Accessibility Settings "not working"

[dhj49er]

I am posting this in case other users are experiencing the issue.
The MD Accessibility service settings periodically change from On to Not working and MD macros stop working properly. MD does not appear to be aware of the change. There are no errors in the system log and MD does not ask to turn these settings on. I become aware that it has happened when I run a macro with say UI integration actions and the macro fails.
So far I have had this issue on 3 different phones, 2 running Android 12 and the other Android 11. However, I haven't observed it on a phone running Android 10. Also on my current phone the Safe in Cloud app Accessibility service setting also changes from On to not working at the same time.
So I think the issue is OS related.
With the recent introduction of Accessibility service actions in MD, I am using the attached macro to see if this prevents the OS from stopping these services.
I get not working about once per week and the last occurrence was 3 days ago. The macro ran just over a day ago, so I should know soon if it solves the problem.
The macro runs automatically on the specified days and time, but has the option to be manually invoked and confirmed by the confirm next action. If the macro works I will probably delete the manual option as it won't be required.

 

[RSF]

This issue happens on my phone as well. At random times, accessibility services get disabled or show as "Not working". I've read some posts claiming it's a glitch in the Android Webview, where an accessibility service that makes use of that Android component can be disabled if Webview's bug occurs.

If you wanted your macro to run more frequently, so as to ensure the accessibility services are generally available, you could run it once or twice a day, checking to see if the currently enabled services are what you expect, and only disabling/re-enabling if needed:

 

[Jacob L]

If you update MacroDroid then create a macro that disables UI interaction action accessibility on screen off and enables it when screen on, this may help. Otherwise, settings>apps>default>assistant and set to MacroDroid and then settings>security>device administrators and enable MacroDroid. Then follow steps at dontkillmyapp.com

 

[dhj49er]

This issue happens on my phone as well. At random times, accessibility services get disabled or show as "Not working". I've read some posts claiming it's a glitch in the Android Webview, where an accessibility service that makes use of that Android component can be disabled if Webview's bug occurs.

If you wanted your macro to run more frequently, so as to ensure the accessibility services are generally available, you could run it once or twice a day, checking to see if the currently enabled services are what you expect, and only disabling/re-enabling if needed:
View attachment 3380

Thanks for the suggestion.
So far, it's been 6 days since the last occurrence of the issue, so waiting to see what happens over the next few days

 

[dhj49er]

If you update MacroDroid then create a macro that disables UI interaction action accessibility on screen off and enables it when screen on, this may help. Otherwise, settings>apps>default>assistant and set to MacroDroid and then settings>security>device administrators and enable MacroDroid. Then follow steps at dontkillmyapp.com

It's not just the UI interaction accessibility that changes to not working, it's all of the MD Accessibility settings and you can't do what you suggest for the other MD Accessibility settings, as macros required to work with the screen off would stop working.

 

[CesarRavenclaw]

Yeah, it also happens to me. In my case the service is not even disabled on the settings, it just stop working,. So I need to go there, turn it off and on again. I think it happens when the phone is rebooted, or the app stop running by battery killer or other. Anyway I almost sure its a OS problem than MD itself.

(Galaxy Phone with Android 12/OneUI 4)

 

[Jacob L]

battery killer

Follow steps at dontkillmyapp.com

 

[CesarRavenclaw]

Follow steps at dontkillmyapp.com

I already did, it don't happen to me, I said that as an exemple of things that could kill the MD and make it lose the permission.

 

[Hiker]

With the recent introduction of Accessibility service actions in MD, I am using the attached macro to see if this prevents the OS from stopping these services.

Since I have the same problem since most likely a recent upgrade to either Android 12 (Galaxy M32) or MD (currently on 5.26), I'd like to use that macro - but I can't find that Accessibility Service Action as shown in your screenshot. Where is that buried? Can you share the macro itself?

(I just confirmed that manually turning the device assistant off and on solves the original problem of the airplane mode action not doing anything)

 

[Snurre]

but I can't find that Accessibility Service Action as shown in your screenshot. Where is that buried? Can you share the macro itself?

As I remember it was first introduced in MD 5.27

 

[Hiker]

Thanks, didn't know there was a beta. Just installed it and added the macro from the top, will monitor if this helps.

However, if I understand this correctly, a device reboot might also require toggling this. Also, 5.27 has a Settings option "Keep Accessibility Services Running" - isn't that kind of the same?

 

[Endercraft]

Thanks, didn't know there was a beta. Just installed it and added the macro from the top, will monitor if this helps.

However, if I understand this correctly, a device reboot might also require toggling this. Also, 5.27 has a Settings option "Keep Accessibility Services Running" - isn't that kind of the same?

Yes, it tries to keep accessibility services of the apps you choose enabled using adb (permissions).

 

[Hiker]

Yes, it tries to keep accessibility services of the apps you choose enabled using adb (permissions).

Meaning the macro above is actually not required?

 

[Endercraft]

Meaning the macro above is actually not required?

It could be, if the accessibility services are "not working", so in this case I believe MacroDroid wouldn't be able to do anything as it just keeps them enabled.