Database Users

Lollipop Battery Discussion - 2014

I wanted to start a semi-general discussion about battery life/issues/bugs on Lollipop. I'm using the VZW 2014 X, but I'm sure that the Pure Edition discussion will be similar (especially now that we're both on 22.21.11).
The two topics I'd like to discuss to start are:
1. What's draining your battery most (and why is it Google Play Services)? Solutions/bugs? For example, today I'm seeing what happens when I disable Location Reporting (and not History, for now).
2. Does the usage percentage reporting seem off to anyone else? The percentages are always very small (I'm guessing maybe they're supposed to add up to the total battery drain percentage), especially the Screen. When I use mine heavily, Screen will never take much more than 5-7%, if that.
All that aside I have been happy with battery life--it's at least 1.5 times better than my 2013 Moto X. I get down to 30% or so after a full day, can push 3.5-4 hours screen on time, and normally projects to last 20-24 hours with moderate usage.

I've been using the 22.21.6 OTA on my Pure Edition for a little while, rooted with Greenify. Google Play Services is taking up the most battery, it seems. No Facebook, although I do have some other social networks (Twitter, Instagram). It lasts me a day although I don't have too much SOT on it. I think yesterday it went from 7:00 to 23:00 (16 hours) with an hour or two of SOT with 30% or so left. Not great but it suits my needs. That was the first day since I got it that I've actually tested a full day of usage, in previous days I had been either messing with stuff over USB (rooting and programming) or on a long road trip with my hockey team that pushed me to way heavier than normal usage so I was charging a lot. Can't really blame Moto for that, though, it was hours of SOT for sure.
Today I deleted Google Fit (I just wanted to see it, but I don't think I'll use it that much and I feel like it might have something to do with it) and am using a different locations policy by turning off reporting and switching from always-on battery saver to using high accuracy and only enabling when needed. It'll be an ongoing experiment to maximize the life but to me that's part of the fun!
I've heard good things about 22.21.11 but I'm disappointed that I'll have to wipe again. Hopefully now that I'm rooted I can use Titanium Backup properly, last time I had to wipe was when I unlocked my bootloader to root, and Helium (unbeknownst to me) didn't support restoring from copy/paste (copied Helium backups to my computer then back onto the device, but wouldn't recognize them for restore).

Skillinator said:
Hopefully now that I'm rooted I can use Titanium Backup properly, last time I had to wipe was when I unlocked my bootloader to root, and Helium (unbeknownst to me) didn't support restoring from copy/paste (copied Helium backups to my computer then back onto the device, but wouldn't recognize them for restore).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
FYI, in case Titanium doesn't work for you when/if you upgrade, I was able to backup my apps using Helium and then use adb restore to restore the data after I'd installed them again on the phone. Here's the guide in case it's helpful:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/moto-x/general/guide-how-to-restore-app-data-to-moto-x-t2604423
Downside is having to restore each app individually, but I never even had to root the phone so it was pretty simple.

Hey at least u have root. Us VZW users are dying for some root in our lives.

fingolfin14 said:
FYI, in case Titanium doesn't work for you when/if you upgrade, I was able to backup my apps using Helium and then use adb restore to restore the data after I'd installed them again on the phone. Here's the guide in case it's helpful:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/moto-x/general/guide-how-to-restore-app-data-to-moto-x-t2604423
Downside is having to restore each app individually, but I never even had to root the phone so it was pretty simple.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does Helium not work to restore the app data on Lollipop?

raptir said:
Does Helium not work to restore the app data on Lollipop?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In my case, I was downgrading from 5.0 to 4.4.4 since the build I was on was missing incoming calls. As far as I've heard, restoring to Moto devices is not supported at all by Helium, but it may be worth a try on Lollipop.

