[Q] Battery drain on Note 2 after 4.3 update - Galaxy Note II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hello
I have had a massive battery drain problem on my Note 2, a couple of days after the 4.3 update. While being idle during the night it loses 25% to 30% of its battery and while using it I can literally see the percentage drop. I have tried everything that I could find on the net. EVERYTHING! Nothing worked. These included: Factory reset (twice), letting the battery frain completely and then recharging it while the phone was switched off, switching off all sync,disabling bloatware including KNOX components (the actual KNOX app is not installed), installing only a few apps after factory reset, using Gsam, Wakelock detector, Deep sleep battery saver (which could not make my phone sleep), no GPS, no 3G, wifi on only when needed and more besides.
The phone is only one year old and unrooted. On 4.1.2 it had a beastly battery performance of almost 1.5 days of normal to heavy use, with 300 apps on it. Now it cannot go for more than a few hours with the same use.
I cannot say for sure but it seems to me that the drain is the same when it is sleeping and when I am using it. Wakelock has given me a 75% awake time even though I only use it for 15-20% of the day at most nowadays. Battery settings show everything normal, or at least I think so, eg Screen 35%, Android OS 15-28%, Voice calls 10%, Android system 5-15%, Cell standby 7%, Device idle 4%, Media server 4%. The batttery chart shows a constant steep drop all the time.
The problem started one day when the Media server went mad consuming 50% of the battery. After I did the factory reset it has never again been a problem but the drain still persists.
I have also read that it's a mess up between syncing of Samsung apps and Google services, but I have no way of verifying that.
Can anyone help?
Thanks

I had the very same problem until yesterday myself but think I found a solution on the web.. Uninstall Google Search and Google Play Services and the goto the Play Store and wait for them to reinstall and that's it....! As I found that there is a bug in Google Services (Nlpwakelock and Location service)
Hope this helps...?
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda app-developers app

terzisc said:
Hello
I have had a massive battery drain problem on my Note 2, a couple of days after the 4.3 update. While being idle during the night it loses 25% to 30% of its battery and while using it I can literally see the percentage drop. I have tried everything that I could find on the net. EVERYTHING! Nothing worked. These included: Factory reset (twice), letting the battery frain completely and then recharging it while the phone was switched off, switching off all sync,disabling bloatware including KNOX components (the actual KNOX app is not installed), installing only a few apps after factory reset, using Gsam, Wakelock defender, Deep sleep battery saver (which could not make my phone sleep), no GPS, no 3G, wifi on only when needed and more besides.
The phone is only one year old and unrooted. On 4.1.2 it had a beastly battery performance of almost 1.5 days of normal to heavy use, with 300 apps on it. Now it cannot go for more than a few hours with the same use.
I cannot say for sure but it seems to me that the drain is the same when it is sleeping and when I am using it. Wakelock has given me a 75% awake time even though I only use it for 15-20% of the day at most nowadays. Battery settings show everything normal, or at least I think so, eg Screen 35%, Android OS 15-28%, Voice calls 10%, Android system 5-15%, Cell standby 7%, Device idle 4%, Media server 4%. The batttery chart shows a constant steep drop all the time.
The problem started one day when the Media server went mad consuming 50% of the battery. After I did the factory reset it has never again been a problem but the drain still persists.
I have also read that it's a mess up between syncing of Samsung apps and Google services, but I have no way of verifying that.
Can anyone help?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Download wakelock detector from the play store. It detect which app is waking your device (both screen and cpu) by list.. Then download greenify from the play store and herbinate (greenify) upper most apps from wakelock detector. Hope you can solve your problem
Sent from my GT-N7100 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

yeminswe said:
Download wakelock detector from the play store. It detect which app is waking your device (both screen and cpu) by list.. Then download greenify from the play store and herbinate (greenify) upper most apps from wakelock detector. Hope you can solve your problem
Sent from my GT-N7100 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app[/
Thanks. I already have Wakelock Detector on. I mistakenly wrote "defender" instead of detector on the original post. It gives me Viber and Messenger as the most active wakelock apps. But they both were not installed when the problem started. Besides, on the 4.1.2 they created no problems. In essence I believe that Wakelock Detector cannot help much. Whatever this problem is , it is well hidden. Thanks for your interest and help anyway. Much appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

In wifi settings, goto advanced and untick scanning always available.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk

Manjunath324 said:
In wifi settings, goto advanced and untick scanning always available.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, but I have checked and it was not ticked in the first place...unfortunately...

terzisc said:
Thanks, but I have checked and it was not ticked in the first place...unfortunately...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which kernel you are using? And also i recommend using Greenify. Widgets usually eat a lot of battery, I went from battery lasting only 8 hours to get my battery use only 30% in 8 hours.
What i did: installed wakelock detector, gsam battery monitor and better battery stats.
Monitorized the wakelocks.
Applied greenify to the apps which were waking most
Removed widgets which were waking alot
Installed Toggle 2G.
Kernel settings: 200-1600mhz | zzmoove | AFTR+LPA | Multicore power saving (SCHED_MC) = 0 | GPU = stock settings
Works like a charm for me. Hope it helps! Any question, ask!

I've read all sorts of things about this problem since I updated and got hit. I have too much app data to lose by trying the factory restore (which by all accounts shouldn't change anything anyway since you'd still be stuck with 4.3)
I finally decided to try the age old blackberry cure-all: "if in doubt, pull it out" (the battery). Since the entire issue seemed to be related to battery caused problems (ie slow charging, fast drain, etc) it made a lot of sense.
And it worked.
I think the main reason this isn't more commonly tried to fix issues on Android is the same reason I didn't try it earlier. My case is pretty serious and isn't easy to remove. I'm glad I did take the time to take the case off though or I could have ended up wiping my phone.

