Use SyncManager/JobManager to run backups in the background

[jberkel]

Should work more reliably than existing solution.

[RodMyers]

Since you closed my issue #507, I'll reply here

did an upgrade on the OnePlus One, and re-rooted the phone. seems something fixed something and it now works as advertised

[jberkel]

Alternative to SyncManager API: JobScheduler (Lollipop+).

Android N adds trigger for content provider updates. For older devices: Firebase JobDispatcher

[jakabp]

Do you have any updates when can you release this fix?

[jberkel]

I started to work on this recently, should be ready in the next 1-2 months.

[eole210]

I am hitting this problem as well, works for some time, sometimes even after a reboot, but then, just stops processing auto backup. Manual backups are always fine. My understanding is that the app has to be launched regularly for auto backup feature to work as expected. Can I use any "automation" app to do that (I am using Trigger and MacroDroid, which I prefer) or really those you are mentioning? BTW, a big thank you for this great app, I wish I could create something like that myself :-).

[YMJH]

Yes this is happening to me too. All I do is remember to manually backup. I have a Samsung Galaxy Note 4 and think it's probably something to do with that (I'm not techie though). On behalf of others I am sorry you have received such criticism in previous posts (since 2013) jberkel. I still really appreciate the software as when I manually backup it works as well as ever. I just have to remember to do so. Worse things in life have happened than this. Hope you have a great holiday season. Cheers.

[eole210]

+1 I think that problem is now solved in my case. Let me share what I did, if this can help anyone, even non techies. First, I had the phone not considering SMSBackup+ when it wants to shut down apparently inactive apps. In my case, this is done through the battery saver setting, where I listed this app and another one to be exempted of being touched by feature. This improved a lot, but not 100%. To reach 100% I had to configure the phone to automatically reboot once a week. So every Saturday, at 4:55AM the phone will shut down and at 5:00AM it will turn back on. Initially, I had this auto-reboot occurring every night and since then had not a single failure. Now I changed this to once a week. I am a new Android user and heard that version 6.0 is now changing things and, by default, enabling this power saving which turns off apps. Maybe that's why many SMSBackup+ users are facing this issue. Hope this helps.

[YMJH]

Thank you very much for taking the time to post your solution eole210. I have just done as you've suggested and shall await the result. I'd again like to say how fabulous SMS Backup+ is. Full credit to jberkel. I so admire these talented people who can invent such software that assists so many people. I would love to have talent like that :) . Obviously you know your way around software too eole210. Well done ! Cheers :) .

[eole210]

Thanks YMJH. Please let us know if the workarounds worked for you as well.

[YMJH]

Hey....look at that eole210. Seems to have worked. Have just checked and there were no SMS's or calls that needed manually backing up from the last time I posted and viewed your solution. All had been automatically backed up. Thank you very much. And a massive thank you to the inventor jberkel. Have a lovely holiday season everyone :)

[MadsAndreasen]

Hi Jan

I am running in to this issue as well. I'd like to help out creating a solution for this. I know that there is a couple of issues, like moving to gradle etc that also needs to be taken care of.

So if you are interested I am able to help out. Let me know if you are interested.

Best regards, Mads

[Billy4130]

I have used SMSBackup+ for many years and just recently went to a Samsung S8 series phone and am also having the issue with the automated back up not functioning any longer :( Sure wish we could get a fix for the newer phones where this would work again.

[MilanKerslager]

On Samsung Galaxy S7 (Android 7.0) backup does not work even SMSBackup+ is selected as not to be optimised in battery settings. Edit: I changed the backup interval, exited settings, and then changed it back, and the automatic backup works now. Edit2: even it "works", it is not reliable. Sometimes it does not work. Sometimes it reports an error message to the notification area... Going to test Beta-version by joining beta program at https://github.com/jberkel/sms-backup-plus

[ecuamami]

I am having similar issue where the app works great and backups all my texts except from one particular user. This just happened when I switched to Samsung s8 phone. Is there a reason it's only affecting one person's texts which is the one person I need to file? Please help!

[brunoni7985]

Been using sms backup+ for years but now it doesn't seem to backup at all.

Using note 8. I would any tips or advice to get it working again. Thanks.

[ghysla13]

We have two Samsung Note phones ( 5 and 8 ) and both have not been functioning for the auto backup. Manual backup works fine. We have set both of them to have the device management not sleep this app and provided as much memory as needed and yet the auto backup still does not function.

[Billy4130]

All,

For what it's worth I downloaded the Beta (using the invite link on Jan's page) and Have now disabled "use Wi-Fi only" and my automated 24hr back ups are now working again! May be a temporary fix for some of you folks to try out.

Billy

On Oct 20, 2017 9:15 AM, "ghysla13" notifications@github.com wrote:

We have two Samsung Note phones ( 5 and 8 ) and both have not been functioning for the auto backup. Manual backup works fine. We have set both of them to have the device management not sleep this app and provided as much memory as needed and yet the auto backup still does not function.

