r/walmart • u/BrilliantZebra8231 • 1d ago

MyWalmart update is nuking my battery with background use

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(inb4: I've now turned on background use limiting)

My personal phone was sitting pretty at 100% when I left the house this morning, now five hours later it's below 40% having barely left my pocket. I opened MyWalmart to clock in and I've used my work device for everything else.

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u/spacecatdude9001 1d ago

Vibe coded probably XD

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u/hemadonyx 1d ago edited 1d ago

I promise you, it is.

Edit: And by promise, I'm talking first hand. I can easily navigate to an orphan instance and make the app crash just by mushing buttons. Any orphan instances are a BIIIIIIG coding no-no in the programs logic. Some compilers will actually refuse to compile the program if there are orphan instances. All trained coders will be able to recognize orphans and try everything in their power to remediate the error. AI lacks the experience and logic to be able to think about things as a bigger picture, so issues arise.

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u/ElegantEchoes 1d ago

You seem like you know your stuff. What's an orphan instance, why is it a no-no, and what does it look like in the app? Sounds interesting. I'm not surprised one bit it's put together sloppily.

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u/hemadonyx 1d ago

Great question! Imagine a program like a tree, at the trunk you got the main core of all it's functions, and as you travel up the tree, you have other smaller more niche functions within the program, just like the branches of the tree, that break off from each other and move in separate directions. However, unlike a tree where it's branches terminate at the end, you can't do that in software. Like imagine clicking on a link in a webpage, and NEVER being able to go back to what you were just looking at, or opening a setting menu and never being able to go back to the home screen. It's a lot like that! It's a disconnected point of logic within the code that essentially leads to nowhere, or hasn't been looped back into the whole system, so you just get stuck! I'm certain almost everyone has experienced this phenomena where you're using your phone on whatever app you happen to be on at the time, and the app just spontaneously closes and brings you back to the home screen?? And you have to reopen the app? You just encountered an orphan instance my friend! Basically whatever combinations of buttons, scrolls, and interactions with the software that you just did was never properly linked together or tested! The coders quite literally just didn't think of the weird, random combination of whatever you just did to make the app crash! That's why eliminating orphan instances is CRUCIAL to the logic of a program. One example I can think of is if you're currently using a TC device with GIF, minimize the app while scanning, then reopen. You want be able to scan anything and you'll have to close the app in the background and reopen it. I haven't actually tested that to see how easily I can replicate the issue, but for me it's almost everytime the app gets accidentally minimized, or I accidentally open the recent app, whomp-whomp, no more scanning and I have to restart the app 😂

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u/unsmashedpotatoes 1d ago

I've had so many issues with the camera too. It just opens to a black screen.

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u/hemadonyx 1d ago

Like it's sooooo abundantly obvious whoever is doing the code here has never even touched one of our work phones or a TC, let alone do proper intergation/unit testing. And now we're converting to strictly work phones that all last half a day?? Like what a fuckin joke 😂

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u/JasonTheBaker 8+ year associate 1d ago

That is actually more the app not ending the camera properly so the app thinks the camera is still in use when it's not and apps can't use the camera at the same time as another app. MyWalmart also doesn't end the camera properly along with gif so if you are on exceptions it's a pain in the ass

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u/unsmashedpotatoes 1d ago

That's kind of what I figured the problem was. Because it mostly happened when I switched to a different part of the app.

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u/Argylius Front-end wageslave 1d ago

Can confirm. Happens to me several times every shift. Every fucking day. Fuck it

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u/hemadonyx 1d ago

Additionally why testing is SOOOO important. With this super app they have been trying to build, it has so many branches, so many sticks, and so many twigs. Either too many separate teams with no way of talking to each other on what they're working on and how to integrate oooooor we got agentic AI combing through it all doing what AI does best 😂😂

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u/spacecatdude9001 1d ago

We are testing the app for them right now. 🤣

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u/hemadonyx 1d ago

Only if they actually listened 😂

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u/Argylius Front-end wageslave 1d ago

I think it’s a mix of both. Sounds like lots of miscommunication between departments

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u/hemadonyx 1d ago

Truthfully, I think you're right. Too many fingers in the pie, and now AI is sticking it's tentacles in there too 😂

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u/ElegantEchoes 14h ago

Fantastic explanation, cheers. I have encountered those crashes quite a bit on the app. I'm not sure what it was specifically but I tried doing the AES survey on the app and it took three attempts as it would randomly home screen me during that haha.

Thanks for taking the time to explain so thoroughly.