Nukkels said:
I've read all sorts of things about this problem since I updated and got hit. I have too much app data to lose by trying the factory restore (which by all accounts shouldn't change anything anyway since you'd still be stuck with 4.3)
I finally decided to try the age old blackberry cure-all: "if in doubt, pull it out" (the battery). Since the entire issue seemed to be related to battery caused problems (ie slow charging, fast drain, etc) it made a lot of sense.
And it worked.
I think the main reason this isn't more commonly tried to fix issues on Android is the same reason I didn't try it earlier. My case is pretty serious and isn't easy to remove. I'm glad I did take the time to take the case off though or I could have ended up wiping my phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the suggestion. I have already taken the battery on and off several times. It had no improvement. The phone is only a year old, that is why I don't believe the battery is the culprit. Besides, problems started only after the 4.3 update. Before that it was working perfect. Too much of a coincidence.

Sorry to hear that it didn't work for you
I'm not saying the battery is faulty in any way - however removing the battery and letting the phone power drain completely seems to stop whatever process is running under the buggy 4.3 long enough for it to work again as intended. It's basically just a more thorough way to reboot.
As I said, I've read all sorts of suggestions, many of which don't work for everyone (such as the factory reset) - this is hopefully just one more thing for people to try before they end up wiping their phone in desperation. I mainly posted here in the hopes that others with this issue that may not be forum members can get some more suggestions.
At least for me, wakelock and all the other diagnostic tools at my disposal showed nothing different to before the update. Many other people have found that the Android System is using a lot more of their battery than normal or some other apps are involved - if this is the case, it's likely to be a combination of things causing the issue (the firmware, the drivers, apps, hidden Samsung processes, etc).
Also, for what it's worth, I found that Knox supposedly wasn't installed (when I find it in the apps list, the button to install it is showing...). But it's showing in the list of apps so it must already be installed. I dug through the list of running processes (had to show the system processes too) and I discovered that several Knox and some other new Samsung processes were indeed running.
One other quick tip - If you wanted to check/tweak the 'developer options' and can't seem to find it any more, that's because it's now hidden since 4.2 - go to 'About Device' and tap 7 times on the Build Number. I tried disabling all background processes however it seems this only disables application level processes, not system level processes but if you've tried everything else, it can't hurt to try playing around with some of the options in there.

Nukkels said:
Sorry to hear that it didn't work for you
I'm not saying the battery is faulty in any way - however removing the battery and letting the phone power drain completely seems to stop whatever process is running under the buggy 4.3 long enough for it to work again as intended. It's basically just a more thorough way to reboot.
As I said, I've read all sorts of suggestions, many of which don't work for everyone (such as the factory reset) - this is hopefully just one more thing for people to try before they end up wiping their phone in desperation. I mainly posted here in the hopes that others with this issue that may not be forum members can get some more suggestions.
At least for me, wakelock and all the other diagnostic tools at my disposal showed nothing different to before the update. Many other people have found that the Android System is using a lot more of their battery than normal or some other apps are involved - if this is the case, it's likely to be a combination of things causing the issue (the firmware, the drivers, apps, hidden Samsung processes, etc).
Also, for what it's worth, I found that Knox supposedly wasn't installed (when I find it in the apps list, the button to install it is showing...). But it's showing in the list of apps so it must already be installed. I dug through the list of running processes (had to show the system processes too) and I discovered that several Knox and some other new Samsung processes were indeed running.
One other quick tip - If you wanted to check/tweak the 'developer options' and can't seem to find it any more, that's because it's now hidden since 4.2 - go to 'About Device' and tap 7 times on the Build Number. I tried disabling all background processes however it seems this only disables application level processes, not system level processes but if you've tried everything else, it can't hurt to try playing around with some of the options in there.[/Q
Thanks mate
I think you are right. It is probably a combination of many things. I have opened the Developer options some time back. The one thing that I do for sure in there is limit background processes to 4. Besides that I don't experiment much, exept maybe to change transition animation scale. I am actually thinking of rooting the phone and downgrading to 4.1.2. It was just fine before. I can live without the 4.3 add ons.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Problem still persists, even with Google+ and most other Google applications disabled

Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda app-developers app Some screenshots taken from 3 different apps. Wakelock detector, Better battery stats and Gsam battery monitor

Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda app-developers app

The only battery apps on my phone are the 3 mentioned above, so I don't know what the battery monitor that keeps my phone awake is. The drain existed before I installed these apps. I have read that Chrome could prevent the phone from going to sleep but it is disabled on my phone.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda app-developers app

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ak1sYWRaEKg

I faced same battery drainage issue, after installing wanam kernel and freezing all bloatwares through Titanium Backup. I'm satisfied with my battery now.
You can try.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Here is detail-
Disable sync always, enable when needed.
Disable wifi always scan from settings
Display set to auto
Uninstall apps of playstore you rarely use
Use widgets on lock and homescreen as less as you can (I don't use any)
Disable motion on settings
Freeze all bloatwares by TB except allshare and samsung content agent
Install Agni kernel, from agni control app-
profile: normal
Governor: pegasusq
Scheduler: cfq
Don't touch other tweaks, hardly you can tweak sound boost.
THIS GIVES ME A SATISFIED BATTERY STATUS.
regards.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Wew 4.3 does have may bugs

