Battery life tips - Google Pixel 4 XL Questions & Answers

So I love this phone but the battery life is poor to say the least with my usage.
I was wondering if we could discuss any realistic battery life tips, which are different from the usual dark mode, turn off x feature etc.
For example, I was thinking of using Macrodroid or Tasker to turn off mobile data when connected to WiFi and vica versa. (I'm not sure the the OS does this anyway though)
Any other thoughts, ideas?

I always turn off send usage and reports/whatever for every Google app. Back when I had my S7 edge, it would run out of battery by 5pm. just checking those off, especially the main Google account made it last until like 10. Been doing it ever since. For the main Google account one, go to settings, Google where it says services & preferences under it, then hit the hamburger menu on the top right, usage and diagnostics, then switch it off. I also do this for the Google app, Gboard, and any others that have it.
Switch off digital wellbeing too. Just search for usage access in settings, find digital wellbeing, then flip it off. That made a big difference for me as well.
My battery lasts from 6am until well after 10pm. It hits 15% around then. This is under fairly heavy usage.

gettinwicked said:
I always turn off send usage and reports/whatever for every Google app. Back when I had my S7 edge, it would run out of battery by 5pm. just checking those off, especially the main Google account made it last until like 10. Been doing it ever since. For the main Google account one, go to settings, Google where it says services & preferences under it, then hit the hamburger menu on the top right, usage and diagnostics, then switch it off. I also do this for the Google app, Gboard, and any others that have it.
Switch off digital wellbeing too. Just search for usage access in settings, find digital wellbeing, then flip it off. That made a big difference for me as well.
My battery lasts from 6am until well after 10pm. It hits 15% around then. This is under fairly heavy usage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Excellent. Thank you for that. I didn't even think about that. Both turned off.

Related

[Q] "Android OS" Taking Up My Battery

I have used the Droid, Ally, Galaxy S, Galaxy Tab 10.1, Droid X and many other Android devices without this problem. This phone is different. Android OS has been taking up 25-30% of my batter with everything I do. Complete restore, update, custom roms, etc, nothing works. I averaged on my other devices well under 10% of my battery being used for Android OS, but this one uses a crazy insane amount and my battery is dead in 7 hours on 3g only mode! What's the deal?
That is a lot. The most i have seen is like 10%.
I only have 4.5 hours of uptime right now, but mine shows 4%.
4% here.
You have something installed that's using the "os", or some app that relies on a service that is now gone.
if Android OS is that high then you're basically doing nothing with your phone.
Try watching a NetFlix video for an hour, or else playing a game, etc.
You have to realize that your phone never actually turns off (else you'd never receive phone calls ) so that the OS has to be running.
If you're doing nothing, just letting the phone sit there idle, then of the 5% of the battery that you let it take up while you were waiting to see if it went down, 30% of it was consumed by the Android OS. It makes sense if nothing is being used that hte OS itself will be the largest user of battery, b/c, as I mentioned, the OS is still running, even if in sleep mode.
And, TBH, it actually made more sense that the old way of reporting Cell Standby was taking up 'so much' battery - b/c if the phone is idle, then I expect that the phone call monitoring aspects of the OS would take the greatest amount of battery, b/c nothing else is using the battery.
You have to take what you see in battery usage with a grain of salt. If you're not using your phone and you see a 3rd party app taking up 40% then you have something to worry about. If the OS itself is taking up that sort of percentage, it means nothing else was running ot take up the battery.
I agree with John that non-use will cause OS to seem abnormally high.
However, your 7 hours of battery life is terrible:
If you are having short battery life here’s a list of things that can help. Just read through the list and select the items that fit with the way you want to use your phone. Not all items will work for everyone and this list was written for the Droid Bionic but should work for your phone too:
- Don't use an automatic task killer--not even the one that comes with the phone. Reboot your phone and look at what's running. If anything that you've installed is running and there's no reason for it, then uninstall it and find an alternative that behaves. Ignore any stock apps that run on boot as I've found them to be more or less benign.
- Weather widgets, live wallpapers, news/social feeds, any app or service that you use that runs--do without it if you can. If you can’t do without it, lengthen it’s refresh time.
- Don't use antivirus
- Set your WIFI sleep policy to never. The default is "turn off when screen turns off". This will cause the wifi to reconnect every time you open the phone. From any Home Screen select Menu/Settings/Wireless & Networks/ and then use the Menu button to see some new options - select Advanced. Then select Wifi Sleep Policy and set it to Never. Home key to return to Home Screen.
- If you have access to wifi, leave it toggled on as it is more efficient than 3G. Wifi consumes less battery power than 3G.
- I leave GPS toggled on too by the way. Apps use it as needed. When I'm done with Maps or an app that uses it, I'm sure to return to the home screen so GPS can stop. Under wireless settings turn on "Google location services" so that an app is able to use network resources to get your location instead of GPS. I have "VZW location services" turned off--don't know why that option is even there. By the way, I increase the speed of voice output > text to speech > speech rate because I like the directions to get spit out faster. That saves a bit of battery. Turning off the display and just listening for directions help. Also, often I just get the directions and then exit back to the home screen: GPS uses so much battery I try to get it over with ASAP.