fingolfin14 said:
In my case, I was downgrading from 5.0 to 4.4.4 since the build I was on was missing incoming calls. As far as I've heard, restoring to Moto devices is not supported at all by Helium, but it may be worth a try on Lollipop.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From what I read it's only older devices. This thread, for example, says you just need the right drivers for the 2013 Moto X.
http://forums.androidcentral.com/moto-x-2013/333316-moto-x-helium-backup.html

raptir said:
From what I read it's only older devices. This thread, for example, says you just need the right drivers for the 2013 Moto X.
http://forums.androidcentral.com/moto-x-2013/333316-moto-x-helium-backup.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could be. I can confirm that Helium did not recognize any backups for me on KitKat and it looks like the user above had the same issue. I haven't yet tested on Lollipop.
Sent from my XT1095 using XDA Free mobile app

fingolfin14 said:
Could be. I can confirm that Helium did not recognize any backups for me on KitKat and it looks like the user above had the same issue. I haven't yet tested on Lollipop.
Sent from my XT1095 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From what I heard the way I stored the backups was unsupported. I just copied them off my device and pasted them back later instead of storing on one of the cloud options or something. Maybe if I had it would be a different story. Now that I have root and Titanium I don't think I'm going to try again with Helium, though.

Updating on my trial today with Location reporting off: somehow, battery life ended up worse (need a large sample, I suppose). I'm on track for 2.5 hours screen on and 18 total hours on. Android OS had high reporting, just above Google Play Services.
Anyone else have experience tinkering with these settings? I may give it another day or two before turning off Location History completely.

Im on a pure edition X, newest update, and my battery life is ridiculous. Location on battery saving, NFC off, everything else on. Screen on adaptuve brightness. Heres the thread i started about it..
http://forum.xda-developers.com/moto-x-2014/general/22-21-11-pure-edition-insane-battery-t2960474

qwerty12601 said:
Im on a pure edition X, newest update, and my battery life is ridiculous. Location on battery saving, NFC off, everything else on. Screen on adaptuve brightness. Heres the thread i started about it..
http://forum.xda-developers.com/moto-x-2014/general/22-21-11-pure-edition-insane-battery-t2960474
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looks like I'll have to get the -11 release and see how it goes. What were you getting on kitkat or 22.21.6?

qwerty12601 said:
Im on a pure edition X, newest update, and my battery life is ridiculous. Location on battery saving, NFC off, everything else on. Screen on adaptuve brightness. Heres the thread i started about it..
http://forum.xda-developers.com/moto-x-2014/general/22-21-11-pure-edition-insane-battery-t2960474
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's just unfathomable to me. I saw your post before I made this one. It's not as if I need 7 hours screen on time, but if it's possible then I sure as hell want it. I have brightness fixed just above the lowest, NFC off, location on battery saving, Location reporting off... just huge drain from Google Play Services and Android OS. I bet if I used the phone straight after unplugging I could reach 5 hours screen on, but it's the general/standby drain that's bothering me. I don't know what specifically would contribute to drain by Google Play Services aside from location reporting.

zjw18 said:
That's just unfathomable to me. I saw your post before I made this one. It's not as if I need 7 hours screen on time, but if it's possible then I sure as hell want it. I have brightness fixed just above the lowest, NFC off, location on battery saving, Location reporting off... just huge drain from Google Play Services and Android OS. I bet if I used the phone straight after unplugging I could reach 5 hours screen on, but it's the general/standby drain that's bothering me. I don't know what specifically would contribute to drain by Google Play Services aside from location reporting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What version of google play services are you on, and how are your location settings?
I'd honestly never need 7 hours either. I really just wanted to push it and see. Yesterday I plugged in with 38% left, was off the charger for 14 hours and had 4:15 SOT. And that's normal/slightly above normal usage for me. Its just nice to know I won't have to worry if I need to use it more.

qwerty12601 said:
What version of google play services are you on, and how are your location settings?
I'd honestly never need 7 hours either. I really just wanted to push it and see. Yesterday I plugged in with 38% left, was off the charger for 14 hours and had 4:15 SOT. And that's normal/slightly above normal usage for me. Its just nice to know I won't have to worry if I need to use it more.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The latest--6.5.87 I think. I'm on battery saving as well. Dialer, Play Services, Google Search, Moto, and Motorola Modem service all report low battery usage. I turned Location Reporting off two days ago and somehow battery life got worse!
Also, I have Facebook and Twitter installed, but neither report high usage. Twitter syncing is also off.