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[jberkel]

The new beta version (1.5.11-BETA5) contains the JobManager scheduler. Please try it out and let me know the results.

[Billy4130]

Although I can't isolate the situation - mine does not seem to function on the beta version unless I uncheck the Wi-Fi only flag. After having done that, it seems to work although I have noticed a few days it did not back up though it was scheduled to.

My phone is usually not more than 30 or 40ft from my Wi-Fi router at home when the back up happens so while it may be a signal/service issue I think something else is going on.

On Oct 29, 2017 2:22 PM, "Jan Berkel" notifications@github.com wrote:

The new beta version (1.5.11-BETA5) contains the JobManager scheduler. Please try it out and let me know the results.

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[jberkel]

@Billy4130 a few people have reported this. I'll see if using API calls from more recent Android versions will fix it.

[ghysla13]

I've installed the bata on both phones and it worked for the first few days but as of this morning, there has been no backups again on both phones. We've done reboots of the phones to see if this would "refresh" the activity but the app is still in idle...

On Sun, Oct 29, 2017 at 1:22 PM, Jan Berkel notifications@github.com wrote:

The new beta version (1.5.11-BETA5) contains the JobManager scheduler. Please try it out and let me know the results.

— You are receiving this because you commented. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/jberkel/sms-backup-plus/issues/572#issuecomment-340282888, or mute the thread https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/Afbo0pXCK7RHi5vqeFupzSI0q-iKKYPPks5sxMJngaJpZM4FZ3LM .

-- Thanks again ~ Greta

[jberkel]

@ghysla13 I have some ideas why it could stop working. I'll release another beta soon. Thanks for testing!

[Billy4130]

My last (daily) auto backup was Nov 6 :( not working again it seems.

On Nov 2, 2017 11:35 AM, "Jan Berkel" notifications@github.com wrote:

@ghysla13 https://github.com/ghysla13 I have some ideas why it could stop working. I'll release another beta soon. Thanks for testing!

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[jberkel]

Ok, there's a new beta available (1.5.11-beta6) which hopefully fixes some of the issues. Please give it a try.

[Billy4130]

Installed and will use - thank you!

On Sat, Dec 9, 2017 at 5:29 AM, Jan Berkel notifications@github.com wrote:

Ok, there's a new beta available (1.5.11-beta6) which hopefully fixes some of the issues. Please give it a try.

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[ghysla13]

We installed last Saturday and it's worked up to today... now it's back to where I have to do manual push.

On Sat, Dec 9, 2017 at 4:29 AM, Jan Berkel notifications@github.com wrote:

Ok, there's a new beta available (1.5.11-beta6) which hopefully fixes some of the issues. Please give it a try.

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-- Thanks again ~ Greta

[MilanKerslager]

Version 1.5.11: I am still getting notification about SMSBackup+ error: Cannot connect to host. It seems like app is woken up when phone was sleeping or so. I have unlimited mobile data plan and the data are always on and I am in a fully covered area of 4G network.

[jberkel]

@ghysla13 bummer. can you enable the sync log and send me a copy, after it starts failing? maybe reinstall the app first.

https://github.com/jberkel/sms-backup-plus#i-want-to-file-a-bug-report-what-should-i-do

[ghysla13]

I will work on that - might not be today or tomorrow...but soon

On Wed, Dec 13, 2017 at 11:17 AM, Jan Berkel notifications@github.com wrote:

@ghysla13 https://github.com/ghysla13 bummer. can you enable the sync log and send me a copy, after it starts failing? maybe reinstall the app first.

https://github.com/jberkel/sms-backup-plus#i-want-to- file-a-bug-report-what-should-i-do

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-- Thanks again ~ Greta

[jberkel]

@MilanKerslager that's weird. the new code is only supposed to wake up when there is connectivity. unfortunately i don't have an android phone so I can't debug this myself. i'll release a new version with some more logging, maybe there's something i've overlooked.

[MilanKerslager]

I have a log when backup failed. It seems like it was when I was calling this time so 4G was downgraded to Edge. See attached log file at 14-12 18:27. sms_backup_plus.log

[jberkel]

@MilanKerslager thanks. it looks like the connection is sometimes failing, but then the backup succeeds later. i'll make some changes to retry connection errors more aggressively but intermittent connection problems are to be expected on mobile.

[MilanKerslager]

@jberkel The next (succesfull) try in the log was run by my manual intervention. The error notification should occur only after a bunch of retries. Also if there is an EDGE (or even GPRS) internet connection, the backup will fail probably because of timeouts...

[jberkel]

@MilanKerslager there's a new beta (1.5.11-beta7) which implements some of the logic i mentioned. please give it a try (might take some time to rollout everywhere)

[ghysla13]

I turned on the logging of the Note 8 giving it a few days to collect data and also we're upgrading the Note 5 to a Note 8 as well. In the set up of the new phone, saw a feature that can not be turned off stating that any app that is "untouched" for more than 3 days goes into a deactivated sleep state. This seems relative since when we first installed the beta version, the first few days it worked fine on the original Note 8. We had already set the beta app to a "non-monitored" app for the memory and battery usage but don't see a way around this automatic sleep function.