- When you get a 1) new battery, 2) do a factory reset, or 3) an OS upgrade - run your battery all the way down until the phone shuts off and then charge the battery all the way up. This will calibrate the phone's understanding of the battery's capacity. Do this once every month or two also, but don't do it too often if you can help it.
- I have my battery set to "Performance Mode" and data is on all the time because I am on call 24x7. If you don't mind, try out a more conservative battery profile to save more gobs of energy.
- Set screen brightness to "Automatic"
- Under Accounts, click on any account listed and turn off sync for any items that you're not interested in syncing. For example, Google Books if you don't use it. Don't use Backup Assistant--I prefer syncing my contacts with Google. You don't need both. Also go into your contacts > menu > display options > backup assistant > UNCHECK. Also do contacts > menu > more > settings > contact storage > and select your Google account and "remember this choice"
- Turn on Bluetooth only when you are going to use it.
- Consider turning off voice privacy. This may not be a big deal but it will save some processing (and therefore battery). It may also improve call quality.
-Turn off haptic feedback, animations, and any un-needed sounds in Android settings and in your apps
- Set your screen timeout to as low a time as you can stand (I use 1 minute) and manually turn the screen off when you’ve finished using the phone.
- Turn off in-pocket detection. In-Pocket Detection has been the source of many issues already.
- Keyboard: turn off vibrate on key press and sounds for any keyboards you use
- Use a red or black screen background. On the original Droid screen--not sure about this Bionic screen--red was the most efficient color that could be displayed.
- Camera app: I like keeping location on and flash on auto. Consider turning location off or at least returning to the home screen ASAP when using camera if location for camera is on.
- In stock browser the default home page is Google and it uses your location. This is a bad idea as it can waste your battery for no reason. Make something else your home page and make sure to close any web page that uses your location when you're done viewing it.
- Charge your phone via the wall charger instead of computer USB as it is faster. Also, don't use long USB cords--use regular power extension cords instead. I stick with the charger that came with the phone. Put the phone on charger when you go to bed every night.
- Consider install the Home Replacement app Zeam. It is basic app that uses very few resources and will help with battery power.
- Emails: I don't know what email app you use, but try this. It saves battery power and in some cases emails arrive quicker. This scheme will have you using only the Gmail app on the phone for all email accounts whether they are pop3 accounts or Gmail.
- If you are using Live Wall Papers, stop!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is a link to some very good videos about saving battery power on the Bionic (there are 4 parts and the other parts will show up as available videos when part 1 finishes):
Battery Saving Video
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=cvWg7SbUgsI
If battery life is still bad: Consider doing a factory reset: These have gotten pretty painless lately by following these simple steps: 1. Make sure Backup and Restore are checked in the Privacy setting. 2. When going through the setup after the reset, turn on wifi as soon as you can (assuming it is available). 3. After you have entered your Gmail account info, you will be presented with a screen that has two check boxes. Basically they are "Do you want Google to backup and restore this phone”. Make sure you check both of those. Your apps will then automatically reinstall (paid and free). Set the phone aside for a minute or two and let the apps download and install. 3. If rooted, use an app such as titanium backup to restore data only to select apps such as Tapatalk and you will not have to re-enter all your login information. I do this for 3-4 apps (Tapatalk, SPB Shell, etc.).
I've been flashing new roms/updates about once per day lately and I can be up and running with all my apps and settings back in place in less than 20 minutes. It's pretty painless now.
When I first bought my Bionic, it was eating up battery like crazy. After 2 replacements phones, I found out that some Bionic's were having an issues with Draining battery. My 3rd Bionic is great. On my original Bionic, it would take me 2 extended batteries and still could not make it through day under moderate use. Now, 1 extended battery will last me all day with heavy use.
There are some faulty Bionic's out there. It was even mentioned on Droid-Life. I think the original one they tested had issues with battery drainning really fast.
Geezer Squid said:
I agree with John that non-use will cause OS to seem abnormally high.
However, your 7 hours of battery life is terrible:
If you are having short battery life here’s a list of things that can help. Just read through the list and select the items that fit with the way you want to use your phone. Not all items will work for everyone and this list was written for the Droid Bionic but should work for your phone too:
- Don't use an automatic task killer--not even the one that comes with the phone. Reboot your phone and look at what's running. If anything that you've installed is running and there's no reason for it, then uninstall it and find an alternative that behaves. Ignore any stock apps that run on boot as I've found them to be more or less benign.
- Weather widgets, live wallpapers, news/social feeds, any app or service that you use that runs--do without it if you can. If you can’t do without it, lengthen it’s refresh time.
- Don't use antivirus
- Set your WIFI sleep policy to never. The default is "turn off when screen turns off". This will cause the wifi to reconnect every time you open the phone. From any Home Screen select Menu/Settings/Wireless & Networks/ and then use the Menu button to see some new options - select Advanced. Then select Wifi Sleep Policy and set it to Never. Home key to return to Home Screen.
- If you have access to wifi, leave it toggled on as it is more efficient than 3G. Wifi consumes less battery power than 3G.
