ProxyHandler app doesn't work with Battery Optimization enabled [37123179]

WAI

Bug

[AOSP] assigned

NeedsInfo

Status Update

No update yet.

Description

pa...@gmail.com

created issue #1

Oct 12, 2016 10:07AM

Problem description:
WPAD/PAC proxy non-functional when ProxyHandler app is in Battery Optimization mode. The direct proxy that is set up on localhost:<port> doesn't respond to any attempts to connect to it when Battery Optimization is enabled.

Steps to reproduce:
1. Set up a Wi-Fi network
2. Go to Settings: Wi-Fi, long-press on your network, and choose Modify network
3. Expand advanced options, and set Proxy to Proxy Auto-Configure
4. Type in a PAC URL to a simple PAC/WPAD server (I’m sure Google has a working test proxy internally)
5. Save
6. Unplug any USB connection to put apps in Battery Optimization mode; won’t reproduce when connected to a power supply.
7.A Install and open the Proxy Troubleshooter app (

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=software.geeky.proxytroubleshooter)
7.B OR Open up the Firefox browser (wouldn’t reproduce with Chrome because Chrome bypasses proxies), and visit

http://echo.opera.com

Observed behavior:
Proxy Troubleshooter will report a Critical error that the server at "localhost:<port>" doesn’t respond to connections.
OR
Firefox will not be able to load the page.

Work-around:
1. Go to Settings: Battery: Battery Optimization, and expand to show All apps
2. Find ProxyHandler and disable Battery Optimization for this helper app

Android system bug reports:
Bug reports reported from step 7.A and 7.B both in:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B7BF0VM2Sl7EXzJfYklXR3ByQW8?usp=sharing

Notes:
This is a reopened bug with more details based on bug report #192330.

Comments

pa...@gmail.com <pa...@gmail.com> #2Oct 12, 2016 10:11AM

Problem was introduced with Android 6 and persists through Android 7 build NBD90W, 2016-10 security patch level.

dn...@google.com <dn...@google.com> #3Dec 29, 2016 12:44PM

Assigned to dn...@google.com.

Please check the issue on android N latest build(7.1.1) and let us know the result.

If issue reproduces please share the bugreport.

Android bug report:
After reproducing the issue, navigate to developer settings, ensure ‘USB debugging’ is enabled, then enable ‘Bug report shortcut’. To take bug report, hold the power button and select the ‘Take bug report’ option.

Note: Please upload the files to google drive and share the folder to android-bugreport@google.com, then share the link here.

pa...@gmail.com <pa...@gmail.com> #4Dec 29, 2016 04:17PM

This is getting silly.

fi...@gmail.com <fi...@gmail.com> #5Jan 3, 2017 09:15AM

Hello,

I have the same problem as reporter.
I have Google Nexus 5X with the latest update 7.1.1, build NMF26F.

My problem started with Hangouts not sending messages over Wi-Fi, receiving them however worked well. Manual proxy configuration with the same server was working well.

During debugging I ended up removing my accounts and then I was not able to sign-in back with proxy auto-configuration. This is how I started to suspect wider problem and end-up in this bug-report.

Here is a bug report from 7.1.1 right after failed log-in attempt. Hope that helps.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-iR7iawrUxSNXptTmlUWDN4Q1U

P.S. Disabling power opimization for ProxyHandler works for me. Everything keeps working even after re-enabling power optimization, unless I manually clear data for ProxyHandler. In that case problem reoccur.

dn...@google.com <dn...@google.com> #6Jan 3, 2017 12:24PM

We have passed this defect on to the development team and will update this issue with more information as it becomes available.

dn...@google.com <dn...@google.com> #7Jan 13, 2017 06:53AM

Status: Won't Fix (Intended Behavior)

In battery saver mode, networking is restricted. Only foreground apps or battery saver whitelisted apps have network access.
Thus, the options for fixing this are:
- The app could start a foreground service (which I think requires displaying a persistent notification). That would need to be fixed by the app developer.
- The user can whitelist the app under battery saver - Settings -> Battery -> Battery optimization -> All apps and then find the app and click "don't optimize".

dn...@gmail.com <dn...@gmail.com> #8Jan 13, 2017 03:47PM

The "app" in question is one of your own operating system services. Until you start whitelisting the proxyHandler or find another workaround, networking will be broken in battery saver mode for every single android user in the world that depends on proxy autoconfig. I very sincerely doubt this is "working as intended".

bc...@erschools.com <bc...@erschools.com> #9Dec 10, 2018 05:44PM

This bug may also affect the Play Store app on Chromebooks. If a proxy pac is applied to a Chromebook, any apps downloaded on the Play Store are stuck in a downloading state whether the Chromebook is plugged in or not.

mw...@googlemail.com <mw...@googlemail.com> #10Feb 6, 2019 03:27PM

The same problem (static proxy configuration works, automatic configuration with proxy.pac does not work) is observed on Android 8.1.0 (Lenovo TB-X705F) and 7.1.1 (Sony E5823).

