Syncthing stops running after a few weeks

[raxod502]

I observe that approximately once per month, Syncthing silently stops running and does not start again. I have alerting configured so I am notified that this has happened. When this happens, I open the Syncthing app and syncing immediately starts again. adb logcat contains no logs before I started the app, indicating that the process was not running. It seems like some operation from Android, perhaps a system update, results in Syncthing no longer auto-starting after boot. Once the app is opened again, it is fine running in the background for some more weeks, through multiple restarts.

What could potentially cause such an issue? I already checked that Syncthing is allowed unrestricted battery access, and automatic removing of unused permissions is disabled for the app.

Related: #1220, #1172, #1953.

Version Information

App Version: 1.27.2.1
Syncthing Version: v1.27.2
Android Version: Android 14 (GrapheneOS)

[acolomb]

The app itself receives updates roughly on a monthly schedule. And I've observed as well that it then doesn't start automatically. It does on boot (if configured to do so), but not after upgrades.

[Xavron]

Update of an app should cause the app to be force killed by the OS to refresh it in memory to avoid problems. The only alternative to updating with that is hot patching memory which is something that even developer tools have difficulty with. All apps have this happen which is why you don't want to update while on a live meeting like I did once as I wanted it at that moment lol :)

You can disable automatic updates or something. I don't know how their fdroid or whatever is handling updates though. But, like Play Store you could disable auto updates and manually update while avoiding it or at least you're there to start it back up that way.

They could potentially do something to solve this via the app side but you can also solve it too without them doing anything. There's various things [you can possibly do] that I'm not getting into as well.

[raxod502]

But surely it cannot be intended behavior that the app permanently stops forever as soon as you update it. That makes no sense for a file synchronization app, and does not match standard user expectations for Android apps.

There must be a way to have the app auto-start properly once it's updated. This must be a bug.

[imsodin]

I don't see any suggestion that this is not a bug, or that there's nothing to improve. Clearly keeping the app and syncthing running over an upgrade is the intended behaviour.

[geovnn]

Wouldn't the MY_PACKAGE_REPLACED broadcast do exactly that?

[geovnn]

I just checked by updating it manually with the apk: the app does indeed restart itself after an update (it already has the broadcast receiver) and the syncing occurs. Must be something else, or maybe other update methods.