[General Topics] energy6uk:
The very first Android phone I purchased was in 2010, and it was an HTC Desire. I have been a huge fan of Android ever since, owning literally hundreds of phones and tablets from various manufacturers such as Samsung, Huawei, Motorola, Xiaomi, LG, Sony....the list goes on and on. I've tried iOS a few times, but I simply just didn't like iOS. In recent years my loyalty to Android was severely tested because of an issue that many may think is inconsequential and even petty, but to me it was ultimately a deal-breaker - delayed push notifications (predominantly when the screen is locked and off)

So picture this - I'm sat at home with three other members of my family who also own Android phones, and we have a group chat (FB Messenger) going with other members of the family. Every time someone posts a comment *PING*...but wait, four android phones, and only two went *PING*...then a few seconds later another goes *PING*, then a few seconds later the fourth goes *PING*.

I'm not exactly sure when this issue first arose, but I only really started to notice around the time Oreo was mainstream, and I've been obsessed with trying to figure out a cure ever since. Of course I've tried literally everything that's been suggested, hard resets, turning off battery optimisations, locking the affected app in the recents, disabling Doze with ADB, clearing the cache, custom roms, different routers, different networks, heartbeat fixing apps for GCM/FCM, bla bla bla...none of it works. Now I have finally accepted there is a flaw in the way the Android OS handles push notifications, a flaw that affects every single Android device, at least since Oreo, and maybe even before. It's a strange one because the issue doesn't seem to occur when the screen is awake, only when it is locked and off. At one stage I was hopeful features like AOD on AMOLED devices might be a solution, but alas, even with AOD active, the problem persists.

Now before you say "I've never had a problem with push notifications on my Android device", are you sure. Have you ever really been in a situation where you would notice? Try it for yourself, perform a test using a similar scenario to the one I mentioned in the second paragraph. Create a group chat in any messaging app you like, and have several of the group members with Android devices sit in the same room with their screens locked and off, then have one person send a message in the group chat, then watch as some get the messages immediately, some with a slight delay, and some not at all until they wake the screen. Do it a few times and you will soon notice there is no pattern at all, sometimes you will get the notifications immediately while others are delayed, then sometimes others will get the notifications immediately and yours will be delayed.

My most recent (and very last) Android purchase was the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (outright, not on contract, so you know roughly how much I paid). When I'm paying that amount of money for a mobile phone, I expect timely push notifications as a given, but no, the same issue occurs even with one of the very latest and greatest. I contacted Samsung Tech Support and the guy admitted it's the most common complaint he deals with every single day. I was previously given a similar story by Motorola and Huawei support too, and a little digging around online shows that thousands of Android users are complaining about the very same issue. Needless to say they now have that phone back.

I know I know, something this trivial shouldn't really bother me this much, but it does, it's just who I am. I can accept there is no such thing as a perfect mobile phone, I can live with an average camera, a budget processor, a dull screen, lifeless aesthetics etc. but there are some compromises I just won't make. Apart from the obvious (the ability to make and receive calls and texts), my requirements are quite simple - I require a phone with stable WiFi, Bluetooth and NFC, a decent battery life and of course timely push notifications. With no Android device currently able to fulfil my very simple requirements, it really did only leave me with one option - joining the dark side....so I bought an iPhone.

I have owned an iPhone for just over a month (that's two weeks longer than my last three Android devices), and thus far my delayed push notification woes have vanished. Now when someone in the family posts in our group, *PING* immediately every single time. The battery life is acceptable for someone like me who isn't the most demanding user, WiFi, Bluetooth and NFC have presented no issues, and it makes and receives calls and texts without a problem. I can honestly say the only thing I miss so far is my Android App Drawer. I know iOS introduced their App Library in iOS 14, and it's a start, but it's just not the same. There is probably an app in Cydia that would give me an app drawer, but I'm not quite ready to get into the world of jailbreaking just yet (I'm not that brave).

So after my big rant, here's a summary - Android push notifications are broken, they've been broken for some time and Google don't seem interested in fixing the problem. If someone told me tomorrow that Google had finally fixed push notifications, I would drop iOS like a hot potato and rekindle my love for Android. Please Google, help bring me back from the dark side, it's really cold out here!

Des