Why does the NIO app keep turning off?
What is the issue?
To save battery life, many mobile phones stop apps from running in the background. The NIO mobile app is no exception. You must enable our app to run in the background if you want to provide data to researchers for more than a short period of time. Note: The NIO mobile app follows all best practices for minimizing energy use and you should notice very little change in the battery life of your device. If you experience significant impacts, please reach out to us at help@nationalinternetobservatory.org so we can fix it.
What should I do?
The process for letting our app run in the background is specific to each device. Find yours below for instructions on how to set it up on your device.
Google (Pixel, Nexus)
By default, Google devices honor background processes and should not stop NIO’s VPN. If you see issues, you should check that the following settings is not accidentally been enabled on your phone:
Settings > Apps > Your app > Advanced > Battery > Background restrictions
Samsung
Samsung is one of the most restrictive in their battery optimization policies. We encourage you to go to NIO’s app’s settings and enable “Do not optimize”
Settings -> Apps -> Your App -> Battery -> Battery optimization -> All apps -> Your app -> Don’t optimize.
Another setting that can severely impact NIO’s ability to run on the background is Samsung’s Adaptive Battery setting. To disable that, go to:
Settings -> Battery -> More battery settings -> Disable Adaptive Battery
OnePlus
OnePlus’ battery optimizations can be changed on a per-app basis to allow for background activity. To that end, you need to long tap NIO’s app icon to access “App info”. From there, you can press on “Battery usage” which will take you to a screen where you can toggle on “Allow background activity”.
Huawei
In these devices, you need to change the general battery settings and then enable several app specific optimizations to make sure NIO continues to run on the background.
Phone settings > Battery > App launch and then set your app to “Manage manually” and make sure everything is turned on.
Xiaomi
To allow NIO’s app to run in the background, you need to disable all battery restrictions on the app specific settings.
App info -> Battery Saver -> No restrictions
Nokia
Most Nokia phones have a specific app that kills background services for other apps in order to slightly improve battery life. Check if this is the case for your device by following these instructions:
- Go to Phone settings > Apps > See all apps.
- Tap on the right top corner menu > Show system.
- Find Power saver app in the list, select it and Force close. It will remain stopped for a while, but will restart itself eventually.
BLU
To disable battery restrictions, you need to remove the battery optimization settings. You can also turn off Battery Manager from Settings -> Battery. Steps:
- Go to Settings -> Apps & Notifications -> NIO - Mobile.
- Tap on Advanced -> Battery -> Battery optimization.
- Select NIO - Mobile and choose Don't optimize.