

[vbueschken]

@contactnat - I'm new (1.5 years) with HA- thats the reason I couldn't find the known_devices.yaml file. So there must be another reason for the app becomes slower and slower every day.

[contactnat]

@vbueschken yeah I don't know how or why that file would be the cause, especially if it has been deprecated, my app is working fast now for almost 3 days and all I have done is the cache clear (on Android app) phone restart, ha restart, and the file delete then ha restart as above. Fingers crossed mine stays good, hope you get yours resolved - it's very frustrating for sure.

[alexrec-alt]

Was using outdated app from last year. After upgrading the server I decided to update Android app and nightmare began.

At app startup splash screen blinking few times, takes long to get into the working app. After that is says no connection or something but resolves in some time. Occassionally loosing connection when navigating.

What helped: just cleared App Cache. After that it start as normal heavy app. It starts with no blinking, much faster and no connection issues anymore.

Using the browser still faster tho.

[maurerle]

I had the problem, that (probably through privacy extension and changing ipv6 addresses) the list of IP addresses from the FritzBox integration created about 10k sensors over time. This did slow down the mobile app as well as web access. I removed those unneeded lines from .storage/core.device_registry of the home-assistent data, which gave back the missing performance.