Hmmm only difference is I don't use Facebook or twitter. No social media. But other than that, I use everything except for NFC. Google now. All moto enhancements.

qwerty12601 said:
Hmmm only difference is I don't use Facebook or twitter. No social media. But other than that, I use everything except for NFC. Google now. All moto enhancements.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have the Wi-Fi scanning always on setting turned on as well?

zjw18 said:
Do you have the Wi-Fi scanning always on setting turned on as well?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I don't shut it off. No WiFi toggler either.

qwerty12601 said:
Yes, I don't shut it off. No WiFi toggler either.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I can't think of anything else. Guess you're just a lucky bastard haha. Thanks for the info.

Gunna grab a Moto X as I have a Cyber Monday code. My concern though, is the battery. 2300mAh just seems too little. I own a SGS3, and it barely gets by the day.
To those who own the Moto X 2nd Gen, what are you guys looking at for screen on time and whatnot for an entire day? I saw the post about the guy getting 7 hours screen on, but that's without social media. I tend to be chatting continuously on WhatsApp and using Facebook quite a bit as well...

UPDATED! FIX: improve standby drain! (not sure if exynos only?)

So I would like this tip to be there for as many people as possible and not let it get lost in some thread. Already got some great feedback from other who tried this too.
I do not have any feedback yet from snapdragon users, so results could be different there
In settings ==> apps==> show system apps.
Disable and then enable the following:
- Google Services Framework
- Google play store
- Google Play services (here, only wipe all data en cache).
After you enabled it, these services will update themselves again in a few minutes. But with one big change: a great standby battery usage!
UPDATE!
So it seems I had forgotten some other settings that I changed also, until I read someone else his post. So for here some additional steps:
- privacy -> location -> increase precision: set wifi en bluetooth off
- privacy -> location> location history: remove location history, and turn all other devices other then THIS DEVICE, to off.
After doing all steps, do a restart. Just to be sure .
Let me know if it helped you too

Just did it, will report back with results
Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

What i did last night was disable it that 3 and go to bed and charge the phone and this morning i turn in the 4G to go to work , and what i notice was the battery last i bit more , i notice the difference.
But as we know we can live without google services.
Now i see google services is one of the problem.
The standby only at night i can tell something.

Already losing only 2% battery overnight on wifi lol

How do I wipe the cache here? Also no option to disable or even stop here.

Nevermind I figured it out.

Unfortunately, this didn't help me. I'm still losing ~2% / hour, even overnight on WiFi.

sonofabit said:
Unfortunately, this didn't help me. I'm still losing ~2% / hour, even overnight on WiFi.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This will not help, I don't know who can believe this stuff.

It worked for one day...after a day the drain come back and still eating my battery!

Maidenx said:
It worked for one day...after a day the drain come back and still eating my battery!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you enable Google backup? Just trying to find out why it works. It's the only thing I have disabled while using this trick.

I have had Google backup disabled prior. Battery life still miserable. Did this trick seeing how it works.

This is where I am at now. I don't think this solution had any impact on my battery life. I was able to achieve these kinds of stats day one of the upgrade on tmobile with APG1 FIRMWARE. prior to that update less than 4 hours SOT. Where I'm at now isn't terrible, but it certainly could be better

Spewed said:
This is where I am at now. I don't think this solution had any impact on my battery life. I was able to achieve these kinds of stats day one of the upgrade on tmobile with APG1 FIRMWARE. prior to that update less than 4 hours SOT. Where I'm at now isn't terrible, but it certainly could be better
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well this is a great SOT for a mix usage..... I will test this method tonight and I will comeback tomorrow with the solution I used for the past week.

avatar_ro said:
well this is a great SOT for a mix usage..... I will test this method tonight and I will comeback tomorrow with the solution I used for the past week.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're saying my stats are great? I have GPS toggled off and Google back up disabled. I think battery life largely depends on what you're doing. Seems like you get much more life out of watching YouTube versus texting, or something similar. Also, no wifi usage today.