Related

S3 Massive battery and "Android System" usage with and without charging

I'm having a problem with my Samsung Galaxy S3 (rooted, but no custom ROM) through AT&T where it's losing battery power at a much higher rate than normal every once in a while.
Specifically, today, I was using the GPS feature and charging it in my car, and yet, even though it said it was charging, the battery continued to lose charge. Also, in the past, the phone has lost charge very quickly, and when I check the battery usage, "Android System" is very high on the list, up to 60% (with "Screen" being at 11%, which is usually the biggest culprit for me since I leave the screen on a lot). One time, I went to bed at around midnight and had forgotten to plug in my phone. When I woke up it was off. I turned it back on and looked at the battery stats using 3c's Battery Monitor Widget and saw that it lost charge quite slowly until about 5am, when suddenly the usage went up dramatically, and the phone went from about 60% to 0% in the course of an hour and a half of non-use.
Because this is not a problem I can reproduce on command, I'm not sure exactly what application/process is causing it. Does anyone have any suggestions or has anyone else experienced things like this happening before? (Besides me having to pay for the "betterbatterystats" app?)
Edit: Also, "Android System" sometimes is sometimes listed as "gsiff_daemon" in the battery stats, and within 3c's Battery Monitor Widget, Android System is separate from "gsiff_daemon", where gsiff_daemon's usage is almost 15 times the usage of Android System.
Checkout this thread to see if the gsiff_daemon is your problem. tl;dr when the system is hot and tearing through the battery, go to system settings -> Developer options -> and check Show CPU usage. If gsiff_daemon is the top or second highest on the list, then that is your problem. To solve it for the moment, use system tuner, or something else, to kill gsiff_daemon. There is no permanent cure at the moment, other than to delete gsiff_daemon. Both of those fixes require root, the non-root fix is to reboot.
If gsiff_daemon is not on the list, then something else is the problem, but Show CPU Usage should give you an idea of what system process is running hard.
Samsung Push problem
J M L,
Thanks for the information. I'll do that if the problem arises again. However I also did something else that looks like it may have been the solution for my particular problem, which was disabling the "Samsung Push" service in the Application Manager. So far, my battery life has gone back down to very reasonable levels.
dansushi said:
J M L,
Thanks for the information. I'll do that if the problem arises again. However I also did something else that looks like it may have been the solution for my particular problem, which was disabling the "Samsung Push" service in the Application Manager. So far, my battery life has gone back down to very reasonable levels.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting, I installed "micro cpu monitor" shows thin line at top of screen showing both cores.
I haven't had this happen for some time now but after playing with google play and maps downloading offline maps etc I noticed my 2nd core pegged out.
Having seen this in the past & ignoring it I now realize that majorly drains the battery as well as it getting warm.
A simple reboot seems to be the only thing that fixes it. Clearing ram and closing recent screens dies nothing to clear the "cpu jam".
If left alone, it always shows the culprit as "android system"
As to what part of "android system" I don't know.
But until we figure this out for good, that little micro cpu monitor. App is sweet for peace of mind to know all is well or whether a reboot is needed. For what it's worth, I also noticed that after the event, that my auto rotate to landscape was mysteriously unchecked?
If it jams again, I'll have to see if it gets unchecked again, unknown if there is a relation.
dansushi said:
I'm having a problem with my Samsung Galaxy S3 (rooted, but no custom ROM) through AT&T where it's losing battery power at a much higher rate than normal every once in a while.
Specifically, today, I was using the GPS feature and charging it in my car, and yet, even though it said it was charging, the battery continued to lose charge. Also, in the past, the phone has lost charge very quickly, and when I check the battery usage, "Android System" is very high on the list, up to 60% (with "Screen" being at 11%, which is usually the biggest culprit for me since I leave the screen on a lot). One time, I went to bed at around midnight and had forgotten to plug in my phone. When I woke up it was off. I turned it back on and looked at the battery stats using 3c's Battery Monitor Widget and saw that it lost charge quite slowly until about 5am, when suddenly the usage went up dramatically, and the phone went from about 60% to 0% in the course of an hour and a half of non-use.
Because this is not a problem I can reproduce on command, I'm not sure exactly what application/process is causing it. Does anyone have any suggestions or has anyone else experienced things like this happening before? (Besides me having to pay for the "betterbatterystats" app?)
Edit: Also, "Android System" sometimes is sometimes listed as "gsiff_daemon" in the battery stats, and within 3c's Battery Monitor Widget, Android System is separate from "gsiff_daemon", where gsiff_daemon's usage is almost 15 times the usage of Android System.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That happened to me too. But for me, flashing another rom fixed it.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium
Thread hijack! Lol. Anyways. Is cell standby supposed to use up a crap load of battery too?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium
Swaggernaut said:
Thread hijack! Lol. Anyways. Is cell standby supposed to use up a crap load of battery too?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No there is a cwm flashable fix floating around here for that
Galaxy SIII via XDA premium
do any of you guys have the "increase volume in pocket" setting on in phone-->settings?
also do any of you have motion settings enabled and/or autorotation on?
Seems it has to do with the gyro issue
also are you guys rooted or non-rooted?
Contact sync?
i noticed this today and while troubleshooting, noticed contact sync from google says "sync is currently experiencing problems..." maybe?
dansushi said:
I'm having a problem with my Samsung Galaxy S3 (rooted, but no custom ROM) through AT&T where it's losing battery power at a much higher rate than normal every once in a while.
Specifically, today, I was using the GPS feature and charging it in my car, and yet, even though it said it was charging, the battery continued to lose charge. Also, in the past, the phone has lost charge very quickly, and when I check the battery usage, "Android System" is very high on the list, up to 60% (with "Screen" being at 11%, which is usually the biggest culprit for me since I leave the screen on a lot). One time, I went to bed at around midnight and had forgotten to plug in my phone. When I woke up it was off. I turned it back on and looked at the battery stats using 3c's Battery Monitor Widget and saw that it lost charge quite slowly until about 5am, when suddenly the usage went up dramatically, and the phone went from about 60% to 0% in the course of an hour and a half of non-use.
Because this is not a problem I can reproduce on command, I'm not sure exactly what application/process is causing it. Does anyone have any suggestions or has anyone else experienced things like this happening before? (Besides me having to pay for the "betterbatterystats" app?)
Edit: Also, "Android System" sometimes is sometimes listed as "gsiff_daemon" in the battery stats, and within 3c's Battery Monitor Widget, Android System is separate from "gsiff_daemon", where gsiff_daemon's usage is almost 15 times the usage of Android System.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I read the thread about gsiff_daemon culprit. I had it listed as a possible battery drain culprit. The thread says the issue may happen after a hot reboot...which I did have. Killing gsiff_daemon was not immediately effective. I renamed the file so it wouldn't get used...like the thread recommended. I had to reboot to get normal battery drain back and have yet to see the issue again. But i wont know for some time...or maybe when/if i get a hot reboot...which is really rare. Do yourself a favor, and buy better battery stats. Its a must have tool...and it's not expensive.
I wonder if this problem has been solved with latest lj7 jellybean from sprint
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app
so with some trial and error i found some resolutions ..
first, i used Watchdog and it told me that the media services is killing battery too.
so doing a full wipe does not always fix this.. but what does, is reboot and wait about 1 hour charging and it will calm down. this was just something i noticed. so what i did is wipe out my SD cards, both of them, cleared them out 100% formatted the External SD, and used recovery to format the internal. From there it seem to work, i put my stuff back, and it seems ok.
problem is, when you install a lot of rom's and have bad reboots some files get messed up and you have to do it all over again..
problem was with AOPK, CM and TW roms.
eatonjb said:
so with some trial and error i found some resolutions ..
first, i used Watchdog and it told me that the media services is killing battery too.
so doing a full wipe does not always fix this.. but what does, is reboot and wait about 1 hour charging and it will calm down. this was just something i noticed. so what i did is wipe out my SD cards, both of them, cleared them out 100% formatted the External SD, and used recovery to format the internal. From there it seem to work, i put my stuff back, and it seems ok.
problem is, when you install a lot of rom's and have bad reboots some files get messed up and you have to do it all over again..
problem was with AOPK, CM and TW roms.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My experience with froyo/gb/ics is that things have been getting progressively better over the years. But with each so called UPGRADE of an OS or even APPS, we often have to deal with bugs or incompatibilities. I am eager to upgrade to a stock based JB soon, but wisdom says, for 20 things improved, there will be 5 things broken....or hurting in some way. Early adopters suffer the most as usually these issues get ironed out...most of them.
BUT...these stuck drains...wake locks etc., it seems they will happen when they do no matter how many issues get fixed. Over the years, I've had random standby drains caused by Maps/Nav. Maybe it's ok for months, then after a particular update, it's back...and unpredictable. The YES...a reboot, just like with a PC, is a quick short term workaround.
Finally, with the App CURRENT WIDGET, there is a provision to watch for high drain in standby. It watches MilliAmp (ma) readings over time..to determine if you have a rogue drain. That's different than monitoring the CPU. (Some drains do not cause much CPU activity) BUT UNFORTUNATELY, that app won't work with our S3's because of a lack of hardware support. Works great with HTC and many others. It's a bummer because I used to use it and have my HD2 reboot if a 15min consecutive high drain was recorded in standby....thereby saving the battery and usually killing the bug.
Crapppp
Jellybean didn’t solve it. Gsiff_daemon just popped up for me. Just renamed it AGAIN.
Hopefully it won't pop up again
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app