Details are a bit different though. On both devices, there's no Battery optimization setting which I could selectively activate or deactivate for individual apps. Proxy troubleshooter is, unfortunately, not available any more on the play store (

https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/google-play-monetization)

co...@gmail.com <co...@gmail.com> #11Apr 14, 2020 12:58PM

Still encountering this problem in Android 9. I had to turn off Adaptive Battery to get the Play Store to work when using an automatic proxy configuration URL.

fi...@gmail.com <fi...@gmail.com> #12Apr 14, 2020 11:01PM

Since my original report on Google Nexus 5X I have upgraded to Pixel 3 and currently am running Android 10.
A lot has changed since, but the problem persists. What's worse - the whitelist under battery optimization no longer works.

I have recently tested a variety of different options to rule out my network issue and can confidently say that is a problem in Android.

Things I have tried so far:
- Serving PAC file from different web servers (Nginx, Apache)
- Using different proxy servers (Squid, Privoxy)
- Using IP address vs hostname/domain name for both proxy and web servers (to rule out DNS).
- Using stupid PAC file that tells android to use "DIRECT" connection.

None of the above worked for Pixel 3, while happily working for Nexus 5X with battery optimization whitelist workaround.

My observation is that Android 9+ is fetching the PAC file from a web server (I can see access logs), but then never actually directs traffic through a proxy server.
Happy to provide any additional details or perform testing/verification.

ji...@gmail.com <ji...@gmail.com> #13Apr 15, 2020 02:32AM

Here's the link for the original bug report I raised on this as well, that was closed and then had this issue opened in response to that:

https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/37069034

This problem has gone on for way too long, and there is more than enough information in both cases for Google to find and fix this problem in THEIR app.

ae...@gmail.com <ae...@gmail.com> #14Apr 29, 2020 08:56PM

Just ran into this myself, I use a PAC to redirect a few specific URLs through a local proxy. The phone (Android 10 on a Mate 20 Pro) will just stop using the PAC every once in a while. It just seems to completely ignore it, it's definitely pulling the PAC from the webserver (I can see it in the access logs) but not doing anything with it after that.

There's no ProxyHandler that I can use the battery optimization menu on, either.

ny...@gmail.com <ny...@gmail.com> #15Jul 23, 2020 03:25AM

We are experiencing the same issue. We have 60 clinical Wi-Fi handsets and this is causing a clinical application to fail to connect. The handsets are under an MDM and there is no option to:
* Disable battery optimization on proxyHandler
* Disable battery optimization on PacProcessor
What's worse is that the hospital Internet environment is controlled by a complicated set of rules contained in a PAC file.

We have to go through each handset and manually disable this and remember to do it when commissioning new handsets or re-imaging existing ones.

I just don't understand how a component critical to network connectivity would have this behaviour.

oc...@gmail.com <oc...@gmail.com> #16Mar 3, 2021 02:45AM

Encountered this very frustrating issue. PacProcessor and ProxyHandler cannot be de-optimised on any of my devices.

Wondering if there is a way to perodically issue appropriately timed wakelocks to PacProcessor and ProxyHandler to keep them active. Could this be a workaround? (would require an app to handle I expect)

oc...@gmail.com <oc...@gmail.com> #17Mar 3, 2021 03:24AM

BTW, the ProxyTroubleshooter is available on APKPure

https://m.apkpure.com/proxy-troubleshooter/software.geeky.proxytroubleshooter

Also likely avaialble on other third-party stores, often these are better than the google store as they can allow rollback to earlier versions when the current one has a bug. I have had to use their services for many apps for this reason, including apps from OEM vendors like HP (Ilo4).

oc...@gmail.com <oc...@gmail.com> #18Mar 7, 2021 01:21AM

I hope this is helpful to those who come here hoping for resolution to proxy.pac limitations caused by the oddly restrictive factory Doze settings.

It turns out that I gave up too quickly before. While the instructions given above work for the Android v6.x devices I have, the method is a little different to V7.x, v8.x and v9.x....

But it can be done. (I do not have a v10 device for testing, but it may be similar.)

Detailed Instructions

For Android 6.0.x

Go to Settings > Battery > Battery Usage
Tap on the three dots in the top right of the screen.
From the Drop-down menu select “Battery optimization”
Using the menu filter near the top of the screen, switch from “Not optimized” to “All apps”
Scroll down to each of PacProcessor and ProxyHandler and ensure the slider is disabled. This should solve the issue permanently with no significant negative effects.

For Android 7.1.x, 8.0.x, and 9.x

Go to Settings > Apps
Tap on the three dots in the top right of the screen.
From the Drop-down menu select “Special Access”
From the next menu select “Optimize battery usage”
Using the menu filter near the top of the screen, switch from “Apps not optimized” to “All apps” ("Apps" in v9.x)
Scroll down to each of PacProcessor and ProxyHandler and ensure the slider is disabled. This should solve the issue permanently with no significant negative effects.

mw...@googlemail.com <mw...@googlemail.com> #19Apr 3, 2021 05:59PM

Nice, but PAC still doesn't work for me (Pixel 4a, Android 11, RX2A.210305.006).

I made the settings exactly like described above. Like before, Google app (google search) claims that I'm offline. So does play store and other google apps, except Chrome, which works just fine. But Chrome seems to be the exception, Firefox doesn't work either. I tried to wipe caches and reboot with the changed settings, no improvement.

My PAC addr is

http://192.168.1.5/wpad.dat, the proxy is

192.168.1.5:3128 (a local squid instance; I can view the logs and clearly see if a device is using the proxy or not). If I enter the proxy address statically in the Wifi configuration dialog, the applications work.