I used Arc for awhile, then (with the Foursquare change) downloaded and used Arc Mini instead for awhile, but eventually decided to pay for Arc and am back to using the original Arc app.
I still have both installed on my device, but was under the impression that if Arc is active, Arc Mini won’t be tracking in the background, but I’ve noticed that both Arc AND Arc Mini are using a lot of battery life in the background.
I’m guessing that I can just delete the Arc Mini app now that I have the membership for Arc and use it consistently, but I am writing this post just to double-check that it is safe for me to fully delete Arc Mini from my phone without any impact to my tracking or my (long) history of locations (including the ones that were initially tracked via Arc Mini). I’m guessing this is fine, but want confirmation before I do something I can’t undo.
And also don’t worry about the energy/battery consumption you’re seeing in Settings → Battery unless your phone is running out of battery and requiring charging more frequently / earlier than usual. The Settings → Battery view often isn’t telling you what you think it is.
Yes that’s correct. Arc App and Arc Mini communicate, and share the recording job, with only ever one of them being the active recorder at a time. If one of the apps dies, the other notices and takes over recording, avoiding data gaps in your timeline.
The reason why you’re seeing both as having background time is:
1 Because they’re sharing the job, occasionally switching back and forth between which one is the active recorded
2. Because iOS logs all of the time the app is alive as background time, even if Arc or Mini is in sleep mode or standby mode (during which time it consumes next to no energy)
3. Because the two apps also share the scheduled background housekeeping tasks each day. They both file requests with iOS to perform the tasks, once the phone is plugged in to power, then iOS will start each task on one app or the other. And even though those tasks are only run when the phone is plugged in to power, they still count towards the time and energy consumption shown on the Settings → Battery view. Again, that view doesn’t always mean what it looks like it means
So in short: Leave both apps installed - you’ll get extra protection from data gaps, without extra energy consumption.