Spewed said:
You're saying my stats are great? I have GPS toggled off and Google back up disabled. I think battery life largely depends on what you're doing. Seems like you get much more life out of watching YouTube versus texting, or something similar. Also, no wifi usage today.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you have the snapdragon right?

avatar_ro said:
you have the snapdragon right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I do unfortunately.

Spewed said:
Yeah, I do unfortunately.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sad indeed... try this for a change.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=67638646&postcount=146
report there if you saw some improvement, for me doing that stuff really changed everything and keep in mind that I have everything enabled.

avatar_ro said:
sad indeed... try this for a change.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=67638646&postcount=146
report there if you saw some improvement, for me doing that stuff really changed everything and keep in mind that I have everything enabled.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm assuming you're referencing the WiFi glitch you noted on your device? In that case I generally don't use wifi much. Even when I'm at home I just never think to turn it on. I'm a nurse, so at work I'm moving around and jumping from modem to modem, plus all lines are monitored and I just feel uncomfortable with that. There is one unsecured connection which happens to be where my office is located, but like I said I bounce around at work a lot.

While I never thought I would see the day that I was able to achieve 6 hours SOT, somehow I did. I'm attributing it mostly to the most recent Tmobile update although I did follow the instructions in this video, but based upon previous usage drain prior to applying this method, it seems to be on par.
Granted I do have location services turned off as well as Google back up, which has not been of any help historically. So with that being said I am finally pleased with the battery life I managed to achieved. However I will continue to monitor it as battery drain on this phone just seems so day to day.

nevermind. Happy it helped

Battery drain from Google Photos latest version

Updated Google photos to version 2.2.0 from October 12. Now it drains half battery in half day even though I don't use the app or camera. Drain stops if I clear app data and don't use it.
Anyone else seeing it?

alexnoalex said:
Updated Google photos to version 2.2.0 from October 12. Now it drains half battery in half day even though I don't use the app or camera. Drain stops if I clear app data and don't use it.
Anyone else seeing it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here, force closed the app but if you reboot it auto starts in the background and have to FC again.
Sent from my SM-G935T using Tapatalk

Shrubby said:
Same here, force closed the app but if you reboot it auto starts in the background and have to FC again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Instead of force close, delete all data and don't use it until they release a new version.
Or revert to old one.
Hopefully, there would be better solution but I didn't see people complain yet.

alexnoalex said:
Instead of force close, delete all data and don't use it until they release a new version.
Or revert to old one.
Hopefully, there would be better solution but I didn't see people complain yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Turning off sync in the settings seems to fix it for now as well

Thanks i'll try that!

datajosh said:
Turning off sync in the settings seems to fix it for now as well
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Didn't work for me.

I'm curious how Google Photos is draining your battery so fast. I pulled mine off the charger at 4PM this afternoon and 5 hrs later it was at 95%. I use Google Photos and have the latest version. It's not doing this to my S7E. Mine is the U version of the S7E but I doubt that matters.

Have the same problem with nexus 6p and Google photos battery drain. Gone back to previous version. Hope it fixes

I have the same problem, I had to uninstall the update, now the draining is gone. I hope Google fix the problem soon.
I didn't see many people complaining about this yesterday, now there are many complaints on different forums, so I guess is not just my s7e.

Will197 said:
Have the same problem with nexus 6p and Google photos battery drain. Gone back to previous version. Hope it fixes
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yep, battery drain gone for me after going back to the previous version.

Same issue, ZenFone 2 Laser. Reverting to v2.1.x resolved the issue with Photos.

