"Limit already reached" FAQ does not cover time travel issue

Where to find the issue

• https://www.coronawarn.app/en/faq/results/#limit_reached “[Google/Android]: Error after resetting the app: Limit already reached”
• https://www.coronawarn.app/de/faq/results/#limit_reached “[Google/Android]: Fehlermeldung nach Zurücksetzen der App: Limit bereits erreicht”

Describe the issue

The above FAQ article quotes the Android app’s error message:

‘Limit already reached’

‘No more exposure checks possible today, as you have reached the maximum number of checks per day defined by your operating system. Please check your risk status again tomorrow.’

and repeats that the error should clear itself the next day.

This is not true if the mobile device’s clock has been set to the future and then reset to the correct day. In this case the error message ‘Limit already reached’ continues to appear until the current day has advanced to the previously set future day. This issue affects later Android versions, such as Android version 12.

• See also https://github.com/corona-warn-app/cwa-app-android/issues/5183 for screenshots of the different error messages.
  1. “Exposure check failed” with “Updated: Today”
  2. “Exposure check failed” with “Updated: some future date”
  3. “Limit already reached” with “Updated: some future date”

Suggested change

1. Add one or two FAQ articles covering the error messages which can be seen after a mobile device has had a future date set and this date is then corrected.

2. Remove the text “If the error message is still present the next day, you can report this via a comment in GitHub Issue 1459.” from the #limit_reached FAQ article. Since the mentioned GitHub Issue 1459 is now quite old (it was closed more than one year ago), it would be better for users to open a new issue, if they face the same problem after resetting the app. If the problem comes from a future date, then in any case this is a different issue.

[MikeMcC399]

@GisoSchroederSAP

I will follow your suggestion to close this issue, since your support statistics say that the issue only occurs rarely. In addition, when 2.27 is released the problem should no longer occur at all if users update to the latest version.

[GisoSchroederSAP]

Thanks for pointing out, @MikeMcC399. Over summer period we lost track a bit for single issues, so this reminder is much appreciated. Meanwhile, we had a conversation with our teams observing the app stores, mailbox and hotline. According to their observation the time travel topic doesn’t seem to fit the frequently part in FAQ. In fact, we rarely get this question at all.

To avoid posting an increasing number of FAQ articles that are hardly ever used, we aligned: In a specific user inquiry we will answer directly that date/time shall be corrected on the smartphone. In case, this won’t work or solve the issue, we will recommend to reset or re-install the CWA.

I hope, you can follow and support the logic of our agreement too. If so, I suggest closing this issue here in GitHub.