- I leave GPS toggled on too by the way. Apps use it as needed. When I'm done with Maps or an app that uses it, I'm sure to return to the home screen so GPS can stop. Under wireless settings turn on "Google location services" so that an app is able to use network resources to get your location instead of GPS. I have "VZW location services" turned off--don't know why that option is even there. By the way, I increase the speed of voice output > text to speech > speech rate because I like the directions to get spit out faster. That saves a bit of battery. Turning off the display and just listening for directions help. Also, often I just get the directions and then exit back to the home screen: GPS uses so much battery I try to get it over with ASAP.
- When you get a 1) new battery, 2) do a factory reset, or 3) an OS upgrade - run your battery all the way down until the phone shuts off and then charge the battery all the way up. This will calibrate the phone's understanding of the battery's capacity. Do this once every month or two also, but don't do it too often if you can help it.
- I have my battery set to "Performance Mode" and data is on all the time because I am on call 24x7. If you don't mind, try out a more conservative battery profile to save more gobs of energy.
- Set screen brightness to "Automatic"
- Under Accounts, click on any account listed and turn off sync for any items that you're not interested in syncing. For example, Google Books if you don't use it. Don't use Backup Assistant--I prefer syncing my contacts with Google. You don't need both. Also go into your contacts > menu > display options > backup assistant > UNCHECK. Also do contacts > menu > more > settings > contact storage > and select your Google account and "remember this choice"
- Turn on Bluetooth only when you are going to use it.
- Consider turning off voice privacy. This may not be a big deal but it will save some processing (and therefore battery). It may also improve call quality.
-Turn off haptic feedback, animations, and any un-needed sounds in Android settings and in your apps
- Set your screen timeout to as low a time as you can stand (I use 1 minute) and manually turn the screen off when you’ve finished using the phone.
- Turn off in-pocket detection. In-Pocket Detection has been the source of many issues already.
- Keyboard: turn off vibrate on key press and sounds for any keyboards you use
- Use a red or black screen background. On the original Droid screen--not sure about this Bionic screen--red was the most efficient color that could be displayed.
- Camera app: I like keeping location on and flash on auto. Consider turning location off or at least returning to the home screen ASAP when using camera if location for camera is on.
- In stock browser the default home page is Google and it uses your location. This is a bad idea as it can waste your battery for no reason. Make something else your home page and make sure to close any web page that uses your location when you're done viewing it.
- Charge your phone via the wall charger instead of computer USB as it is faster. Also, don't use long USB cords--use regular power extension cords instead. I stick with the charger that came with the phone. Put the phone on charger when you go to bed every night.
- Consider install the Home Replacement app Zeam. It is basic app that uses very few resources and will help with battery power.
- Emails: I don't know what email app you use, but try this. It saves battery power and in some cases emails arrive quicker. This scheme will have you using only the Gmail app on the phone for all email accounts whether they are pop3 accounts or Gmail.
- If you are using Live Wall Papers, stop!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is a link to some very good videos about saving battery power on the Bionic (there are 4 parts and the other parts will show up as available videos when part 1 finishes):
Battery Saving Video
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=cvWg7SbUgsI
If battery life is still bad: Consider doing a factory reset: These have gotten pretty painless lately by following these simple steps: 1. Make sure Backup and Restore are checked in the Privacy setting. 2. When going through the setup after the reset, turn on wifi as soon as you can (assuming it is available). 3. After you have entered your Gmail account info, you will be presented with a screen that has two check boxes. Basically they are "Do you want Google to backup and restore this phone”. Make sure you check both of those. Your apps will then automatically reinstall (paid and free). Set the phone aside for a minute or two and let the apps download and install. 3. If rooted, use an app such as titanium backup to restore data only to select apps such as Tapatalk and you will not have to re-enter all your login information. I do this for 3-4 apps (Tapatalk, SPB Shell, etc.).
I've been flashing new roms/updates about once per day lately and I can be up and running with all my apps and settings back in place in less than 20 minutes. It's pretty painless now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good points.
Juroid said:
When I first bought my Bionic, it was eating up battery like crazy. After 2 replacements phones, I found out that some Bionic's were having an issues with Draining battery. My 3rd Bionic is great. On my original Bionic, it would take me 2 extended batteries and still could not make it through day under moderate use. Now, 1 extended battery will last me all day with heavy use.
There are some faulty Bionic's out there. It was even mentioned on Droid-Life. I think the original one they tested had issues with battery draining really fast.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is weird. I wonder....could it be due to actual batteries as opposed to the phones?
But in the OP's case, I doubt it - it would be too coincidental that his battery were to fail right as he applied the update.
@OP - you might also try conditioning the battery, fully charging and then running it down a couple of times and seeing if it stabilizes. It might have to do with the update wiping the stored battery stats (long shot, I know, but still)?

Significantly reduced battery drain with one setting change!?

I've had my Nexus 4 for about two weeks, so everything should be synced up already and I can't blame it for the battery drain. In the battery settings, I noticed the Android OS would keep my Nexus 4 "awake" for almost the majority of the phone's battery life.
I unchecked one setting in Google Now and the keep awake time is significantly reduced. My battery is also lasting longer.
1. Go into Google Now settings (scroll all the way down in Google Now to see settings button)
2. Click Voice
3. Uncheck Hotword detection (make sure it's off - I also unchecked Block offensive words and Personal Recognition)
4. Reboot phone
Albeit, I'm not a heavy user like some of you guys, but doing this has given me more confidence in the battery. I have Google Now, location history, GPS, and sync enabled. My brightness is set to Auto and haptic feedback/NFC are off. My service is T-Mobile and I rarely use Wifi.
