One of the most common complaints about MIUI is problems with applications running in the background. These are widgets that do not update information, and instant messengers that do not show notifications about new messages. Let's try to consider why this is happening, and whether something can be done about it.
This is not a bug, this is a feature
Stopping background applications in MIUI is done on purpose. It is promoted as one of the means to improve the energy efficiency of smartphones. For example, a separate slide at the presentation of the company's new flagship Mi6 was devoted to this (except for actually comparing the battery capacity with competitors).
Checking for a problem
In order to make sure that the problem exists, I installed those widgets that they complained to me about (more precisely, they complained to me about MIUI that it prevents widgets from living) – HD Widgets and Yandex.Weather. In the evening, I installed the widgets and worked with the smartphone as usual. The next day, a control check showed that everything is bad (for widgets, of course, and not for the energy efficiency of a smartphone):
The time is already 10:25, but HD Widgets is stuck at 23:21, and Yandex.Weather shows the update time at 23:30. So, you have to configure.
What to do?
If you still need the application to work in the background, then this issue is solved by the standard shell settings. Unfortunately, there are still problems with some applications on some devices (although, often, problems can still be solved using crutches, but more on that later).
So, go to the battery settings: Settings → Battery → Application activity. If you do not want to charge your smartphone more often than you are used to, then it is better to leave the general switch in the 'Limit' position and go directly to the 'Application Management' section.
In it you need to find the application you need and select 'No restrictions' in its settings:
But that's not all. Next, you need to go to Settings → Permissions → Autostart and allow autostart for applications running in the background:
I performed the settings described above for HD Widgets and Yandex.Weather and continued to use my smartphone as usual. A control check the next day showed that the widgets are being updated correctly:
Configuring messengers
It's not so simple with messengers. For example, Slack works fine in this mode, but Viber no longer exists. And on WhatsApp, I also heard complaints many times. If this happens, then you need to apply the following 'crutch': in the task manager, pull the configurable application down and press the 'Pin' button that appears:
This will protect the messenger from unloading even if the user manually clears memory (unloading all applications).
After working with the smartphone in normal mode for several hours (including by calling the memory clearing several times), I asked a colleague to write to me in Viber and WhatsApp. Result:
146% guarantee?
Does the method described above give a complete guarantee that applications will work in the background? No, as mentioned above, some users report problems with some applications on some devices. But nevertheless, careful tuning often allows you to get the correct operation of applications in the background and not miss important events.