(iOS) Focus modes can inadvertently disabled background app refresh, which prevents automatic backups from running

[audigex]

I have searched the existing issues, both open and closed, to make sure this is not a duplicate report.

• Yes

The bug

I suspect this isn't a bug which can be "fixed", but it may be worth improving visibility to the user that this can be an issue

Focus modes on iOS can enabled/disable low power mode, which disables background app refresh (and therefore Immich's automatic background backups) in a way that is not visible to the user unless they happen look at the backup options while the focus mode is active

Example: a user has a focus mode from 9pm to 7am which (amongst other things) enables low power mode

If the user configures background app refresh at eg lunchtime, the app shows that background refresh is enabled and the user assumes it should work fine later when they charge that night

Then the next day they check and nothing happened overnight, the sync didn't work and nothing was uploaded... but there's no indication of why because it's after 7am: Therefore the focus mode has ended, low power mode is disabled again, and background app refresh is enabled again and the app shows no warning

They look in the Immich app and the background sync is still configured correctly, with no warnings like would be seen if background app refresh was just disabled for Immich entirely. They would only notice the problem if they happen to look at the backup options between (in this instance) 9pm and 7am (no prizes for guessing why I'm posting this at 11pm...)

I'm not sure if this can be "fixed" because focus modes and background app refresh are outside the control of the app, but perhaps a warning could be shown to raise awareness of it to the user?

The OS that Immich Server is running on

Docker on unRAID

Version of Immich Server

1.132.3

Version of Immich Mobile App

1.132.3 build.205

Platform with the issue

• Server
• Web
• Mobile

Your docker-compose.yml content

I don't think this matters for this issue report

Your .env content

I don't think this matters for this issue report

Reproduction steps

1. Enable Background sync on iOS app
2. Enable a focus mode at a specific time (eg 9pm to 7am) that enables low power mode
3. Check backup settings in the app between 9pm and 7am
4. (A warning is shown to the user that background sync is disabled due to background app refresh being disabled)
5. Check backup settings in the app at any time other than 9pm to 7am
6. (Background sync shows as configured and would be expected to work, but fails due to the focus mode disabling background app refresh)

Relevant log output

Additional information

No response

[mmomjian]

Converting to FR, while there is lots of room to improve the background sync process, I am not sure that a user enabling low battery mode for much of the day is something we can realistically work around.

[audigex]

Yeah I figure there's not much the app can do to actually avoid the issue, but perhaps a warning if "Only while charging" is set that the user should avoid a low power mode at times they usually charge?

I don't really have a problem with the fact the app couldn't handle it, it was just very confusing that there was no sign of what was happening or why - the sync just failed completely invisibly from the POV of the user, with no indication in the app that it had happened or why

The app knows when the last successful sync happened and I believe knows when others are scheduled? Perhaps if too many scheduled syncs fail successively it shows a "Your sync may be failing because of X, Y, or Z" type of message?