Battery drain caused by Element not being able to detect loss of connectivity due to using VPN #9047
Description
Steps to reproduce
Hi,
I’ve enabled background sync and I’m using a VPN for internet access. It seems that when the VPN blocks Element’s internet connection, the app still continues to perform sync attempts in the background.
Although I noticed that you’ve already implemented some backoff mechanisms for retries, the app still performs multiple continuous retries, which can lead to unnecessary battery drain.
Would it be possible to implement a customized, app-specific server reachability check before attempting synchronization? This could help prevent redundant sync attempts when the app is not actually able to reach the server through the VPN.
Some approaches can be found here:
StackOverflow: Checking server reachability
How DAVx⁵ handles server reachability with VPN
Thank you!
Outcome
What did you expect?
Lower battery drain when misconfigure the firewall or VPN, also server end issue could also cause this type of continuous retry.
What happened instead?
Your phone model
Pixel 6
Operating system version
Android 15
Application version and app store
Element 1.6.34 from F-droid
Homeserver
matrix.org
Will you send logs?
No
Are you willing to provide a PR?
No