Background & battery
Android puts apps to sleep to save battery, and a sleeping app's network is cut — messages then wait until the next time you open it. APRS Connect can keep receiving and beaconing with the screen off; this page explains the one switch that controls it, the Android settings that affect it, and what it costs.
One switch
On the Radio screen (under More on the tab bar), the Run in the background row opens the background screen. It has a single switch — Keep running in the background — and it is on by default.
On means: whatever is already running carries on when the app leaves the screen. If an APRS-IS or TNC link is up, it stays up; if beaconing is on, your beacons keep going out. The switch never starts anything by itself — a fresh install with nothing switched on posts no notification and transmits nothing.
Off means the app receives only while it is open, and leaving the app stops your beacons too — your station drops off the map until you come back.
The persistent notification
While the app is running in the background, Android shows one persistent notification, naming whichever of receiving and beaconing are actually running. If the notification is gone, the app is not receiving. And if the link could not be held open the last time the app went to the background, the background screen says so, in words, with the reason — the switch records what you asked for; the screen reports what happened.
Battery optimization
Even with the switch on, Android's deep sleep can cut the app's network. The background screen has a Battery optimization section that reads the real state from the system and reports it plainly:
- Exempt — Android will not cut this app's network in deep sleep. Nothing more to do.
- Not exempt — in deep sleep Android can still cut the app's network, pausing reception even with the switch above on. The ALLOW UNRESTRICTED BATTERY USE button takes you straight to the system prompt to fix it.
Some phones freeze apps on their own on top of Android — Samsung calls it "sleeping apps". If reception keeps pausing with everything above switched on, exclude APRS Connect there too.
What it costs
The screen states the costs rather than hiding them, and they are worth knowing:
- Battery. Holding the link open keeps the CPU lightly awake, so the battery drains faster than with the app simply closed. How much depends on how busy the feed is.
- Swiping the app away stops it. That stops the receiver, deliberately — background running survives the screen turning off and the app being behind others, but not being swiped out of the recents list. The notification disappearing confirms it.
When reception was interrupted anyway
Two more pieces keep the background story honest:
- A connection that claims to be up but has gone silent is detected and restarted automatically — a dead socket is not allowed to sit there reporting "connected".
- Any stretch where the app was not receiving is marked in the packet log: a RECEPTION PAUSED row saying how long reception was down and why. You will never mistake the app being asleep for the band being quiet.
Beaconing with the screen off
Beaconing continues in the background under the same switch, so your smart-beaconed position keeps updating with the phone in a pocket. One limit, stated on the beaconing screen itself: a station last seen moving whose GPS has gone stale stops beaconing rather than re-sending a place it has left.
Recommended setup
For messaging and beaconing away from the phone: leave Keep running in the background on, allow unrestricted battery use when the screen offers it, and don't swipe the app away. If you miss messages anyway, the QRX missed-messages service can hold them for you while you are off the air.
Last updated 31 August 2026