Running in the background — myNetWorking manual

myNetWorking monitors services on your device — there is no server that checks them for you. So what happens after you close the window depends on the system. On every system, monitoring stops when you quit the app.

Overview

System	After you close the window	How to quit	Launch at startup
macOS	the window hides, monitoring continues	Quit in the icon menu or `⌘Q`	yes, from macOS 13
Windows	the window hides in the tray, monitoring continues	Quit in the tray icon menu	yes
Linux	the window is minimized, monitoring continues	Quit myNetWorking in the settings, `Ctrl`+`Q` or the icon menu	yes
Android	monitoring continues in the background	turn off monitoring for all services	no — open the app after restarting the phone
iPhone, iPad	full monitoring stops	–	no

The app has no single switch that turns monitoring off — each service has its own Monitoring enabled switch.

macOS

There is a myNetWorking icon in the menu bar. Clicking it opens the Show window / Quit menu.
Closing the window hides it. The app keeps monitoring, and its icon stays in the Dock — clicking the Dock icon brings the window back.
You quit the app with Quit in the icon menu or with the ⌘Q shortcut.
Launch at startup: Settings → General → Launch at system startup (macOS 13 or later).

Windows

Closing the window hides the app in the system tray, and monitoring continues.
Clicking the tray icon shows the window, and right-clicking it opens the Show window / Quit menu.
Starting the app again brings up the open window instead of a second copy of the app.
Launch at startup uses a Microsoft Store startup task. You turn it on in the app’s settings, and you’ll see the entry in Task Manager → Startup apps.
While the app sits in the tray, it shows outage and recovery notifications. Clicking a notification brings the window back.

New in 1.1.0: system notifications, a single copy of the app and launch at startup on Windows.

Linux

Closing the window minimizes it, and monitoring and alarms continue. You’ll find the window in the dock, on the taskbar or with Alt+Tab.
You quit the app in Settings → General → Quit myNetWorking, with the Ctrl+Q shortcut or with Quit in the tray icon menu.
The tray icon appears only where the desktop supports AppIndicator icons. GNOME needs the AppIndicator extension — see how to enable it.
Starting the app again — from the menu, through autostart or from a terminal — brings up the open window instead of a second copy. Clicking a notification does the same.

The window is minimized rather than hidden because not every desktop shows tray icons — a hidden window could not be brought back there.

Android

Background monitoring is kept running by a foreground service with the permanent “myNetWorking is monitoring” notification and the number of watched services, e.g. “Watching 3 services”.
The foreground service runs as long as at least one service has monitoring enabled. Paused services are not counted. When you turn off monitoring for all services, the permanent notification disappears.
After you restart the phone, monitoring does not start by itself. Open the app once, and it will work in the background again.
Pressing Back or swiping the app away from Recents does not stop monitoring. However, if Android or the phone manufacturer’s task manager shuts down the app’s whole process (for example when memory runs low, or when some Xiaomi, Huawei, Samsung or OnePlus phones “clean up” apps), the system may restore only the permanent notification, and services are not checked until you open the app. Turning off battery optimization makes this less likely.
Battery saving settings can limit background work. Turn off battery optimization for myNetWorking in the app’s system settings — the option names depend on the phone manufacturer.
On Android 13 and later, the app needs permission to send notifications.

New in 1.1.0: the foreground service is of the special-use type (specialUse). The 6-hour daily limit that Android 15 places on data sync services does not apply to it, so background monitoring can run without interruption.

iPhone and iPad

Full monitoring works only while the app is open. In the background, iOS stops the app’s timers.
In the background, the app asks the system for a refresh no more often than every 15 minutes, but iOS decides whether and when to run it. There is no guarantee that it happens at any particular time.
In each such round, the app checks every enabled service once, with full outage verification, records incidents and log entries, and sends notifications about changes. If the Internet connection watch is turned on, it also checks the connection.
If a service is still “DOWN”, has Repeat alarm until acknowledged turned on and its alarm has not been acknowledged, the outage notification comes again in every round. Without that option, an outage is announced only once, when it starts.
The Services tab shows this message: “On iOS the system allows background checks only occasionally (roughly every 15 minutes, not guaranteed). For continuous monitoring keep the app open.” You can close it, but it appears again the next time the app starts.
An iPad, or a phone in landscape wider than 720 points, shows the navigation sidebar.

Tip: for continuous monitoring, a computer with launch at startup turned on or an Android phone works best. An iPhone or iPad is good for a quick look when you open the app.