Delayed notifications for apps like Signal and Discord

[Constancies]

Using the Sandboxed Google Play Services, notifications for some apps I used are horribly delayed (often entire hours late, causing me to miss calls). I've tried troubleshooting this for a while and nothing really seems to work. I've tried enabling unrestricted battery access and unrestricted data to both GPS and the affected apps, but the issue still occurs. I also installed GPS before installing these apps.

I guess if it makes any difference, I installed Signal and Discord through the Aurora Store instead of the Sandboxed Google Play. Other than that I have 0 idea what could be causing this.

[thestinger]

Is the Play Store installed, not disabled and has the Network permission granted so it can install/update dynamite modules for Play services?

Unrestricted battery mode is only needed for Play services, not apps using it or the Play Store.

[Constancies]

Play Store is installed and has network permission. By disabled, do you mean signed out? I didn't sign into it so I could avoid linking a Google account to my phone.

[thestinger]

It doesn't have to be signed in. I mean make sure the app isn't disabled.

[thestinger]

Make sure neither battery saver or data saver is enabled. Data saver will require exceptions granted to avoid breaking Play services FCM and apps.

[Constancies]

Play Store is enabled and neither battery saver nor data saver are enabled.

[pingu-the-penguin]

Is the Play Store installed, not disabled and has the Network permission granted so it can install/update dynamite modules for Play services?

Unrestricted battery mode is only needed for Play services, not apps using it or the Play Store.

Would Play Services having DCL via memory revoked and the Play Store having DCL via Storage and DCL via memory revoked affect the notification service?

[pingu-the-penguin]

Play Store is enabled and neither battery saver nor data saver are enabled.

Do you have a VPN installed? If so, which one? Could be similar to my issue #5632

[Constancies]

I do have a VPN installed, but I rarely am connected to it.

[AudioLotus]

I was running into this exact same issue with Discord, even after the 2025-08-18 update. The notifications even completely stopped showing up in general for me after some point.

The fix I found was going into Settings -> Apps -> Discord and enabling Display over other apps.

Not sure the root cause really. Probably something upstream w/ Google if I were to wager, as I've noticed other small issues here and there.

[pingu-the-penguin]

@Constancies @AudioLotus Would any of you happen to have had any DCL toggles revoked from the Play Store or Play Services? What about the Wifi-Control special access permission, was that revoked for any apps?

[anarcat]

i'm also seeing this. i just reinstalled my phone with graphene, restored from backups (poorly), installed aurora store and signal from there, and play services from the built-in app store, and Signal complained about a "Permanent communication failure", pointing the finger at play services.

DCL (which i assume is "Dynamic Code Loading"?) is set to "Default (allowed)" on play services. network/sensors permission, i haven't tweaked any of the app's settings.

i have, however, found something odd in the Settings > Apps > Sandbox Google Play pathway. There, "Potential issues" were pointing at battery savings (it's gone now, so i don't remember the exact phrasing). When I looked at the "Google Play services" app info, the "App battery usage" section had the subtitle "unrestricted", so i thought that was fine, but when i tapped on it, it was actually set to "Optimized!"

So if you're having this issue, make sure you actually tap on the "App battery usage" menu there, to see if it's really set to unrestricted. I've set it now, we'll see how it goes.

[thestinger]

@anarcat It has to be set to Unrestricted, not Optimized

[anarcat]

i know, i just fixed that. what i am saying is the overview says "unrestricted" even if it's actually set to "optimized" when you drill down which is wildly confusing.

[thestinger]

@anarcat Background use allowed is different from unrestricted background use allowed. It should say Optimized as the text in the app page if it's set to Optimized.

[anarcat]

Background use allowed is different from unrestricted background use allowed. It should say Optimized as the text in the app page if it's set to Optimized.

it did not.

also, setting the Background usage to "unrestricted" doesn't fix the issue: i still only get messages when i open signal.