I think the Hotword detection was keeping the phone awake to listen for the word "Google."
Let me know if you guys see a change in battery life.
Thanks.
Thanks for the tip, giving it a try now.
It only listens for the word "Google" when you're on the Google Now / Google Search app. This is just a placebo; you're seeing the effect you want to see.
nawoa said:
It only listens for the word "Google" when you're on the Google Now / Google Search app. This is just a placebo; you're seeing the effect you want to see.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What he said. I don't know where the OP came from this idea that Google Now is a culprit of battery life. Where is your evidence of this?
I know that if you have Google Now with cards on with constant GPS on, it would drain. But if you turn off the cards you don't want (or all of them) then you won't have any problems.
Personally for me, I only leave the tracking of my orders on. I leave hotword and personalization on and its fine.
Battery life for me yesterday, http://zephik.com/upload/Screenshot_2012-12-14-19-05-58.png -- I don't think that this is causing any problems.

The Best Nexus 5 Battery Tips

Hey there,
I constantly see lots of questions re battery life, I thought I'd try and help with a couple of very simple proven methods for increasing battery life on Nexus devices. None of this idiotic switching everything off garbage, you'll still have a fully featured phone. Google has added some very sneaky behind the scenes rubbish to monitor Wi-Fi and you're movements, it's this constant polling that can quite drastically effect your battery life.
Obviously, the third option won't work for everybody. Start form the top and move down till you're happy with battery life.
1. Do not use factory auto brightness, it is too aggressive on the Nexus 5. Install Lux and and let it handle the auto brightness. Link inside dark, medium and bright points and finally link a max brightess outside. This will greatly help battery life. Set brightness so it's comfortable, but not overly bright. This alone should net you an extra hour of screen on time if done correctly. I'm not saying dim, I have my screen nice and bright, just not as bright as the factory settings.
2. Fix the horrible factory Wi-Fi settings. Go into Wi-Fi, settings, advanced. Turn off Network Notification, turn off scanning Always available (this doesn't mean no Wi-Fi, it means it stops the phone scanning for Wi-Fi when the Wi-Fi is off, it's insane there is actually such a feature, un-check avoid poor connections, finally turn on Wi-Fi optimization.
3. Location reporting has to go. Go to your app draw, Google settings, location settings. Turn off location reporting and location history. This means you will lose Google Now. I personally couldn't really care, but many will. This does have a rather large effect on battery life, especially if you are out and about and moving through bad coverage and GPS areas.
4. You need to know what you have running on your phone, every app you install could be the one that stops your phone working as long as you need it. Many apps background sync without you actually needing it, or even realizing it. It's your phone, you need to run it. You cannot run Facebook, Twitter and 100 email accounts syncing all day and expect amazing battery life. You simply must be realistic. Only sync the email you have to sync. Open every app on your phone, one by one, if it has background sync, disable it if you don't need it. Apps like Pulse, Flipboard will background sync. Why on Earth you'd need them to load stories when you're not using the app I don't know. Even Google's own News and Weather app background sync's. Turn it all off. Additionally, I un-check Google Currents in Google account sync settings. It takes approx 5 seconds to load the data on nearly any app with modern phones with a single swipe or button press. These changes will drastically benefit you're battery life.
I hope this helps.
RE: WiFi scanning always on. I believe that this is supposed to save battery life. This let's apps use WiFi for locations rather than firing up GPS chip which is worse on the battery. So for example a weather app can push accurate weather where you are behind the scenes. Testing it myself the WiFi scanning checked on helps. That being said I also have Google Now on. Youre saying turn that off too. In that case it may help assuming you have no other apps that pull background GPS data as this seems to be the most GPS hungry app I have.
Ketzal said:
Hey there,
I constantly see lots of questions re battery life, I thought I'd try and help with a couple of very simple proven methods for increasing battery life on Nexus devices. None of this idiotic switching everything off garbage, you'll still have a fully featured phone. Google has added some very sneaky behind the scenes rubbish to monitor Wi-Fi and you're movements, it's this constant polling that can quite drastically effect your battery life.
Obviously, the third option won't work for everybody. Start form the top and move down till you're happy with battery life.
1. Do not use factory auto brightness, it is too aggressive on the Nexus 5. Install Lux and and let it handle the auto brightness. Link inside dark, medium and bright points and finally link a max brightess outside. This will greatly help battery life. Set brightness so it's comfortable, but not overly bright. This alone should net you an extra hour of screen on time if done correctly. I'm not saying dim, I have my screen nice and bright, just not as bright as the factory settings.
2. Fix the horrible factory Wi-Fi settings. Go into Wi-Fi, settings, advanced. Turn off Network Notification, turn off scanning Always available (this doesn't mean no Wi-Fi, it means it stops the phone scanning for Wi-Fi when the Wi-Fi is off, it's insane there is actually such a feature, un-check avoid poor connections, finally turn on Wi-Fi optimization.
3. Location reporting has to go. Go to your app draw, Google settings, location settings. Turn off location reporting and location history. This means you will lose Google Now. I personally couldn't really care, but many will. This does have a rather large effect on battery life, especially if you are out and about and moving through bad coverage and GPS areas.