[Q] Galaxy Note II battery drain -- Polaris constantly running

So my father recently got the GN2, but he's really disliking the battery drain compared to his old iPhone 4. He said that he could finish the day with about 70% battery leftover, whereas, Note leaves him with around 30-40%. I checked his battery usage and there's about 12-17% coming from Polaris 4.0. I already disabled it, but for some reason, it's still draining his battery. Is there anything I can do to improve his overall battery life as well as stop Polaris from being used?
Uninstall it or is it a stock app?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using xda app-developers app
michaelatrix said:
Uninstall it or is it a stock app?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Stock app, unfortunately. I have no intention of rooting it since I haven't done that in a long time and I'm just not confident with messing around with someone else's phone.
Also, I know it's a problem specific to mine since other people don't root there's and they don't have this problem.
Does anyone else know a possible issue?
Try going in and force stopping the app. I noticed apps will continue to run after disabled on occasion. Then reboot and see if it fires up again. That should stop the battery drain. N2 gets great battery life.
Does your father use the app? If not go to settings/application manager select polaris. You should see a disable or uninstall updates button. If it is the updates one, select it then go back in and hit disable button after it is done. This will remove the app from the system but not the app file itself. Will keep it from ever running again until you decide to enable it again. No root needed.
Sent from the Millennium Falcon
OP stated he has already disabled the app but it continues to run/drain the battery.
Froid said:
OP stated he has already disabled the app but it continues to run/drain the battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I already disabled it. I checked again today and it didn't seem to be draining battery life.
After around 12 hours of use, he only has around 60-65% left. He doesn't use the phone as much as some other people, so I'm surprised it drains as much as it does.
I'd say that's about right on stock with everything running. you could always disable everything he doesn't use and see if that helps. Also check for wake locks. I disabled fast dormancy and saw a major improvement on wake locks. Not sure if that's possible without root, but worth looking in to.
Froid said:
OP stated he has already disabled the app but it continues to run/drain the battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oops. Missed that.
Sent from the Millennium Falcon
Root, install Better Battery Stats, find the culprit. If uninstalling Polaris doesn't help, it could be something else.
S-Pen detection, motion settings, smart-stay, etc are all drainers. Disable them if he doesn't use them.
Location services drain too. Try installing Autostarts and disable unnecessary startups. I get a good 2-2.5 days out of the phone with ~5+ hours of screen time after doing the above.
silentecho13 said:
Root, install Better Battery Stats, find the culprit. If uninstalling Polaris doesn't help, it could be something else.
S-Pen detection, motion settings, smart-stay, etc are all drainers. Disable them if he doesn't use them.
Location services drain too. Try installing Autostarts and disable unnecessary startups. I get a good 2-2.5 days out of the phone with ~5+ hours of screen time after doing the above.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the tips. Didn't think about motion and s pen detection.
silentecho13 said:
Root, install Better Battery Stats, find the culprit. If uninstalling Polaris doesn't help, it could be something else.
S-Pen detection, motion settings, smart-stay, etc are all drainers. Disable them if he doesn't use them.
Location services drain too. Try installing Autostarts and disable unnecessary startups. I get a good 2-2.5 days out of the phone with ~5+ hours of screen time after doing the above.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good point on the S-Pen features. I disabled some. His active battery usage is quite good, but he says the standby is terrible.

