Product: The EA app
Platform:PC
Error Report ID (learn how to create an Error Report ID in the sticky post)
Which client functionality are you experiencing this bug with? Other (Please Describe)
Please describe EA App does not stay minimised to system tray
When did this happen? (dd.mm.yy hh:mm) Every time
Summarize your bug EA App does not stay minimised to system tray and opens by itself unnecessarily.
How often does the bug occur? Every time (100%)
Steps: How can we find the bug ourselves? Install EA App. Buy EA game in Steam. Run game. Behold as the EA App pointlessly opens a log-in pop-up. Play game. Close game. Behold again how the EA App has decided to open by itself. Manually minimise EA App.
What happens when the bug occurs? EA App interferes with other processes, such as Steam Link. It steals focus. Break things. Does the opposite of being usable and transparent.
What do you expect to see? I expect to NOT SEE the EA App, because it is minimised to the System Tray. That is where it should stay until I open it again. For more information, ask ALL THE OTHER apps that obey the System Tray usability rules perfectly.
The EA App has two very irritating and entirely non-sensical behaviours:
This behaviour:
This behaviour is also made 100% worse by the VERY long-running bug by which the EA App is completely UNABLE to retain its log-in cookie or whatever. So if you close the app and run it again, or you just BOOT the computer, you will have to log-in manually again.
So the solution is simple:
Will it happen? Issue 1) has been known about for ages, but it has never been fixed.
Will I buy more EA games on PC? Definitely not.
I was in the process of writing a similar post, but I'll drop it here since this thread isn't very old.
I'd like to expand on why this is annoying for users with some application behavior that's been bothering me a lot lately. Because the EA App steals focus, I frequently have to force close a game that immediately relaunches after I close it due to my key inputs intended for another application.
An example of what usually happens:
I decide I'm done with a game for the day or I need to relaunch to troubleshoot something.
I close the game and switch focus to my browser or to Discord to do a quick search or reply to a message.
While typing in another application, the EA App forces itself to be the active foreground application.
My key inputs that are intended for another application cause the game to launch again.
I have to open task manager to force shut down the game and get just a bit more fed up with this nonsensical application behavior.
I understand that the app forcing itself to be the computer's focus is intended behavior, but surely the EA App should be designed to prevent unintentional game launches.
Personally, I'd much rather it stay minimized. Or there to be an option to request it stay minimized after closing a game, while stealing focus remains the application's default behavior. Options for users are great! Trying to make a one fits all is not.
But if it's written in stone that the EA App must steal focus, then I think a potential solution to at least prevent unintentional game launches could be ignoring user key inputs for a set duration after it regains focus. After a bit of testing I've done (launching a game and closing it while typing my post), the game will relaunch during a short window where the application seems to be syncing data or something along those lines. And key presses within that window will relaunch the game.