4. You need to know what you have running on your phone, every app you install could be the one that stops your phone working as long as you need it. Many apps background sync without you actually needing it, or even realizing it. It's your phone, you need to run it. You cannot run Facebook, Twitter and 100 email accounts syncing all day and expect amazing battery life. You simply must be realistic. Only sync the email you have to sync. Open every app on your phone, one by one, if it has background sync, disable it if you don't need it. Apps like Pulse, Flipboard will background sync. Why on Earth you'd need them to load stories when you're not using the app I don't know. Even Google's own News and Weather app background sync's. Turn it all off. Additionally, I un-check Google Currents in Google account sync settings. It takes approx 5 seconds to load the data on nearly any app with modern phones with a single swipe or button press. These changes will drastically benefit you're battery life.
I hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ketzal said:
Hey there,
I constantly see lots of questions re battery life, I thought I'd try and help with a couple of very simple proven methods for increasing battery life on Nexus devices. None of this idiotic switching everything off garbage, you'll still have a fully featured phone. Google has added some very sneaky behind the scenes rubbish to monitor Wi-Fi and you're movements, it's this constant polling that can quite drastically effect your battery life.
Obviously, the third option won't work for everybody. Start form the top and move down till you're happy with battery life.
1. Do not use factory auto brightness, it is too aggressive on the Nexus 5. Install Lux and and let it handle the auto brightness. Link inside dark, medium and bright points and finally link a max brightess outside. This will greatly help battery life. Set brightness so it's comfortable, but not overly bright. This alone should net you an extra hour of screen on time if done correctly. I'm not saying dim, I have my screen nice and bright, just not as bright as the factory settings.
2. Fix the horrible factory Wi-Fi settings. Go into Wi-Fi, settings, advanced. Turn off Network Notification, turn off scanning Always available (this doesn't mean no Wi-Fi, it means it stops the phone scanning for Wi-Fi when the Wi-Fi is off, it's insane there is actually such a feature, un-check avoid poor connections, finally turn on Wi-Fi optimization.
3. Location reporting has to go. Go to your app draw, Google settings, location settings. Turn off location reporting and location history. This means you will lose Google Now. I personally couldn't really care, but many will. This does have a rather large effect on battery life, especially if you are out and about and moving through bad coverage and GPS areas.
4. You need to know what you have running on your phone, every app you install could be the one that stops your phone working as long as you need it. Many apps background sync without you actually needing it, or even realizing it. It's your phone, you need to run it. You cannot run Facebook, Twitter and 100 email accounts syncing all day and expect amazing battery life. You simply must be realistic. Only sync the email you have to sync. Open every app on your phone, one by one, if it has background sync, disable it if you don't need it. Apps like Pulse, Flipboard will background sync. Why on Earth you'd need them to load stories when you're not using the app I don't know. Even Google's own News and Weather app background sync's. Turn it all off. Additionally, I un-check Google Currents in Google account sync settings. It takes approx 5 seconds to load the data on nearly any app with modern phones with a single swipe or button press. These changes will drastically benefit you're battery life.
I hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thx Man. I will try it out and see what I get.
I do everything recommended in the op and I get great battery life. I think location reporting is a huge battery drain.
Sent from my Nexus 7
Location is by the worst battery killer on this phone. I set it to GPS only and have no issues. Otherwise Google services destroys the battery life.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda premium
In addition to the above, I highly recommend disabling these apps if you are not using them, as they could potentially give you unwanted wakelocks, draining your battery.
Google Earth
Email
Play Books
Play Games
Play Magazines
Play Movies
Play Music
Google+
News & Weather
Wallet
Ketzal said:
Hey there,
I constantly see lots of questions re battery life, I thought I'd try and help with a couple of very simple proven methods for increasing battery life on Nexus devices. None of this idiotic switching everything off garbage, you'll still have a fully featured phone. Google has added some very sneaky behind the scenes rubbish to monitor Wi-Fi and you're movements, it's this constant polling that can quite drastically effect your battery life.
Obviously, the third option won't work for everybody. Start form the top and move down till you're happy with battery life.
1. Do not use factory auto brightness, it is too aggressive on the Nexus 5. Install Lux and and let it handle the auto brightness. Link inside dark, medium and bright points and finally link a max brightess outside. This will greatly help battery life. Set brightness so it's comfortable, but not overly bright. This alone should net you an extra hour of screen on time if done correctly. I'm not saying dim, I have my screen nice and bright, just not as bright as the factory settings.
2. Fix the horrible factory Wi-Fi settings. Go into Wi-Fi, settings, advanced. Turn off Network Notification, turn off scanning Always available (this doesn't mean no Wi-Fi, it means it stops the phone scanning for Wi-Fi when the Wi-Fi is off, it's insane there is actually such a feature, un-check avoid poor connections, finally turn on Wi-Fi optimization.
3. Location reporting has to go. Go to your app draw, Google settings, location settings. Turn off location reporting and location history. This means you will lose Google Now. I personally couldn't really care, but many will. This does have a rather large effect on battery life, especially if you are out and about and moving through bad coverage and GPS areas.
