Missed Calls & Background Wake
Missed Calls & Background Wake
Section titled “Missed Calls & Background Wake”If Pulse rings while it’s open but you miss calls when it’s minimized or your screen is off, the cause is almost always background delivery — how your phone wakes Pulse for an incoming call when the app isn’t in the foreground.
How Pulse wakes for a call (mobile)
Section titled “How Pulse wakes for a call (mobile)”On a phone, a backgrounded VoIP connection doesn’t survive — Android’s Doze/App-Standby and iOS process suspension both close it after a short while. So instead of holding a connection open forever, the SIPSTACK network sends your device a push notification when a call comes in:
- Android uses FCM (Firebase Cloud Messaging).
- iOS uses APNs (Apple Push Notification service).
That push wakes Pulse, the app re-registers with the network in the background, and the call rings through — typically within a few seconds. This means push notifications must be allowed for inbound calls to reach you when the app isn’t open.
Push wake applies to the mobile apps. In a desktop or PWA browser tab, Pulse keeps its connection alive while the tab exists, so inbound calls and messages arrive as long as the tab is open — there is no push wake, and closing the tab makes you unreachable.
Stay Available
Section titled “Stay Available”The Stay Available preference (More → Calling → Stay Available, on by default) controls whether Pulse keeps you reachable while it’s in the background:
- On — Pulse stays reachable in the background; the push-wake path above rings you for inbound calls.
- Off — you only receive calls while Pulse is open in the foreground. The More-tab toggle warns: “You won’t receive calls when the app is minimized.”
If you’re missing backgrounded calls, the first thing to confirm is that Stay Available is on. See Calling Preferences.
Allow notifications
Section titled “Allow notifications”Because the wake-up arrives as a push notification, Pulse needs notification permission. You’re prompted for this during first-run setup (the “Stay reachable” card) — if you skipped or declined it, calls can arrive silently or not wake the app at all.
- Re-enable it in your device’s system Settings for Pulse, then check More → Notifications in the app to confirm your call alerts are on.
- See Notifications for what each notification type controls.
Android: extra reliability checks
Section titled “Android: extra reliability checks”Android phones can block background call wake-ups in a few extra ways. When Pulse detects one, it shows a reliability banner on the Home tab with a one-tap Fix button that deep-links to the right Settings page. The checks are:
- Notification permission — required for the call alert to wake the app.
- Calling account (PhoneAccount) — registers Pulse with the phone’s Telecom system so incoming calls show the native call UI.
- Battery (background activity) — if Pulse is battery-restricted, the OS can kill it in the background. Set Pulse to Unrestricted in your phone’s Battery settings.
- Full-screen calls (Android 14+) — Android 14 and later require a separate full-screen alerts allowance before an app may take over the screen for an incoming call. If it isn’t granted, a call rings but appears only as a notification in the shade instead of full-screen over the lock screen. This is not your lock-screen notification-content setting — granting that does nothing here. Fix tries to open the right screen, but where this setting lives differs by manufacturer — see Turning on full-screen alerts below. (Do Not Disturb mode also suppresses the full-screen call screen — turn it off if calls ring but never pop up.)
If the banner appears, tap Fix on each item and follow the Settings prompt. Manufacturer “battery saver” and “aggressive app management” features (common on some Android OEM skins) are a frequent cause of missed calls — allowing Pulse to run unrestricted resolves most cases.
”Check one call setting” — when Pulse can’t tell
Section titled “”Check one call setting” — when Pulse can’t tell”Separately from the amber Calls may not ring banner, you may see a calmer, blue Check one call setting card that says:
Pulse can’t confirm this phone’s full-screen call setting. If calls ring but the screen stays dark, turn on full-screen alerts for Pulse — open Settings and search “full screen”; on some phones it’s a separate list, not in Pulse’s own settings. Not the lock-screen notification setting.
This card is not a report that something is broken. On some Android builds Pulse is unable to read whether the full-screen-call allowance is granted, so rather than guess — and rather than stay silent and leave you wondering why your phone rings to a dark screen — it names the one setting that causes that symptom.
Does this affect you? Only if you recognise the symptom:
- The phone rings, but the screen never wakes and no Answer / Decline buttons appear.
- The only way to answer is to pull down the notification shade and tap the Pulse call notification.
If your incoming calls already appear full-screen over the lock screen, nothing is wrong and you can dismiss the card.
To check or turn on the setting, tap Check setting on the card, or follow Turning on full-screen alerts below. The card’s button tries to open the setting directly, but not every phone exposes it to apps — if you land on Pulse’s app info page instead, use the manual steps.
Dismissing it. Remind me later hides the card for a week. Tapping Check setting stops it asking again only if Pulse managed to open the full-screen alerts screen itself — if it could only reach your app info page, the card returns after a day, because Pulse can’t tell whether you found the setting. If a future version of Pulse is able to confirm the allowance really is off, the card is replaced by a normal Calls may not ring item with a Fix button, even if you dismissed the advisory earlier.
Turning on full-screen alerts (Android 14+)
Section titled “Turning on full-screen alerts (Android 14+)”This is the setting that decides whether an incoming call takes over your screen or merely lands in the notification shade. Android 14 made it something you have to grant, and phone makers do not agree on where to put it — so the reliable way to find it is to search, not to follow a menu path.
The quickest way, on any phone
Section titled “The quickest way, on any phone”- Open your phone’s Settings app.
- Use the search box at the top and search for
full screen. - Open the result — it will be named something like Full screen alerts, Full screen notifications, or Allow full-screen intents.
- Find Pulse Phone in the list and turn its toggle on.
Where it lives, by phone
Section titled “Where it lives, by phone”The two common shapes are genuinely different, so check both:
- Samsung (One UI) — a separate, global Settings screen listing every app with an on/off toggle. It is not inside Pulse’s own settings, which is what makes it easy to miss: looking under Apps → Pulse will not find it. Search Settings for “full screen”, open the Full screen alerts list, find Pulse Phone and switch it on.
- Stock Android / Pixel — a per-app setting, reached from the app: Settings → Apps → Pulse → Special app access → the full-screen entry (often labelled “Allow full-screen intents”).
Other manufacturers vary again. If neither shape matches your phone, the Settings search in the previous section is the fallback that works everywhere.
It is not the lock-screen notification setting
Section titled “It is not the lock-screen notification setting”Settings → Notifications → Lock screen (showing notification content on the lock screen) is a different setting and has no effect on full-screen calls. Turning it on will not fix a call that rings to a dark screen — and because the two sound alike, this is the single most common reason people believe the warning in Pulse is wrong. If you granted lock-screen notifications and calls still don’t appear full-screen, come back and turn on full-screen alerts specifically.
How to confirm it worked
Section titled “How to confirm it worked”Place a test call to yourself with the phone locked and the screen off. With full-screen alerts granted, the screen wakes and Pulse’s Answer / Decline screen appears. If the phone only rings and you still have to pull down the shade, the toggle is not on for Pulse — or Do Not Disturb is suppressing it.
Quick checklist for missed backgrounded calls
Section titled “Quick checklist for missed backgrounded calls”- Stay Available is on (More → Calling).
- Notifications are allowed for Pulse in your device Settings.
- On Android, the Home reliability banner shows no outstanding items (notifications, calling account, battery), and — if the Check one call setting card is showing — full-screen alerts are allowed for Pulse (see Turning on full-screen alerts).
- Your line shows Registered when the app is open — if not, start with Not Registered / Can’t Call.
If calls still don’t wake your device after all of the above, contact support — open More → About Pulse → Diagnostics and share the values there so support can identify your exact build.