Android typically forces low-priority apps to go to sleep so that it doesn’t drain your phone’s battery. This ensures that your phone lasts longer. Still, it can get annoying if you miss an important notification because the app was set to sleep mode. Android also offers a way to counter this behavior, so you don’t have to deal with delayed notifications. It doesn’t matter whether you use one of the best Samsung phones, a Google Pixel phone, or another Android phone. In this guide, we show you how to fix this issue with the battery optimization setting.

Google and most other manufacturers

The below steps work for most Android phones with Oreo (Android 8.0) or above. Some smartphone manufacturers replace Android’s battery optimization for their implementations.

1. Locate the app you want to work more reliably on your home screen or launcher.
2. Hold and tap it to display the long press menu.
3. Select the App info shortcut (it’s an (i) symbol or something along those lines).
4. Locate the Battery entry in the menu that opened and tap it.

5. Select Unrestricted on the next screen to allow the app to run with fewer limits while in the background.

That’s it. You’ll repeat this process for each app you want to keep awake in the background. These settings usually survive a reboot of your phone and allow these apps to run normally. If you want to turn on the battery optimization, return to the menu and select the Optimized option. Since the latest Android phones no longer offer a list of exempted apps, it might be a good idea to keep a tab on which apps you’ve left unrestricted in a note.

Samsung

If you have a Samsung device running One UI, Samsung provides another way to control sleeping background apps. It’s easier to use and can supersede (but also kind of duplicate) the OS-level battery optimization setting. If you have a Samsung phone, make sure you’ve set this up, as well as the above battery optimization setting, to make sure an app doesn’t go to sleep. If you tell the Android OS not to optimize the battery life of an app but not the Samsung settings, your phone may still put it to sleep.

1. Follow the instructions in the section above.
2. When that’s done, find Samsung’s controls. Start the Settings app and tap Battery & device care.
3. Tap Battery.

4. On the Battery page, go to Background usage limits.

5. You’ll find three lists of apps that have some form of power management enforced on them. To see the list of apps allowed to run in the background with as few restrictions as possible, tap Never sleeping apps.
6. Add apps to this list by tapping the plus sign in the upper-right corner.

Xiaomi

Xiaomi makes things a little more complicated. Like on Pixel phones, you’ll tap and hold an app icon to change its battery management settings. If you want to make sure that an app stays active in the background at all times, you need an extra step.

1. Follow the steps described in the Pixel section above. Things are only labeled slightly differently, as shown in the screenshots above.
2. When that’s done, open the app you want to keep active and enter the multitasking overview / app switcher.
3. Tap and hold the preview of the app and then choose the first option in the menu, the Lock icon.

Locking the app like this ensures that it stays active in the background. This step might not be necessary for all apps, but it’s worth trying if you run into notification issues. Locking the app in the multitasking overview is vital when it comes to companion apps for accessories like smartwatches and fitness trackers. It prevents syncing issues from popping up.

Don’t miss out on important notifications

Android can be aggressive when putting apps to sleep, mainly to save the battery and optimize the phone’s performance. But the same strategy can be annoying when you don’t get timely notifications from apps that have important information to share. You can fix notification issues and stop apps from misbehaving with the workaround mentioned in this tutorial. However, if you’re overwhelmed by too many apps vying for your attention, refer to our guide, which shows you how to manage notifications on your Android phone.