4. You need to know what you have running on your phone, every app you install could be the one that stops your phone working as long as you need it. Many apps background sync without you actually needing it, or even realizing it. It's your phone, you need to run it. You cannot run Facebook, Twitter and 100 email accounts syncing all day and expect amazing battery life. You simply must be realistic. Only sync the email you have to sync. Open every app on your phone, one by one, if it has background sync, disable it if you don't need it. Apps like Pulse, Flipboard will background sync. Why on Earth you'd need them to load stories when you're not using the app I don't know. Even Google's own News and Weather app background sync's. Turn it all off. Additionally, I un-check Google Currents in Google account sync settings. It takes approx 5 seconds to load the data on nearly any app with modern phones with a single swipe or button press. These changes will drastically benefit you're battery life.
I hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is only partially true, As ive done extensive tests with core services and settings enabled and disabled. Not only for the Nexus 5, but the Moto X, Nexus 4 etc. I will definitely agree with the brightness. As far as number 2, google states this actually saves battery life, although my tests with it disabled and enabled showed no difference.
As far a location reporting and location history. It actually wont break your google now. Google now and all your cards function just fine. I would suggest leaving history on, and just disabling reporting. All reporting does is allow your phone to track where you are and lets you see here https://maps.google.com/locationhistory/b/0/. Just disabling the history has no significant affect.
Ketzal said:
Hey there,
I constantly see lots of questions re battery life, I thought I'd try and help with a couple of very simple proven methods for increasing battery life on Nexus devices. None of this idiotic switching everything off garbage, you'll still have a fully featured phone. Google has added some very sneaky behind the scenes rubbish to monitor Wi-Fi and you're movements, it's this constant polling that can quite drastically effect your battery life.
Obviously, the third option won't work for everybody. Start form the top and move down till you're happy with battery life.
1. Do not use factory auto brightness, it is too aggressive on the Nexus 5. Install Lux and and let it handle the auto brightness. Link inside dark, medium and bright points and finally link a max brightess outside. This will greatly help battery life. Set brightness so it's comfortable, but not overly bright. This alone should net you an extra hour of screen on time if done correctly. I'm not saying dim, I have my screen nice and bright, just not as bright as the factory settings.
2. Fix the horrible factory Wi-Fi settings. Go into Wi-Fi, settings, advanced. Turn off Network Notification, turn off scanning Always available (this doesn't mean no Wi-Fi, it means it stops the phone scanning for Wi-Fi when the Wi-Fi is off, it's insane there is actually such a feature, un-check avoid poor connections, finally turn on Wi-Fi optimization.
3. Location reporting has to go. Go to your app draw, Google settings, location settings. Turn off location reporting and location history. This means you will lose Google Now. I personally couldn't really care, but many will. This does have a rather large effect on battery life, especially if you are out and about and moving through bad coverage and GPS areas.
4. You need to know what you have running on your phone, every app you install could be the one that stops your phone working as long as you need it. Many apps background sync without you actually needing it, or even realizing it. It's your phone, you need to run it. You cannot run Facebook, Twitter and 100 email accounts syncing all day and expect amazing battery life. You simply must be realistic. Only sync the email you have to sync. Open every app on your phone, one by one, if it has background sync, disable it if you don't need it. Apps like Pulse, Flipboard will background sync. Why on Earth you'd need them to load stories when you're not using the app I don't know. Even Google's own News and Weather app background sync's. Turn it all off. Additionally, I un-check Google Currents in Google account sync settings. It takes approx 5 seconds to load the data on nearly any app with modern phones with a single swipe or button press. These changes will drastically benefit you're battery life.
I hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To be honest what improved my battery life was flashing the current stock ROM and starting from scratch. Google Play Services still produces a ton of wakelocks thanks to Location Reporting but my phone loses only around 0.5% charge an hour on standby now with most services synced.
un-check avoid poor connections
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Click to collapse
Could this not save battery if it's avoiding low signal connections? Wi-Fi always on feature is for when you're not using the GPS, in a supposedly "battery saver" mode in Location services.
In addition, look at your list of installed apps - the usual suspects like weather & news (those w. breaking news alert enabled and/or frequent updates - pre fetching news articles & pix, etc.) Weather Channel was high on my list after I turned off/disabled plenty others as listed above - running Facebook, Twitter & Skype ?? as those could be draining along with cloud storage access (Dropbox, Drive & Sky Drive, etc.)
Plus, let's face it - it's a 5" HD screen - set mine to timeout @ 15 sec. after inactivity, normally - I don't set it to less than 45 or 30 secs. - mine is essentially being conditioned with very little usage, mostly standby time after 2 days and 3 hours, 25% remaining. Screen Time On: 3 hrs. 17 mins.
For what its worth after setting up G.Wallet my biggest location hog was G.Wallet and I fixed that by un-checking showing offers based on location within Wallet.
I have however had a frustrating experience with location eating battery on this phone, the first couple days location was active for over 6 hours out of 13. I still have 3 minutes of GPS time this morning, even though reporting, history, G.now are all off and I haven't launched any location aware apps.
I think the first App on any phone should be "Disable Service". it is like "Services.msc" on windows, it will show you all services on the device from which you can see which services are running and stop them if you dont need them.
this is a must have, it will save you RAM and battery. requires root access.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=cn.wq.disableservice&hl=en
Really helpful! Thanks!