Google released a new version of Photos, 2.2.1 and it seems the battery drain problem is gone. But now I can't find the option to backup only on Wi-Fi.

Exceptional battery life at idle with Beta Google Play Services (I think)

A few days ago I updated to the latest beta version of Google Play Services. Ever since then I have had very good battery life at idle. Prior to the update my Mate 9 would drain about 0.5% battery per hour at idle with 97% deep sleep time. With the update my idle drain is more like 0.1-0.2% per hour with the same deep sleep time. Yesterday it took 15 hours to drain 3% and today after almost 10 hours I am still at 100% (I've been busy at work the last few days so I havent been able to use my phone much). I am not entirely sure this improvement is due to the beta of Google Play Services but I didnt make any other changes to my phone.

Link please or can you just join the a beta program from the app?

lawtq said:
Link please
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.google.android.gms

tboooe said:
https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.google.android.gms
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. Joined the beta. Let's see

lawtq said:
Thanks. Joined the beta. Let's see
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pls post your findings. I am very curious to see if others have the same experience. BTW...after 11 hours I have lost 1%.
Here are some details about my setup for those interested:
Rooted, unlocked running stock ROM
2 widgets used to get weather and stock info every 2 hours
Google sync turned on for Inbox, Hangouts, Calendar, etc
Wifi off during sleep
Wifi scanning off
Phone on
Mobile data on (4g)
Close all apps after screen off except for Nova Launcher, Hangouts, Google Keep, Google Inbox

help
please direct link i cant download from playstore

mimoun103 said:
please direct link i cant download from playstore
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think there is one?
Sent from my MHA-L09 using Tapatalk

mimoun103 said:
please direct link i cant download from playstore
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Scroll to the bottom of the page for various versions
https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/google-inc/google-play-services/

tboooe said:
Scroll to the bottom of the page for various versions
https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/google-inc/google-play-services/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you guys read the comments/reviews about Google Play Services on Google Play? I laughed, so, SO MUCH! Seriously, is it a meme? LOOOL!
Anyway, got the beta, will test tomorrow when at 100%

mad.nexus said:
Have you guys read the comments/reviews about Google Play Services on Google Play? I laughed, so, SO MUCH! Seriously, is it a meme? LOOOL!
Anyway, got the beta, will test tomorrow when at 100%
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HA HA HA. I've never taken the time to read the comments for this. Very funny indeed! The scary thing I bet some of those people who commented were not kidding. My fav comment:
"Super doper boring Useless app in the world.. Nonsense"

Well well... Interesting...

@tboooe, I am also interested to install the beta version. What is the percentage of Googly Play in battery consumption settings?

I installed the Beta yesterday. Left the phone at 46% at 11:30pm. At 6:50am, it was down to 44%.
I had Bluetooth and mobile data on while WiFi was off. I'm on stock C432B194 (MHA-L29).
Too early to say, but I'm seeing very flat drainage curves when the phone is not in use. Would've posted a screenshot had I not restarted this morning before remembering to take one.

lostorbit said:
I installed the Beta yesterday. Left the phone at 46% at 11:30pm. At 6:50am, it was down to 44%.
I had Bluetooth and mobile data on while WiFi was off. I'm on stock C432B194 (MHA-L29).
Too early to say, but I'm seeing very flat drainage curves when the phone is not in use. Would've posted a screenshot had I not restarted this morning before remembering to take one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good feedback. So is what you are seeing an improvement?

Here's a short window, but you can see the flat curve when the phone was idling for the past 2 hours.
It is improved idling. Here I had everything on: GPS, Bluetooth, mobile data and WiFi.

Here's another screenshot attachment (notice the idling).

There was an update a few days ago. I havent had a chance to test and compare the idle battery life to the previous version. Any try it?

what about SOT with it?

Still a monster saver when idle. Noice!

