I installed the Android app without having the LoRa radio (to see how the app looks before obtaining a radio), sorry if this just wasn’t apparent to me, but I did not see an option to exit the Meshtastic app.
I understand that under normal circumstances, you would want to have the app running in the background.
I ended up using Force Kill to quit the process.
Is there a proper way to exit the app? I thought I would check in here before submitting an issue, as perhaps I just missed where I could quit the app. I would have expected it either within the app or as a context from the system notification drop-down where it shows Bluetooth status.
Welcome! Just click the back button on the bottom bar. There is no need to quit apps on Android, if the OS needs the ram it will suspend the app automatically.
I’d prefer that the app isn’t running in the background at all (especially since I don’t own a radio.) There should be a clean way to exit the app without needing to force quit it, wouldn’t you agree?
Oh I see. Yes good point! The service is running (looking for a radio). It doesn’t consume any cpu but you are right we should not start the service until the user selects a radio. Would you mind putting a bug on meshtastic-android and I’ll fix it in the next week? (This way you’ll get a note when it is fixed)
In the meantime (until you have a radio) you can uninstall.
Even if I did have a radio, I assume that the situations where I would use the radio would be sporadic. For instance I might bring the LoRa radio on a hike, and when I return from the hike, I might shut it off.
In fairness, if the app were to disconnect from the radio temporarily, I would want it to reconnect. Real world example, I have the LoRa in my backpack and my phone in my pocket. Perhaps during a hike I leave my backpack on the ground and explore a nearby area. For instance if the backpack is heavy and I need to walk on uneven ground, or around water. If the radio disconnects, I would want it to reconnect.
At the end of the hike, I may intentionally shut off the radio and I would no longer need the app to reconnect.
yes, but if you have paired a radio - android requires that if we want to get notified that the radio is back in range (or turned back on) we have a service there to receive it. The good news is: that service consumes essentially no resources in this case - just an open BLE autoconnect call and a small amount of RAM.
(Garmin smartwatches have to do the same thing for the same reason)
But it would be easy to add a “exit app feature” for people that are concerned about this RAM consumption. I’ll add that at the same time - thank you for the feedback!
