K-9: Multiple message notification is unreadable when Night Mode active

[robpridham-bbc]

On my Samsung S9 running Android P, I have enabled Night Mode.

When multiple new emails arrive, and the notification represents them together, the background to the notification and the text on it are both white. Therefore it's unreadable.

This is a recently introduced problem, either from an update to K-9 or a system update on the S9.

Steps to reproduce

1. Enable Night Mode
2. Receive multiple new emails at once
3. Observe the notification

Environment

K-9 Mail version: 5.600

Android version: Pie

Account type (IMAP, POP3, WebDAV/Exchange): IMAP

Single notifications still appear OK:

[ghost]

Same problem here. I also have Galaxy S9 running android P. Hope this is fixed soon and the background for multiple emails is changed to dark. It looks better that way.

[robpridham-bbc]

I tested this against https://github.com/k9mail/k-9/pull/4073 and it still occurs.

[robpridham-bbc]

I also tested that it wasn't the platform/device, using a quick demo app - NotificationCompat and a very similar setup to K9. The grouped notifications appeared correctly, respecting dark mode.

I have briefly looked through the K9 source (I'm a professional Android developer) and I can't see any easy answer to why it appears white.

[ghost]

I don't know anything about making apps for android so I can't really help.. I will leave it to those who know how to do it.

[dannyauble]

I have this problem as well. I would love it to get fixed :). I am running on a Galaxy S10+. When the phone was new this problem didn't exist, but then after a firmware update it started doing it.

[Maetts]

The issue is still here. Will there be an update soon? I have it on a s10+ too.

[robpridham-bbc]

@cketti What if anything can I do to support or provide more info into this issue? As above, I'm a professional Android dev.

[cketti]

@robpridham-bbc: Figure out the problem and propose a fix? I don't have any more information on this than you have, and I can't reproduce it on my devices. From the comments it seems like it's specific to Samsung devices.

[Maetts]

Let me know what Info you need - I will provide it.

[robpridham-bbc]

I've tried it from master today, and as expected the fault persists.

I think this is fundamentally a Samsung bug - AFAIK we're all running their version of Pie/9, which has Dark Mode support provided early by bolting it on, rather than the true support in Q/10. What I didn't (and still don't completely) understand is what the difference could be between K9 and other apps that display correctly.

However I have made it work by raising the k9mail targetSdkVersion from 23 to 29.

[robpridham-bbc]

I incrementally reduced it back down and it only broke when back on 23 (i.e. it works on 24), at least on my S9, so hopefully that helps you reduce the change impact.

@cketti is this something you think you can action?

[cketti]

We'll have to raise the targetSdkVersion to 28 anyway to be able to release an update on Google Play. If this will fix the issue, then there's nothing else you need to do. Thanks for investigating this :+1:

[dannyauble]

This is fantastic news. I can also confirm on the s10+ with beta Android 10 the problem currently goes away without any fix.

[Maetts]

Thanks for the good news. Since Samsung's release of Android 10 will traditionally take more time - do you have a schedule for the K9 update?

[oliv3]

I also have this issue with 5.600, Samsung Galaxy A10 with Android Pie.

[Tobias-B-Besemer]

The issue is now fixed for me on my Samsung Galaxy S9 with K-9 v5.702. Just FYI...

[robpridham-bbc]

I raised this and I'm also happy to confirm it's fixed for me, as expected since the target version has changed. Thanks for the work.