Suggestion to solve battery drain issue
Hi there!
After a practical trial of Briar, I would like to make what I think is an important suggestion for improvement.
First of all, the experience:
We tested Briar in a group of 8 people. The users were initially very attracted to Briar. Besides the actual concept, they also liked the clean, functional and yet appealing interface. People enjoyed using the app at first. And that brings us to the problem.
Members have gradually realised that the battery consumption through Briar is high. This has led to some going online sporadically over a few days, others activating the setting to limit online time to connecting to the charger.
The end result is that now none of my contacts go online with Briar. Tel.gram seems more pragmatic to them after all.
I would like to propose the following solution to this battery problem for discussion:
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There are three operating modes for the Internet/Tor channel
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Mode 1: Always online (current default)
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Mode 2: The app is offline in the background and automatically goes online for 3 minutes (tbd) every hour (tbd). This setting becomes the new default. For active transmissions, the background online time is extended accordingly. The app is always online in the foreground.
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Mode 3: The app is only online in the background while the charger is plugged in. In contrast to the current battery saving mode, Briar also goes online in this mode when it is in the foreground.
The idea with mode 2 is based on the fact that most phones use precise, network-synchronised clocks. During this time, data exchange takes place in the background between users without user interaction. In the foreground, the app should always be online. It makes little sense to show the user an offline app in the foreground.
After my experience now, regarding the usage behaviour of others, I am absolutely convinced that the above concept would overcome a big hurdle to the further spread/acceptance of Briar.