Xibo closes to the Home Screen

Generally speaking, there are 3 types of condition on Android that will cause the Android Player to close:

Application Exception

This is an error message raised by the application code which causes it to terminate. Every time an instance of this type of error occurs, Xibo Signage are notified and take action to resolve the issue in the next version (where possible).

Application Not Responding (ANR)

This is an error caught by the Android O/S when an application is taking too much time and holding up the device. We are confident that our application doesn’t cause errors of type 2, we are constantly testing for this situation.

Resources Pressure

This is where the Android OS detects that the free RAM on the device is running low and closes the application to free up resources. This type of error is very difficult to detect and counter and is usually caused by other applications running on the device, or the device firmware itself. We have tested some devices that caused applications to close almost immediately due to RAM usage.

Solutions and Automatic Restart

Xibo protects against these 3 error types using the Automatic Restart functionality which can be enabled in Display Setting Profiles. This functionality checks to see if Xibo for Android is still running, and if not - requests that it be restarted.

  • Navigate to the Display Settings page under the Displays section of the Menu in the CMS
  • Use the row menu for the appropriate Display Profile and Edit
  • Click on the Advanced tab
  • Use the tick box for Automatic Restart
  • Save

Prevention is preferable to a cure, but unfortunately the problem is often with the device hardware / firmware or another application and not with the Xibo Software. As a best practice all non-essential applications should be stopped or uninstalled and the latest firmware available for the device should be used.

We maintain a Device Compatibility list with reported issues which can be used for reference.

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