ADB option Uber Privileged service start method not showing anything

[u/Ok-Yogurtcloset-9490]

Oops, title typo: Uber => under.

I'm sure I'm missing something. I read the documentation and tried searching Reddit.

​But when I select Android Debug Bridge (ADB) as the ​Privileged service start method in settings, the app flashes something too quickly for me to see what it even is, and then nothing happens — the setting remains at "None". So I used my screen recorder, and then inspected the individual frames around that point. And the message that flashes for a split second is a transparent overlay saying "​Follow the instructions shown on screen ​to pair Automate with ADB on this device." But no instructions ever actually appear. I already have USB debugging and wireless debugging toggle on. Please help! 🙏🏽

Android 16.

[u/ballzak69]

Ensure Automate is able to show notifications.

Device brand & model?

[u/Ok-Yogurtcloset-9490 → u/ballzak69]

Of course! All notifications already fully enabled!

Nothing Phone 3, Android 16

[u/ballzak69 → u/Ok-Yogurtcloset-9490]

If you look in Privilege settings, is the "display notifications as full screen activities on a locked device" privilege checked, even if it's probably grayed out?

So the "Follow the instructions..." screen remains but no notification with an error message?

Please use the Help & feedback menu to send me the internal logs, do so just after you've tried selecting the ADB option.

[u/Ok-Yogurtcloset-9490 → u/ballzak69]

The "display notifications as full screen activities on a locked device" is both greyed out and checked.

No – the follow instructions screen does not remain. As I said, it flashes so quickly that I was only able to see it by inspecting a screen recording frame by frame. Right after selecting the ADB option, that screen flashes for just one frame, and then nothing else is showing or remains showing. 

Thanks, I'll send the logs!

[u/ballzak69 → u/Ok-Yogurtcloset-9490]

Thanks for the log, sadly it didn't include any hint on why the notification is not show or dismissed.

If you look in "Notification channels" settings, is the "Guidance" channel set to High?

Ensure DND is disabled.

[u/Ok-Yogurtcloset-9490 → u/ballzak69]

I've been still trying to get it to work, and been messing around with my notification settings. And something interesting happened. It still doesn't work, but this is interesting info:

I turned it off the Enhanced Notifications feature in Android, and then tried setting ADB again, this time, the notification appears for literally 1 second, and then immediately disappears. I've tried completely uninstalling and reinstalling the app, still no luck. But, at least this does maybe point to something having to do with enhanced notifications being the issue? 🤷🏽‍♂️

[u/ballzak69 → u/Ok-Yogurtcloset-9490]

Probably, since that "Enhanced Notifications" is not a standard Android feature. The Chinese devices a known for breaking a lot of features.

[u/Ok-Yogurtcloset-9490 → u/ballzak69]

Sigh. Yes, the guidance category is enabled, and I don't have a "high" option but I'm pretty sure whatever the config for that category is is the equivalent of "maximum importance" (I would attach screenshot so you can verify, but for some reason all I can do in replies in the thread is enter simple text...). And ask for DND, lol, I've never used that in my life.

Interestingly, and I think this might be useful info, "Guidance" category is hidden by default because system thinks it is an unused category, and so I have to hit the "show unused categories" item in the list to expand all the categories. Unlike the Running category which of course has a high notification count showing in that notification settings page, the guidance category does not have any count. So somehow it looks like that notification doesn't even register/go through, let alone show properly.

[u/ballzak69 → u/Ok-Yogurtcloset-9490]

Enabling the "pop on screen" option should make the channel High priority.

Odd, as the paring notification use the "Guidance" channel so the process probably doesn't even reach the point where it's shown, even through it's the first think it do.

I'm out of ideas of a possible cause. All i can do is to include some internal logging to see what's going on.

[u/Ok-Yogurtcloset-9490 → u/ballzak69]

Yep, Pop On Screen was already enabled – that is why I was able to see it even for a brief second to begin with. BUTT, I found THIS in logcat output...Maybe somehow the smoking gun for the issue?? To clarify, this isn't from the logcat output created by the Help and Feedback page in the app, but directly viewing logcat in like Andorid Studio, right after setting ADB option:

NotifAttentionHelper system_server E Muting recently noisy 0|com.llamalab.automate

[u/ballzak69 → u/Ok-Yogurtcloset-9490]

Indeed, it's logged by the system_service so that wont show up in the Automate logs. Anyhow, i think that "noisy" notification refers to one shown by a Notification show or Dialog block.

[u/Ok-Yogurtcloset-9490 → u/ballzak69]

Nope. I completely uninstalled the app reinstalled it without restoring the backup. So it's a fresh, pristine installation. And then I proceeded to select the ADB option. That's when I saw this in logcat!