On Wed, Dec 13, 2017 at 11:21 AM, Greta Lindblad ghysla13@gmail.com wrote:

I will work on that - might not be today or tomorrow...but soon

On Wed, Dec 13, 2017 at 11:17 AM, Jan Berkel notifications@github.com wrote:

@ghysla13 https://github.com/ghysla13 bummer. can you enable the sync log and send me a copy, after it starts failing? maybe reinstall the app first.

https://github.com/jberkel/sms-backup-plus#i-want-to-file-a- bug-report-what-should-i-do

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-- Thanks again ~ Greta

-- Thanks again ~ Greta

[jberkel]

@ghysla13 this sounds like Android's "App Standby" mode. It's possible that the backup will only be done when charging. The docs aren't quite clear on that:

When the user plugs the device into a power supply, the system releases apps from the standby state, allowing them to freely access the network and to execute any pending jobs and syncs. If the device is idle for long periods of time, the system allows idle apps network access around once a day.

I need to do some more testing with standby enabled.

[Kelvino9]

Is automatic backup possible without using Gmail? I'm using another mail provider and Auto backup and Auto backup settings is greyed completely.

[jberkel]

@Kelvino9 yes, that should be possible, sounds like a bug. i'll release a new beta soon with a fix.

[jberkel]

@Kelvino9 please give 1.5.11-BETA8 a try

[Kelvino9]

@jberkel I just tested BETA8 and the auto backup works flawless. Gave it two tries and both SMS were uploaded to my mailbox without an issue.

About the "Regular schedule" setting; does the 24 h schedule start at a specific time or exactly 24 hours after you set it? If so then I'll need to re-set it again for tomorrow evening instead of right now.

Thanks again for your quick support and fast bug fixing. Any further required testing I can do for you tomorrow. It's bed time for me now ;)

[jberkel]

@Kelvino9 it's not an exact time interval – the OS decides when to schedule the backup, based on connectivity, battery status etc. therefore it might be a bit more than 24h. but yes, it should be roughly 24h after you set it.

[FrankInSF]

@jberkel I just want to say thank you and that ever since the new scheduler was introduced in a 1.5.11 beta, my backups have been working fine. Automatic backups stopped working for me a couple of years ago and so I had been tapping the Backup button whenever I remembered. Now Regular schedule and Incoming schedule both work reliably. Samsung Galaxy S7 on Sprint (US), Android 7.0, version G930PVPU5BQL1

[MilanKerslager]

I had error message in notification area even signal was Ok, but the phone was sleeping. I was able to backup manually just right then by hand.

sms_backup_plus-2.log sms_backup_plus.log

[jberkel]

@MilanKerslager it looks like the app wakes up and doesn't have network access. i'm not sure what I can do about that, since the new scheduler is specifically set to only wake up when there's network.

[MilanKerslager]

I have unlimited data plan, constantly enabled mobile data, no WiFi. I was looking at the sleeping phone, when notification arived, I waked it up and checked Internet connection and it worked as ususally (hi-speed 4G or 4G+).

The notification is worthless as it should work later with no problem. I would like to see a notification only when there is real problem with many errors. I don´t like to be notified with every unsuccessful backup.

Maybe there should be user-defined counter (20 retries and more than a day or so).

[jberkel]

@MilanKerslager OK. It's tricky to define what a permanent / serious failure is, and I'm hesitant to add more configuration options at the moment. It should probably distinguish between temporary and permanent failures, and never notify on temporary ones.

[jberkel]

@FrankInSF thanks for letting me know. I've spent a lot of time trying to make this more reliable, but this seems to be tricky, not many users have reported improvements so far.

[Billy4130]

Mine has for the most part been updating and working as expected but I have also gotten the error message about not being able to connect when the phone was sitting in wifi and had cellular service. The next day though it processes fine on its own. Two different occasions from what I recall.

I'd say for me personally I'm at about 98% functionality now on the automated back up :)

On Wed, Jan 24, 2018 at 5:42 AM, Jan Berkel notifications@github.com wrote:

@FrankInSF https://github.com/frankinsf thanks for letting me know. I've spent a lot of time trying to make this more reliable, but this seems to be tricky, a lot of users haven't reported improvements so far.

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[Erganomulos]

I'm unable to back up anything either manually or automatically. It will display that there are zero out of thousands of text messages to back up but then the denominator number will start counting down with the numerator not changing from zero. All of a sudden we will get to the end and it will say there are no items to back up. I had it working for a very long time then when I changed to this phone it all of a sudden stopped working. I have a Pixel phone. I also have screen shots of what's happening.

[Lgaljour777]

@jberkel I am using 1.5.11 beta for a minute now and everything seems to be back to normal. Thank you for your time on this. Keep up the great work.