AdMob onResume/onPause (background)

[Rebsos]

AdMob's minimal banner example calls these functions: adView.pause() and adView.resume() if the app is brought to the background and back. I can't find this in react-native-firebase/admob.

Does the Banner request more ads in the background (policy?) or drain the battery?
Do we have to unmount the Banner manually onPause and mount it again onResume? (policy?)

[mikehardy]

@Rebsos I'm not sure, what did you find when you tested it? What does the code in the module do? https://github.com/invertase/react-native-firebase/tree/master/packages/admob/android

Please report your findings, it could help others

[Rebsos]

I did some memory, network and CPU tests with the Android Profiler and meminfo
 
1. Good: A mounted banner does not request ads in the background
2. Info: A mounted banner, consumes 40 mb memory
3. Bad: After unmounting a banner, the 40 mb do not get released
4. Good: After unmounting a banner, there are no ad requests anymore
5. Info: After mounting a banner and going to the background, the 40 mb do not get released or reduced.
6. Good: Unmounting a banner or going with a mounted banner to the background, seems to stop the CPU usage of the banner.
 
 
conclusion:
 
1. It should not violate AdMobs policy
2. Unmounting a banner won't help reduce memory
 
Bonus:
 
I've put in this in ReactNativeFirebaseAdMobBannerAdViewManager.java for a very quick test, but it seems to have no advantage over "doing nothing"

            LifecycleEventListener listener = new LifecycleEventListener() {
            @OverRide
            public void onHostResume() {
                Log.i(TAG, "- onResume");
                if (adView != null) {
                    adView.resume();
                }
            }
 
            @OverRide
            public void onHostPause() {
                Log.i(TAG, "- onPause");
                if (adView != null) {
                  adView.pause();
                }
            }
 
            @OverRide
            public void onHostDestroy() {
              Log.i(TAG, "- onDestroy");
              if (adView != null) {
                  adView.destroy();
              }
            }
        };
        themedReactContext.addLifecycleEventListener(listener);

 
Future:
There may be still an issue with freezing banners. I've seen this in "sbugert/react-native-admob" which I used a very long time (now I switch to this module). Banners often won't refresh, when going back to foreground. Both modules miss "adView.resume()", maybe this is the reason, but I don't know.

[mikehardy]

Very interesting - unsure why the pause/resume would be missed if the lifecycle listener was added, lifecycle listeners have one job and they should meet their API contract. The fail to free memory could be a big deal especially if it is somehow additive. Odd that it isn't freed