[GUIDE] Insanely Better Battery Life When Idle - Battery Life Thread

UPDATE: Wanted to add from personal experience that these tricks all work on 4.4 KitKat ROMs. This information isn't stale
This guide should work for any Android phone running any ROM. (Though you do have to be rooted for most of these options. Nothing is THAT simple!)
The goal is to reduce your battery drain when your phone is idle. Nothing in this guide will improve your battery life when the phone is in use. But it will keep the battery from draining quickly (actually it will nearly keep it from draining at all) when the screen it off and the phone is not in use. And the battery savings can be extreme! As I write this guide my phone it has been 4 days, 15 hours, and 9 minutes since I last unplugged my Galaxy S4. I have 33% battery life remaining. You can have this too!
These fixes are not your typical "Lower screen brightness and delete carreir bloatware and disable auto syncing" tips. (Though all that stuff is still a good idea)
You can try all of these techniques or just some of them. Some of them will break features of your phone and might not be good options for you. Only you can decide if these fixes are right for you.
Special thanks for Mike216 and Penko956 for the endless research they did Greenifying, freezing, and disabling they did on just about every system and app on thier phone to see what all could be disabled. And to Torbitege who initially helped figure all this out with me for the HTC Sensation.
First off, what's using your battery?
If you're not already familiar with Better Battery Stats, fix that about yourself. Download it. Use it. Love it.
This app will run in the background constantly monitoring what's using your system resources 24 hours a day. It will tell you what apps are causing wakelocks, which are waking the device, etc etc etc.
The app won't do anything to help your battery life. But it will give you the information you need to adjust problematic apps.
Wakelocks and Battery Drain caused by Google Services
The battery saving impact is major.
This is my personal favorite battery saving technique. But it's not right for everyone, so read thoroughly.
Basically Google thinks your phone belongs to Google. Google Services runs A LOT even when you're not using the phone. This causes a ton of wakelocks and wake ups that use battery. I hate that. So I stopped it with a simple mod to the Google Services Framework.
Here's how....
This is a good old fashioned dirty fix, as it breaks some things. Most push notifications WILL NOT WORK AFTER DOING THIS!!!!! So this is not for everyone!!!! You've been warned. Please don't complain later in the thread that you aren't getting new mail or Twitter or whatever notifications after doing this. You're being told up front they will probably not work.
GTalk and GoogleNow (and maybe a few other things) will not work after doing this. Push notifications for any Google apps will also not work. They are casualties of the dirty fix. But if you're like me and never use GTalk or GNow this will help. Some other Google services might not work after this either. But if you're like me and the only Google service you use is the Play Store app, this will not affect you adversely. (Gmail and Google Maps run independantly of the Google Services framework and are not affected at all by this.)
Use this version of the fix for older Google Service Framework installs. You will know if you have a newer version if doing this install doesnt' prevent your wifi and data icons from turning blue (or whatever color your theme uses). If they turn blue, use the newer version below....
You need to download System Tuner from Google Play. The app will tell you to get Android Tuner instead. Don't do it. It doesn't have what you need. The icon is a blue suitcase with tools on it. Thats' the one you want.
First I froze GTalk and Gnow (Google Search). And no, you can't just freeze those two apps without touching the GSF. The GSF will still create wakelocks when trying to activate them even if they are not there. So you have to modify the GSF as well.
Go to System Tuner and select "Start Ups".
Then pick the Google Services Framework from the list and open it. You shoudl see a list of services.
Uncheck the things on the list below. (Basicall anything with GTalk or Checkin in the title)
gtalkservice.diagnostits.gtalkdiagnostics
gtalkservice.connection autherrordialog
talk.talkprovider
checkin.checinservices$reciever
checkin.checkinservices$triggerreciever
checkin.eventlogservices$receiver
gtalkservice.diagnostics.gtalkdiagnosticsbroadcast reciever
gtalkservice.serviceautostarter
gtalkservices.datamessagereciever
gtalkservice.sendxmppreciever
gtalkservices.packageinstalledreciever
gtalkservice.xmppendpointreciever
checkin.evenlogservice
gtalkservice.service.stalkservice
gtalkservice.pushmessagingregistar
You can freeze the GSF entirely with 1 easy step and that will also kill the wakelocks. But the Play Store becomes another casualty if you do that. Disabling the events above will stop the Google Services wakelocks dead in their tracks, and allow the Play Store to continue working. If you want to go that route you can do it but you'd have to unfreeze the GSF everytime you wanted to update an app.
Newer version if you have updated Google Service Framework.
Freeze the Google Services Framework entirely.
Profit.
Note: I haven't personally tried this and can't attest to it's viability to drawbacks. It was suggested by other members in this thread and confirmed to be working by several other people. Your miliage may vary.
One little quirk with both of the above versions is that when you turn on wifi or mobile data, the signal bars don't turn colors. They stay gray because you aren't connecting to the google servers anymore. (They normally change color to indicate that you are connected to the Google servers). After 1 day I stopped noticing they didn't change colors. Now it looks weird to me when I see them colored.
I highly recommend making a Nandroid backup before trying any of this. Once you go that, go nuts! You can't hurt too much when messing with the GSF because it will just shut down google elements. Worst case, you can always just reactivate everything, reboot, and it'll all work like it did before you messed with it. But if you accidentally disable Android System instead of Google Services, you will probably kill your ROM. So back a backup first.
And severely worst case, if you totally louse up your ROM, just restore the Nandroid and it'll all be back to normal in a flash. (Get it? In a 'flash'...haha I crack myself up)
The Greenify App Sollution
The battery saving impact is moderate.
This is one that you're just silly not to be doing.
Get the Greenify App from The Play Store
There is a free version. But its freakin' awesome so buy the donate version. It's $3 and the developer has more than earned it for the way he's making your phone awesome. (The donate version also includes some special experimental features. Read all about it. Do NOT just get the donate version. You need the free version too.)
This app basically lets your freeze any user app when you're not actively using it. And unfreeze it automatically when you want to open it again.
So if you have an app that likes to wake your device and run itself when you're not using the phone, you can just Greenify it and it will be prevented from using any system resources when you're not actively using the app.
You don't want to Greenify everything. Some apps need to run 24/7 like your messaing app, your phone app, etc. If you Greenify those you won't get messages or calls. The app is incredibly simple to us. You just select the app that's causing trouble and tell Greenify to 'go'. And it does the rest. It's just as easy to un-greenify an app if you greenify something you shouldn't have.
Not every app on your phone needs to be Greenified. Most apps behave themselves. Only do this to the ones that are showing as causing wakes or alarms or wakelocks in a battery monitor like Better Battery Stats.
Two that I will suggest for everyone to start with are Google Maps and T Mobile's My Account app. Both of these love to run when the phone is alseep.
If for whatever reason Greenify those apps hinders the way you use your phone, just ungreenify them! Simple as that.
Google Play Services and You
The battery saving impact is noticable.
Google Play Services wakes the phone a lot. It also does a lot. Read more about what all Google Play Services does here.
You have two options for this one. The first option is the nuclear option. Freeze Google Play Services outright. It will never bother you, but it might break some usefulness of other google apps.
The second option, thanks to XDA Member Karpfenhai , is to disable only certain aspects of the Google Play Services. This one uses the same technique mentioned above in the Google Services Framework Section, just different services to disable. (Thanks to Perseus71 for making me aware of this one and asking that it be included!) THIS HAS BEEN RECENTLY UPDATED
NEW PROBLEM AS OF MARCH 2015
The battery saving potential is ABSOLUTELY REQUIRED!
Since Google updated Play Services all hell has broken loose on custom roms. You get a persistent and unkillable wakelock for SystemUpdateManager.
The battery drain is horrendous. Your phone is awake and active 100% of the time.
This affects GPS version 7.0.97
I fixed this by going to the permissions manager (built into many aosp roms. If not available in your rom, consult yoir rom thread for ways to alter permissions) and disabling the permission in Google Play Services for "wake" and "keep awake".
Note: Some phones only show "keep awake". Just do that one if that is the case.
The problem is that on custom roms no ota is available. But Google tries to get it anyway. When it fails it doesn't shut down. It just keeps trying.
