Reminders not firing?

If Exercise Breaks stops reminding you, it is almost always your phone's battery management rather than a problem with the app. Android lets manufacturers stop background apps to save power, and a reminder app is exactly the kind of thing that gets stopped. Here is what to change.

The three settings that matter

Most phones need all three. Changing only one is usually not enough.

• Battery optimization. Find Exercise Breaks in your phone's battery or app settings and set it to unrestricted, or exclude it from optimization. The app asks for this during setup, but some phones re-apply the restriction later.
• Autostart. Some phones block apps from starting themselves in the background. Look for Autostart, Background autostart, or Auto-launch in the app's settings and turn it on.
• Lock it in Recents. Open your recent apps, find the Exercise Breaks card, and lock it so clearing your recents does not close it.

Where these settings live

The exact wording moves around between phone models and Android versions, so look for the idea rather than the exact words. On Samsung, the relevant setting is usually called Never sleeping apps. On Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO, look for Autostart and a battery saver setting you can set to no restrictions. On OPPO, OnePlus and Realme, look for Startup Manager and background power settings. On Huawei, look for Protected apps. On Vivo, look for background high power consumption.

A community-maintained guide at dontkillmyapp.com covers most phone brands in more detail than I can keep current here.

One thing worth knowing

These settings can reset themselves after a phone restart or a system update. If reminders were working and then stopped for no obvious reason, checking them again is the first thing to try.

Still not working?

Write to feedback@exercisebreaks.app and tell me your phone model and Android version. Every report helps, and there is no automated system reading these; they come to me directly.