Disabled some of the Google Apps I wasn't using (Magazines, Earth, Books) and switched off Location Reporting. I had forgotten i had turned it off on my Nexus 4 as well so maybe that's why my battery life wasn't so good. Will do some digging to see if any apps are downloading things in the background.
Thanks
Many thanks for the sensible suggestions.
I wish there was a set of switches one could use so that when you really required the comfort of knowing you needed your phone to last, you could set it to 'Low Consumption'. In fact there probably is an app.
Cheers anyway.
Bob
looking at the process statistics in "settings->developer options" facebook messenger is my biggest problem. Looking at the battery overview, it was the google play services.
I checked my fathers nexus 5 a few minutes ago (he has whatsapp installed and that's it) and he had 20% battery drain after 16 hours and google play services are at the top showing it's been running for 16 hours (is that the wakelock? looks like it, but i'm not sure).
So kicking the google play services sounds like a must-have. I use ingress after work and thats it. No need for constant position updates while i'm at work or sleeping.
How do I remove google earth?
Gravediggaz said:
How do I remove google earth?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you're not rooted go to:
Settings>Apps>Google Earth> Uninstall updates> Disable.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
For me the battery drain with Google services has stop since i disable auto update on play store (set it to "do not update automaticly")
Maybe you can try and wait for the next battery charge and see [emoji2]
Envoyé de mon Nexus 5 en utilisant Tapatalk
I had a massive drain from google play services keeping my phone awake now when asleep my phone barely drops any battery after hours. I stopped play services from being able to wake the nexus while sleeping now my battery life is very good better than my s4
On auto brightness and playing clash of clans during the day still 19% left
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[Q] Still chasing battery drain: Is it possible FingerPrint Unlock is part of it?

So having come from Verizon's Note 4 and averaging up to 24hrs on battery running pretty much the same setup as I do now on my T-Mobile Note 4 minus the "Root" & "Custom Rom" abilities. Otherwise, same apps, accounts, usage pattern, ect...
I am on an ongoing battle still after several complete wipes, different Roms including just running STOCK ANK4 and trying to figure out what is going on. Phone defect? Battery defect?
Anyhow, Ever since changing over to both the T-Mobile Note 4 & their service, my experience has been a rather miserable 14 to 18hrs MAX battery life and going from 4hrs screen on time to around 2 1/2 w/ T-Mobile.
Which now leads me yet to wonder something else. I believe I started using the "FingerPrint" security feature since switching to T-Mobile to unlock the device. Has anyone experienced a similar "Battery longevity" issue using said feature before I continue troubleshooting and chasing my own tail on this? Of course I will eventually test this theory anyhow, but figured I would throw it out there.
Also, Open to any suggestions.
Just some things I have already done along with the above mentioned:
- Utilized the App "Greenify" & donation full version to greenify many apps including "Google Play Services".
- Set up Profiles which I toggle via "PhoneWeaver" to turn off data when on Wi-Fi which consists of 90% of my day as I'm Wi-Fi connected both at home and work.
- Of course always turn off that option within Wi-Fi settings to untick "Always Scan".
- Went into "Google" app settings and turned off about everything I can find in there and it's now rather complex settings.
- Turned off most syncing of my 2 "Google" accounts to only one having anything other than Email Sync active such as the Calendar, Contacts, and Apps Sync. - Again, my 1 Google Account I only have set to sync Email and nothing else.
Sure I forgot some things I've tried but again, I am open to any/all suggestions. I admit, I bought my T-Mobile via Swappa. All seemed well as per their checklist of the obvious things to check regarding the phone's operation. Kind of stuck here now and wondering if my device is simply defective and/or the battery.
Also of note: Android System is always by far the largest contributor to my battery drain and exceeds even Screen-On time by around 10%. But then again, don't really know if that means anything or not since even before switching carriers and the transition from "JellyBean" to "KitKat" on my previous S4, Android System became a forever battery hog for me.
Just never had a top end device such as this in past years barely get me through a complete day: Work & Home time. I don't consider myself a heavy user. Barely even "Moderate" many days as I mainly text during my lunch break, otherwise phone is pretty much idle. And say 2 phone calls of aprox 20 min.s each during commute time. Yea, something just isn't right. :crying:
I have noticed 3 things that were hurting battery bad.
1.) Use the Google play services with the 030 extension. I get way better battery life on it 5% to 10% increase in battery life. Link below:
http://www.apkmirror.com/apk/google...ices-7-0-99-1809214-030-android-apk-download/
2.) If you are not using maps or other location services turn your location off. Literally a 20%+ increase in battery from this alone.
3.) Toggle your NFC. Something in Android 4.4.4 sometimes causes your NFC to wake lock. If you turn it on then turn it off one time it normally fixes is.
I attached my battery stats below.
It with about 2 hours of screen on time.
Sent from my SM-N910T using XDA Free mobile app
ShrekOpher said:
I have noticed 3 things that were hurting battery bad.
1.) Use the Google play services with the 030 extension. I get way better battery life on it 5% to 10% increase in battery life. Link below:
http://www.apkmirror.com/apk/google...ices-7-0-99-1809214-030-android-apk-download/
2.) If you are not using maps or other location services turn your location off. Literally a 20%+ increase in battery from this alone.