If the permissions method doesn't work, try this...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/general/general/fix-fix-systemupdateservice-wakelock-t3060548
I
Just so you don't think I'm kidding around when I say you can severely increase your battery drain when idle, take a look at tehse screen shots from my Galaxy S4.
My specific set up is running CyanogenMod 10.1 nightlies with ChronicKernal. I haven't been using my phone much over the past 4 days. I have a total of 2 hours and 34 minutes screen on time and 40 minutes of phone calls during that period. So this is admittedly very light usage. But that's perfect to show you that these techniques really work to minimize battery drain when the phone is idle. And I promise you that your results will vary based on your ROM and Kernel.
This won't make the battery last longer during use. The screen will still burn a lot of battery and the cell radio does too. But if you want to make sure your phone will be charged when you need it without you having to carry a charger with you everywhere you go, these are the mods for you.
As you can see from these screen shots I am at 4 days, 16 hours, 50 minutes since unplugging. I have 31% battery left. (That's what the 31 in the upper left corner is. Thats' from an app called Big Battery Notifier. Its free on Play.)
The other screenshot is from Better Battery Stats showing my Alarms screen. Alarms are loosely the same as wakes. Everytime an app wakes the device (not neccessarily turning the screen on) it will record an alarm. If you look at your BBS alarms screen without these modifications I bet you see a lot more alarms than you see here, and keep in mind that mine screen show is showing 4 and a half days worth. Each one of those represents an app or service waking the device and using battery.
If the written instructions somehow baffle you, here's a video of the whole thing!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUBpOl77Tm4
This will show you step by step how to do all of this.
Thanks to XDA Member Chaitanyapatel8880 for his work in putting this video together
Just a note. If you convert Google Play Services to a User App (TB), you can then Greenify (free ver.) it. This works very well and does not affect other functions that may rely on that app.
I also Greenify Maps and Google Search. Two more heavy drainers. Convert to User App first.
*Note: You must use Greenify v1.82 to Hibernate Google Play Services! Search this thread for links to it.
Fwiw, my sleep drainage is 0.3 - 0.4%hr, with wifi on 24/7.
I get either 7-8 days standby, or so far, 5.5 days with 3.5 hours screen time, or likely 6-7hrs screen time single day. Screen shots are in my posts.
I would argue too that these settings/tweaks do indeed increase your battery time, since while sleeping, the battery is draining at a much lower rate, therefore keeping more juice for live time use.
Although you and I don't use all of the same "tweaking" programs, we do seem to be on the same mission. Better battery life! :good:
Pinan said:
Just a note. If you convert Google Play Services to a User App (TB), you can then Greenify (free ver.) it. This works very well and does not affect other functions that may rely on that app.
I also Greenify Maps and Google Search. Two more heavy drainers. Convert to User App first.
Fwiw, my sleep drainage is 0.3 - 0.4%hr, with wifi on 24/7.
I get either 7-8 days standby, or so far, 5.5 days with 3.5 hours screen time, or likely 6-7hrs screen time single day. Screen shots are in my posts.
I would argue too that these settings/tweaks do indeed increase your battery time, since while sleeping, the battery is draining at a much lower rate, therefore keeping more juice for live time use.
Although you and I don't use all of the same "tweaking" programs, we do seem to be on the same mission. Better battery life! :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I like your way of dealing with Google play services. I'll change the op later.
That doesn't break function of the play services to run as a user app?
Sent from your phone. You should be careful where you leave that thing.
Skipjacks said:
I like your way of dealing with Google play services. I'll change the op later.
That doesn't break function of the play services to run as a user app?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have not noticed any dysfunction, though there are likely some things I don't use. But for me it's been completely functional.
Besides, if I froze it, I'd have none of it's functions at all.
Pinan said:
Just a note. If you convert Google Play Services to a User App (TB), you can then Greenify (free ver.) it. This works very well and does not affect other functions that may rely on that app.
I also Greenify Maps and Google Search. Two more heavy drainers. Convert to User App first.
Fwiw, my sleep drainage is 0.3 - 0.4%hr, with wifi on 24/7.
I get either 7-8 days standby, or so far, 5.5 days with 3.5 hours screen time, or likely 6-7hrs screen time single day. Screen shots are in my posts.
I would argue too that these settings/tweaks do indeed increase your battery time, since while sleeping, the battery is draining at a much lower rate, therefore keeping more juice for live time use.
Although you and I don't use all of the same "tweaking" programs, we do seem to be on the same mission. Better battery life! :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do I convert those services to user apps?
Sent from my SGH-M919 using xda app-developers app
rodny23 said:
How do I convert those services to user apps?
Sent from my SGH-M919 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Titanium Backup will do it, I think you need the paid version though.
/System/App Mover is also good app for doing it. It's free on Google Play.
Dang right now Google services is at 41%
Sent from my SGH-M919 using xda app-developers app
Skipjacks said:
Titanium Backup will do it, I think you need the paid version though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup. I think you're right.
Something disabled notifications for instagram, etc.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using xda app-developers app
kevinrubio1 said:
Something disabled notifications for instagram, etc.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you Greenify Instragram? If yes, that explains why you aren't getting notifications.
lordcheeto03 said:
Did you Greenify Instragram? If yes, that explains why you aren't getting notifications.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, it's something in system tuner, I unchecked all the "checking" things so it's one of the "gtalk" options. I'm narrowing it down
Sent from my SGH-M919 using xda app-developers app
This has saved a bunch of us from odd battery drain. Skipjacks has been there and done that. Amazing informative thread! Going on two weeks without having to worry about bringing my charger to work thanks to skip
SGH-M919_Omega, the end result
kevinrubio1 said:
Nope, it's something in system tuner, I unchecked all the "checking" things so it's one of the "gtalk" options. I'm narrowing it down
Sent from my SGH-M919 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't believe it. Instagram is its own thing. It shouldn't be reliant on the google services framework at all.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using xda app-developers app
Pinan said:
Just a note. If you convert Google Play Services to a User App (TB), you can then Greenify (free ver.) it. This works very well and does not affect other functions that may rely on that app.
I also Greenify Maps and Google Search. Two more heavy drainers. Convert to User App first.
Fwiw, my sleep drainage is 0.3 - 0.4%hr, with wifi on 24/7.
I get either 7-8 days standby, or so far, 5.5 days with 3.5 hours screen time, or likely 6-7hrs screen time single day. Screen shots are in my posts.
I would argue too that these settings/tweaks do indeed increase your battery time, since while sleeping, the battery is draining at a much lower rate, therefore keeping more juice for live time use.
Although you and I don't use all of the same "tweaking" programs, we do seem to be on the same mission. Better battery life! :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure whether Greenifying Google Search would save as much battery as freezing it would, but I'm going to try it out and see how it works for me. I'll report back some results in case anyone is curious
funkl3 said:
I'm not sure whether Greenifying Google Search would save as much battery as freezing it would, . .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It does. It also allows other functions to still work such as TTS. I had the issue a while back. Something to do with shared voice.
I also freeze Contacts and Calendar syncs as well. If I want them to sync I simply thaw them for a few seconds.
Skipjacks said:
I don't believe it. Instagram is its own thing. It shouldn't be reliant on the google services framework at all.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe one of the "gtalk" options has something to do with notifications because last night I rebooted my phone a lot checking/unchecking options, none of the "checking" did anything! So that's good, and I unchecked some gtalk but not all and it worked!
Sent from my SGH-M919 using xda app-developers app
Great guide! A little bitter I had to read all of the pages in the original topic :laugh:
Skipjacks said:
I like your way of dealing with Google play services.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Btw. I forgot to mention that after I reboot the first thing I do is turn off Google Play in Running Programs. Persistent bugger. And of course I turn off notifications and auto update in GP as well with each new ROM install.
My tweak list is extensive. Someday I'll right it all down as you have. Save me some thinking, LOL.