System service drain

I was convinced on the forums that my system service drain was regular until I took a look at my buddy's phone , he has a le s3 with 2 sim cards and his system service doesn't normally go past 80 mAh on a full charge . Something has to be wrong

This is a screenshot of my sot when I first got the phone

8 hours of SOT is really good. You can try installing Wakelock Detector to get a different perspective. Also, anything that uses accessibility services may harm battery life. Another thing you can do is go to settings-permissions-autolaunch and disable autolaunching of apps that don't need to be running all the time. You can see what apps are currently running in settings - app management. One last thing is that your signal strength isn't that great, so it may just be how it's supposed to be.

kris597 said:
This is a screenshot of my sot when I first got the phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm in the same boat as you, only I'm running OmniRom. But yeah, had 8h sot, can barely make 6 now, android system is my second biggest drain, with 2+ hours of cpu usage.

I have tried and I have found that 7.1 to 8.1 do not have the best battery life.
I personally have been aopk 6.01 and been getting great battery life.
I did do a stress test I did gaming and blasting next radio 21 minutes use only 6% of battery.
Sent from my LEX727 using xda premium

dweekie said:
8 hours of SOT is really good. You can try installing Wakelock Detector to get a different perspective. Also, anything that uses accessibility services may harm battery life. Another thing you can do is go to settings-permissions-autolaunch and disable autolaunching of apps that don't need to be running all the time. You can see what apps are currently running in settings - app management. One last thing is that your signal strength isn't that great, so it may just be how it's supposed to be.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've tried everything , disabled all apps in auto launch , tried it with airplane mode on , enabled background resource control . Never go past 7 hours max screen on time . My screen brightness is usually very low throughout the day

What are all of these services ? My buddy has none of these

You are running stock I take it.
Different ROMs are going different services like you show.
Sent from my LEX727 using xda premium

mchlbenner said:
You are running stock I take it.
Different ROMs are going different services like you show.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do I get rid of these services without root ? And these services also don't show up on my buddy's phone . Is it a le pro 3 thing ?

kris597 said:
How do I get rid of these services without root ? And these services also don't show up on my buddy's phone . Is it a le pro 3 thing ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can't
Sent from my LEX727 using xda premium

Turned on battery assistance at about 80% , battery life drastically improved

This is now ridiculous

All eui is in the rom.
I have no problem with custom roms. (Omni,Aicp,Lineageos etc.)

kris597 said:
Turned on battery assistance at about 80% , battery life drastically improved
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't see the big deal you have 3 hours 57 minutes on screen time and 50% battery left you will get almost 8 hour screen time on that is well above average!
Sent from my LEX727 using xda premium

Went through a hard 12 hour process , finally unlocked bootloader , installed twrp and running lineage . Going to be testing battery life

I have the same problem with Eui rom. As long as the display is turned on, the system service will exploit the battery. Nobody knows that?
There are no such problems in custom roms.(Aicp,omni vs )

lazye53 said:
I have the same problem with Eui rom. As long as the display is turned on, the system service will exploit the battery. Nobody knows that?
There are no such problems in custom roms.(Aicp,omni vs )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I flashed lineage and I'm experiencing even worse battery , I can't be bothered to flash a new Tom and reinstall all my apps

kris597 said:
I flashed lineage and I'm experiencing even worse battery , I can't be bothered to flash a new Tom and reinstall all my apps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Flash Magisk and try Greenify4Magisk. It's gotta be some third-party app you're running, or you have a bad cellular connection. Are you getting full signal on your phone? Do you have LTE running as well?

sk8223 said:
Flash Magisk and try Greenify4Magisk. It's gotta be some third-party app you're running, or you have a bad cellular connection. Are you getting full signal on your phone? Do you have LTE running as well?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't installed many apps , just the basics like Snapchat WhatsApp Twitter and Instagram . I tried to flash magisk but that would mean uninstalling super su . I normally get around 3-4 bars but I don't use cellular data . I have Greenify but it doesn't seem to be doing much

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