Android manufacturers like Samsung, OPPO, and Xiaomi add aggressive battery-saving layers on top of stock Android. Without the settings below, the system may silently kill Witnessy's background process, stopping recording without warning.
Samsung's One UI includes automatic management of unused apps. Two settings must be changed to allow Witnessy to run indefinitely in the background.
Long-press the Witnessy icon on your home screen or app drawer, then tap "App Info" (or "i" icon) to open system settings for the app.
In App info, find the Manage unused app option and turn it off (OFF). This prevents Samsung from automatically pausing Witnessy.
Still in App Info, tap Battery and select Unrestricted. This tells Samsung not to limit the app's battery usage in the background.
Result: In our testing, Witnessy ran continuously for over 2 weeks on Samsung Galaxy devices with these settings applied.
OPPO's ColorOS suspends inactive apps and restricts background activity by default. Two settings must be changed in Android's App Info to let Witnessy keep recording in the background.
Long-press the Witnessy icon, then tap "App Info" from the context menu that appears.
Inside App Info, scroll to the bottom and switch off Manage unused apps.
Open the Battery tab and enable Allow background activity.
Opening Recent apps with the left system button in OPPO's bottom navigation bar and removing Witnessy with a swipe-out gesture (swiping the card away) can stop the active recording loop. Witnessy usually resumes recording on its own, but in some cases the restart can be delayed or fail to happen.
Result: In our testing, Witnessy ran non-stop for over 1 month on OPPO ColorOS devices with these settings applied.
Xiaomi's MIUI and HyperOS have the most aggressive background app management of any Android skin. Follow all five steps below to keep Witnessy running reliably.
Long-press the Witnessy icon, then tap "App Info" from the context menu that appears.
In the App Info screen, find and turn OFF the option Pause app activity if unused.
In the same App Info screen, go to the Battery section and select No restrictions. This lifts Xiaomi's default energy-saving limits.
Navigate to Settings → Apps → Manage apps, find Witnessy, and enable Autostart in background. This allows the app to resume after some system-level app interruptions.
Go to Settings → Battery → Additional settings and find "Clear cache files when device is locked". Set this to Never. Without this, Xiaomi may purge Witnessy's data while your screen is off.
If you use the left system button in Xiaomi's bottom navigation bar and then tap X, the system may clear all background apps, including Witnessy's active recording loop. Recording may be interrupted briefly. However, if Autostart in background is enabled, Witnessy should automatically resume recording.
Note: Xiaomi's setup is the most involved, but necessary. With all settings applied, Witnessy ran continuously for over 2 weeks in our testing.
Good practices for all devices
Regardless of your manufacturer, these habits keep Witnessy running longer.
Restart recording weekly
Restarting the loop recording once a week is good practice that helps the app stay stable over longer periods.
Keep an eye on updates
An automatic update can interrupt an active recording loop. Rather than disabling auto-updates entirely, just keep an eye on them, that way an update won't catch you off guard mid-recording.
Re-enable after reboot
After restarting or turning off your phone, loop recording must be started manually again from within the app.
Check your notification shade
When Witnessy is recording, a persistent notification is displayed. If you don't see it, the recording may have been stopped by the system.
A note on our testing. The setup steps and the runtimes mentioned on this page come from our own internal testing on Samsung, OPPO, and Xiaomi devices, not from any official certification. They're intended to make background recording more reliable, but since every phone, Android version, and update behaves a little differently, no configuration can guarantee recording will never be interrupted.
Need a guide for a specific device?
If your phone model isn't covered above, or the steps for your manufacturer look different, we'll do our best to help. Email us at support@witnessy.com.
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