Battery Drain and "Android OS" data hog?

Hello everyone.
Don't know if this is a known problem, but after upgrading to 4.1.2, battery doesn't last nearly as long as in ICS or GB. I need to plug the phone one or two times for a while through the day.
Besides, something is hogging the data in the background. I use Onavo Count to keep an eye on data usage, and recently an app identified as "Android OS + Others" appeared on the top list. It sucks around 5 MB a day, which isn't much, but my monthly data cap is pretty low and this never happened before 4.1.2.
Any ideas? Do you have the same issue? Thanks in advance!
Regarding battery drain I advice you to install Wakelock Detector to see which processes are using most of your CPU and battery overall.
After that, if your phone is rooted, install Greenify and freeze every app that you want to freeze when phone goes in standby.
switzerland92 said:
Regarding battery drain I advice you to install Wakelock Detector to see which processes are using most of your CPU and battery overall.
After that, if your phone is rooted, install Greenify and freeze every app that you want to freeze when phone goes in standby.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Greenify works with system apps?
Donation version can greenify system apps.
Alternative, although a bit different, is to freeze apps via Titanium Backup.
jhodax said:
Greenify works with system apps?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope
@op
Try doing a clean install again(wiping data)
Or disable usage and error reporting services...also disable background data(not sure if it's on jb as am on cm10)
Also if u don't use Picasa delete mediauploader.apk in System/App
Should decrease quite some battery and data use
Sent from my Xperia ion using xda premium
What most people think android os is on a battery use log is wrong. For instance, write down your android os number, go watch a YouTube video through the app.. android os usage should have risen in the battery usage and data usage number. What android os is, is a catch all for apps who don't store stats for data or battery usage under their own name. YouTube comes up in data and battery usage but in tiny tiny amounts, compare it's number to even the shortest video you've watched and you'll see it doesn't match up but what's added to android os does. I use YouTube as a simple representation of multiple apps that do this. Battery usage in android devices can usually be backtracked to data usage, turn data off battery life doubles even triples sometimes.
Sent from my LT28h using xda premium
xyge said:
Nope
@op
Try doing a clean install again(wiping data)
Or disable usage and error reporting services...also disable background data(not sure if it's on jb as am on cm10)
Also if u don't use Picasa delete mediauploader.apk in System/App
Should decrease quite some battery and data use
Sent from my Xperia ion using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, just did a clean install, rooted, and deleted mediauploader.apk. Will report back in a few days.
Nope. Got rid of MediaUploader.apk and the phone is still consuming a lot of data. No difference with battery life either.
I had the issue of battery drain, and phone heating up, and the phone lagging all time, for my XS. Flashed official JB, problems re-occurred after a few weeks. Now recently I again did a factory reset, and has been selectively installing apps/enabling services to locate the cause. Till now I have seen the google location reporting (not the general location settings) consumes a lot of battery. You can try disabling it (from google settings) and see the battery usage. Let me know if that was the cause for you also

