Power Apps Player stops app after some hours

[hackytg]

I have built an app with a timer, which should run as long the user stops it. When I am starting this app on the mobile with the Power Apps Player I am realizing an unstable behavior. After a certain time the app is stopping (is not anymore visible in the player). The time is some sort of a random number, sometimes it happens after 9 hrs, sometimes after much shorter time.

I have tried the same with an example app from Microsoft, but also there I got the same problem.

Is that a known problem of the player? How can I overcome this problem? My customers will use the app on their mobile.

I have to mention the apps are running well when I am starting them from the desktop.

[timl]

@hackytg 

This is a known issue - Power App sessions end/timeout after 8hrs.

There is no reliable way around this problem, but there are some suggestions in the ideas thread below that you can try that involves relaunching the app before the session expiry time.

https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/Power-Apps-Ideas/Renew-the-timer-on-Web-Apps/idi-p/14600

[hackytg]

@timl 

Many thx for your fast answer. Good to know that Microsoft implemented this and I have not to continue to search for other reasons. However, I am interested to know why they implemented this restriction, what hinders me to offer solutions for customers who are looking for an electronic time clock for durations beyond 8 hrs.

I have checked again my app, and it seems that the timeout is not strictly 8 hrs. My app is currently running since 10:45 hrs. It seems  that there are other parameters involved? 

[timl]

Hi @hackytg 

I'm not sure about the reasons for this behaviour. It could be some measure to preserve server resources, or a security related decision to automatically close sessions.

I'm pretty sure however that there are no other parameters that control this behaviour.

[hackytg]

Hi @timl 

my testers are reporting now that sometimes the app stops much earlier without any message. On the other hand I managed that the app is running much longer than 8 hrs. It seems that the behavior is unstable what makes it difficult to sell the app for mobile users.

Do you think that the new option to wrap the app for IOS could be a working alternative?

[timl]

Hi @hackytg 

I've not tested how an app would behave if it were wrapped.

However, since the underlying authentication and session processes would remain the same with a wrapped app, I imagine that there wouldn't be any difference and that the app would still eventually timeout at some point.