3.) Toggle your NFC. Something in Android 4.4.4 sometimes causes your NFC to wake lock. If you turn it on then turn it off one time it normally fixes is.
I attached my battery stats below.
It with about 2 hours of screen on time.
Sent from my SM-N910T using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply and suggestions! I just checked and I am currently running Google Play Services V 7.0.97 (1791429-030).
A couple things I have done meanwhile since my OP which have had "some" noticeable positive effects on my battery duration, yet still no where near what you have posted are:
Within "Google Settings" app:
- Account History ( I have "turned off or rather paused" ALL the Activity/Info/History settings here - All 5)
Regarding my 2nd, basically "Junk mail" Gmail Account:
- Now have ALL "Sync" turned off within, including the syncing of email, which I now simply check manually to update.
Greenify:
- Revisited, and added a bunch more apps and pretty much "Greenified" ALL Samsung related entries/services/ect...
So far I have increased to achieving up to about 3 1/2 hrs Screen time (Gained 1 hr) & a few more hours of real time battery longevity as I can now achieve close to 20hrs before needing charge.
Still feel I have some troubleshooting to go. Oh, I actually have the NFC Service "Greenified" to. So far haven't really noticed a problem with "Deep Sleep" either according to CPU SPY pro.
Yep, Have always had the Location Service to OFF, not even using the so called "Battery saving" selection with it. Such a pity to have to cripple such things but it's a trade off I guess in achieving a full day's battery vs.s using the features with this phone for some reason more-so than past devices it seems. At least in my case. :silly:

Battery preservation strategy

I've been thoroughly impressed with battery life on the Moto Z as a result of normal use. Less so with idle battery consumption. That is, after installing my full complement of apps (including facebook and twitter), I did a few tests by going too bed on a full charge, and found that 7 or so hours later, it had burned down 15-20% doing nothing overnight!
I installed gsam batter monitor since the stock one is kind of useless. This provided a lot of valuable info, which is basically that Twitter is a huge hog, Facebook surprisingly isn't, and google play services also seems to be spinning its wheels a lot when I'm doing nothing. But most of my juice was going to powering the wifi radio.
Android M has a setting to turn off wifi when the phone is sleeping. I was reluctant to do this at first because I figured my apps would just start wasting my data instead. However, you also have the ability to selectively limit apps' ability to use cellular data when running in the background. In an app's settings you can click "Data Usage", then "Restrict app background data."
I did this for all the apps that gsam identified as being the wifi/battery users. And frankly there are almost no apps that I actually want using data when I'm not using the app itself anyway, except SMS and gmail. (I wish there was a way to just say "actually shut this app down when I close it", so I could activate it for most apps!)
Anyway -after doing this, I activated the setting to turn off the wifi radio when the phone was sleeping.
Result? 2% battery drain overnight, and minimal cellular data use. Amazing.
(Btw - I also uninstalled the twitter app and just put a link from chrome on my desktop. The web mobile app is very good anyway and I'm not much a twitter addict so this is a fine alternative that is a lot less intrustive for me).
jamtre said:
I've been thoroughly impressed with battery life on the Moto Z as a result of normal use. Less so with idle battery consumption. That is, after installing my full complement of apps (including facebook and twitter), I did a few tests by going too bed on a full charge, and found that 7 or so hours later, it had burned down 15-20% doing nothing overnight!
I installed gsam batter monitor since the stock one is kind of useless. This provided a lot of valuable info, which is basically that Twitter is a huge hog, Facebook surprisingly isn't, and google play services also seems to be spinning its wheels a lot when I'm doing nothing. But most of my juice was going to powering the wifi radio.
Android M has a setting to turn off wifi when the phone is sleeping. I was reluctant to do this at first because I figured my apps would just start wasting my data instead. However, you also have the ability to selectively limit apps' ability to use cellular data when running in the background. In an app's settings you can click "Data Usage", then "Restrict app background data."
I did this for all the apps that gsam identified as being the wifi/battery users. And frankly there are almost no apps that I actually want using data when I'm not using the app itself anyway, except SMS and gmail. (I wish there was a way to just say "actually shut this app down when I close it", so I could activate it for most apps!)
Anyway -after doing this, I activated the setting to turn off the wifi radio when the phone was sleeping.
Result? 2% battery drain overnight, and minimal cellular data use. Amazing.
(Btw - I also uninstalled the twitter app and just put a link from chrome on my desktop. The web mobile app is very good anyway and I'm not much a twitter addict so this is a fine alternative that is a lot less intrustive for me).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just got the phone a couple days ago. I appreciate the info here. I have also read that if you just turn wifi to 2.4 GHz only that it will keep the battery drain from happening. I don't use twitter or facebook so don't have to worry about those. Google play services has been a problem since marshmallow. If we could root we could use something like Amplify to stop all the wakelocks, but root is getting hard to come by on these new phones.
I noticed on Gsam that my phone will sleep well for a while, then the "held awake" category starts to take off. I have to reboot to get it to doze again. I have agressive doze and doze on the go activated in Greenify. Not sure what gets it started, but it would be nice to be able to kill it off without rebooting.
I bought a USB C to regular USB and have been charging without the Turbo Charger and the battery is doing so much better.
I was getting frustrated with the battery performance.
Sent from my XT1650 using XDA-Developers mobile app

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