My phone is working on 384 MHz instead of Deep Sleep

Yesterday i installed CM 10.1.3 from official cyanogenmod site. First few hours i had big battery drain and i saw that the phone isn't going into DEEP SLEEP but only at 384 MHz. I thought that some app is staying on even with locked screen so i downloaded Clean Master and set it to kill apps when screen is off and also i clicked on "don't keep activities" from dev.options menu.
I discovered one bug on this rom - the NFC cannot shut down, is it possible to stay at 384 MHz just because my NFC is always on? If not, give me some suggestion please
qtoo941 said:
Yesterday i installed CM 10.1.3 from official cyanogenmod site. First few hours i had big battery drain and i saw that the phone isn't going into DEEP SLEEP but only at 384 MHz. I thought that some app is staying on even with locked screen so i downloaded Clean Master and set it to kill apps when screen is off and also i clicked on "don't keep activities" from dev.options menu.
I discovered one bug on this rom - the NFC cannot shut down, is it possible to stay at 384 MHz just because my NFC is always on? If not, give me some suggestion please
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Get rid of clean master. Get gsam and cpuspy from playstore. Sounds like you have cpuspy or something similar.....but gsam can tell you what is keeping your device awake. Then you can deal with it....or search on the app keeping device awake and find fix.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
I don't know if NFC would prevent deep sleep, or if clean master would help ( I'd uninstall it ), but I've spent a lot of time researching battery life fixes, so here's some tips:
1. Get the Better Battery Stats app - it's essential. You're most likely going to look under the Partial Wakelocks section from the dropdown. That'll help you narrow down which apps are keeping the device awake. Kernel Wakelocks are important too, but require some research into what stuff means. Select your reference point ( Boot, Unplugged, etc. ), then try to avoid using your phone for a couple of hours from that event at least before checking this app to get better results of what's causing issues.
2. After finding which apps are problematic, you can uninstall them, freeze them, or do the following if you prefer to keep using them without hurting your battery as much:
Install Greenify and hibernate the problematic apps. Hibernating an app prevents it from running unless you start it.
For extra measure, also get ROM Toolbox ( not sure if you need the pro version ), go to "Auto Start Manager", and uncheck certain things for apps ( like Facebook auto starting on location change, for example ) to lessen app wakelocks. You can also use the paid AutoStarts app in the market with the red car icon if you prefer something simpler.
**Note: disabling certain autostarts can break a function of an app, or the whole app, until you enable it again, so be wary of that**.
3. I don't believe this is even an issue anymore, but some roms had issues going into deep sleep on multi-core devices. Eugene373's CPU Sleeper should fix that. I haven't looked into this much though, so not sure whether it works or not.
4. I found this thread on the Skyrocket forums really useful when my phone was losing battery while charging: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1759541 .
Also, to save more battery, keep your screen at dimmest system brightness when you can, and turn off sync, data, & WiFi if you don't need it. GPS *should* be okay on all the time, because from what others say, GPS only wastes battery if an app is using it, so if you deal with the app, the GPS is fine.
tl:dr;
Not sure if NFC prevents sleep or if clean master helps. Use Better Battery Stats to find wakelocks. Use Greenify to hibernate problem apps. Use ROM Toolbox's "Auto Start Manager" or AutoStarts to stop problem apps from auto starting.
Oh....another long time habit I have is to reboot after you unplug from charger....every time! This used to be a common fix.....and I still do it.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
kj2112 said:
Oh....another long time habit I have is to reboot after you unplug from charger....every time! This used to be a common fix.....and I still do it.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried your trick but it didn't work
Anyway, i downloaded GSAM Battery Monitor and also Greenify. I stayed like 1 hour and after that i opened GSAM and there was information that my battery drain is caused of Media Service. "Downloads" system app is working in background and it is preventing my phone to get into Deep Sleep. I tried to add downloads system app into Greenify but for this thing i need to get paid version .. anyway, i will not pay it
What to do now, at least now i know why i cannot enter in deep sleep - because of downloads system app ^_^
qtoo941 said:
I tried your trick but it didn't work
Anyway, i downloaded GSAM Battery Monitor and also Greenify. I stayed like 1 hour and after that i opened GSAM and there was information that my battery drain is caused of Media Service. "Downloads" system app is working in background and it is preventing my phone to get into Deep Sleep. I tried to add downloads system app into Greenify but for this thing i need to get paid version .. anyway, i will not pay it
What to do now, at least now i know why i cannot enter in deep sleep - because of downloads system app ^_^
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Titanium backup can convert any system app to a user app. Then greenify will see them. The catch 22 may be that it only works on titanium backup pro version. LOL
But check and see!
Sent from my cellular telephone
My note3 also had a deep sleep lack this week. The culprit was Clean Master itself. Probably they messed up something with the last update. Beware.

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