Notifications has a mind of its own

Question

Level 1

8 points

Notifications has a mind of its own

Hi, I have sudden issue with my iphone Xr where notifications has a mind of its own. It doesn't show up for any app when connected to wifi, till I open the app. This means that my notification window is always 0, but if I open any app(watsapp, gmail, insta etc), there are a ton of notifications which the phone has failed to show me. This happened somewhere around the ios13.6 update. Sometimes if I connect LTE, all the notifications come together(some were supposed to come the previous day) and when I go back to wifi, it doesn't show up again. But this doesn't always happen when I connect to LTE. Sometimes notifications doesn't show up in any mode. I haven't touched any setting and this works randomly like it has a mind of its own. Sometimes all notifications shows up, sometimes none. I have tried to connect with watsapp desktop and it shows my phone isn't connected to internet even when it is. But once I open the app on phone, everything is back to normal. Looks like apps aren't getting internet from phone till I open the app, cant explain better than this.

2 important things I did on the same day as the notification disappearance is -

Connected a samsung buds+ device using bluetooth(This has been unpaired now, but issue still exists)
Updated to ios 13.6

If anyone knows any workaround , please help. Missing lots of emails due to this.

Posted on Jul 27, 2020 12:19 AM

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Answer 1

Joseph_S.

Community Specialist

Jul 30, 2020 8:25 AM in response to ivin0550

ivin0550,

Thanks so much for giving us an update on the situation, and for providing those screenshots.

Just to clarify, it sounds like the issue with the notifications has resolved, but you're still experiencing an issue with some applications not working while your device is connected to Wi-Fi only, is that right?

Since you mentioned that apps don't work in the background, we'd like to see if Background App Refresh is enabled. Background App Refresh will allow apps that are not in use, or are suspended, to check for updates and new content.

If you want suspended apps to be able to check for new content, please go to Settings > General > Background App Refresh and ensure that "Background App Refresh" is enabled there. Please note that if you quit an app from the app switcher, it might not be able to run or check for new content before opening it again.

You can find more information about Background App Refresh under the "Use Background App Refresh" part of the following page:

Switch apps on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

Have a nice day!

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Answer 2

brenden dv

Community Specialist

Jul 29, 2020 3:56 PM in response to ivin0550

Hi ivin0550,

We understand that your notifications aren't working as expected when connected to Wi-Fi on your iPhone XR, and we'd like to help.

When this happens, does your device have a strong cellular data connection? We ask because Notifications only uses Wi-Fi when a cellular connection is unavailable.

Since you mentioned that this issue happens when your device is connected to Wi-Fi, can you let us know if you've had a chance to try connecting to another Wi-Fi network to see if the issue persists?

Is this issue happening with Apple applications, as well as the third-party apps you mentioned?

Since noticing this issue, have you had a chance to review your notification settings and make sure they're enabled correctly? This page explains how to view and modify the settings for Notifications:

Use notifications on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch

Thanks!

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Answer 3

Teddy_B

Community Specialist

Jul 30, 2020 6:12 AM in response to ivin0550

ivin0550,

We really appreciate all of the information you've given us, and the steps you've tried so far.

We know you mentioned testing the issue on 3 different Wi-Fi networks; were all 3 of those networks with the same internet service provider? If so, have you been able to contact the ISP to see if there's an issue on their end?

To help narrow this down further, can you also let us know if you're able to use other apps or services that require an internet connection while your device is connected to Wi-Fi? For example, are you able to pull up and load webpages in Safari while connected to Wi-Fi, or do you receive an error?

Take care!

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Answer 4

ivin0550 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 29, 2020 5:01 PM in response to brenden dv

Hello Brenden,

Thank you for replying.

As I am getting used to this, the more I am learning from this. This happens when the phone is connected to Wifi and cellular LTE is turned off. When cellular LTE is ON and wifi is OFF, notifications are received as usual without any delay. So for example I use WIFI connected for yesterday and today, and today I decided to disconnect WIFI internet and connect LTE, I get a huge number of push notifications which were supposed to come from yesterday itself. If I connect back to WIFI internet, notifications are gone again. And I have tried 3 different Wifi connections and all have the same issue. I spoke with another friend who uses iPhone Xr and she also has the same issue which surprised me. Exact same issue! And she is running on ios 13.5 and not ios 13.6 as me.

This issue happens with every single app. If I am inside the app, notifications does pop up. Just to check I tried whatsapp desktop and connected the system and phone on the same wifi, but watsapp on desktop says ‘unable to reach phone’ or ‘make sure phone is connected to the same wifi as desktop’. This means that apps are not getting connected to internet when they are not being used. Its more like background refresh isnt happening at all in Wifi mode. This issue is gone when I connect to LTE(same for my friend with iPhone Xr).

Yes I have reviewed all notifications settings, but again if I had changed any, the notifications wouldnt come of LTE right? This issue is only on Wifi and Yes, it is for all apps including third party apps.

kindly suggest me another idea. Thanks :)

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Answer 5

ivin0550 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 30, 2020 7:03 AM in response to Teddy_B

Hello dear Teddy,

Thank you for the support.

lets start with the good news. I woke up this morning to see a ton of notifications popping up on my phone and this made clear that the issue has been solved, miraculously on its own.

well I can confirm that Safari sites wont loan till I open the app. It will not load when its working in the background. I dont know how this is happening. None of the apps work in background. You have to open it for it to connect to internet. I have so far tested it for watsapp, telegram and Safari as per your request. And all gave me same results. They are unable to connect to internet without me opening the app.

Off my 3 wifis, 2 were of the same provider, but one was different.

Now the notifications are back on all 3 of them.

As I mentioned before, my friend is also having the same issue and she too uses an Xr with ios 13.5. But everything is normal on LTE and work’s seamlessly. She stays some 500kms away from, in a different state and on a totally different service provider. I am quite sure this is some kind of bug on the Xr and hope it doesnt crop up again.

Kindly suggest if there is any workaround for this.

The below screenshot is from my PC when phone is locked and connected to wifi, it says ‘connected’ only when I unlock the phone and open the app.

The image below shows connection to LTE and the insta message I received shows 1hr ago. Actually I received that email just at that moment, but it was supposed to be received 1hr ago as the timing says and I missed it because insta or any other app cant connect to internet and send me push notifications.

hope these helps

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Notifications has a mind of its own

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