Battery Life and AdBlocking... - AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshootin

This may be a shot in the dark here, but I noticed that my battery life has decreased since turning on ad blocking with AdAway.
It only uses the hosts file method, which is pretty standard for ad blockers, but battery life seemed much different afterwards.
Of course this is not the only variable, but I thought I would put this out there and see if anyone else had the same experience.
Technically speaking if an app is searching for the images/content for an ad and it gets blocked, I imagine it would try a few more times before giving up. That would increase network traffic and decrease battery life, right? Well it may be a miniscule amount, but I haev disabled ad blocking and am giving it a whirl anyway to see.

joeybear23 said:
This may be a shot in the dark here, but I noticed that my battery life has decreased since turning on ad blocking with AdAway.
It only uses the hosts file method, which is pretty standard for ad blockers, but battery life seemed much different afterwards.
Of course this is not the only variable, but I thought I would put this out there and see if anyone else had the same experience.
Technically speaking if an app is searching for the images/content for an ad and it gets blocked, I imagine it would try a few more times before giving up. That would increase network traffic and decrease battery life, right? Well it may be a miniscule amount, but I haev disabled ad blocking and am giving it a whirl anyway to see.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I always had the impression that it should increase battery life. But with your logic, its the same as if I had an app to kill task like the old days of android that it drained because the app needed to finish its process and if it can't it will keep restarting itself till it does.
I'll see if it does increase/decrease battery life, but it is harder to determine since I applied the OTA update yesterday.

I have it installed and haven't noticed any differences. It runs only at boot for me, and that's it

mcmb03 said:
I have it installed and haven't noticed any differences. It runs only at boot for me, and that's it
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Click to collapse
That's why it would be hard for an app like BBS to detect, because it is not the adblocker itself, rather it would be the effect it would have on all apps that try to grab ads...
The adblocker itself only updates the hosts file, then quits.

I think you'd notice significant changes in the bbs app for all the apps that do try to fetch ads. I'm no app dev but I doubt they continuously check for ads from the server until it actually gets one, I would think it checks once only when called

mcmb03 said:
I think you'd notice significant changes in the bbs app for all the apps that do try to fetch ads. I'm no app dev but I doubt they continuously check for ads from the server until it actually gets one, I would think it checks once only when called
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hope that's the case...

Related

How I got my Battery Life Back!!

Through this forum and others, I was able to restore my battery life on the epic back to the 20 odd hours. I thought of writing my process here for the benefit of those who might be struggling with similar issues:
ROM: Clean GB
Tools: Better Battery Stats and Battery usage graph (BetterBatteryStats from the market. I think there is another one that is free. I will try and find it. However, the graph referred to is the one that is built it. When you see battery usage, click on the the top part and it shows the graph of battery drain. )
Observation: There is unusual usage of phone when the screen is off. The phone wakes up roughly once every 2-3 minutes even when the screen is off. Battery life between 3 and 5 hours. Emails do not sync or slow to sync.
1. Removing DRM files: The three said files were frozen using Titanium Backup. However, when I looked under battery usage/Android, I would still see DRM listed. So in the end, I UNINSTALLED all three files and the DRM was no longer listed. Not sure how much of a culprit it is but worth mentioning if you are freezing the files assuming they are not coming up. Check under Battery:
2. Calendar: This was the main culprit: Calendar storage was damaged on the phone and so, the phone was constantly polling to sync my calendar, in turn, running the battery down and making the phone slow. Cleared Calendar Storage using Titanium and that fixed the problem of syncing.
Emails:
1. Hotmail : Activesync (now on 1 hour polling)
2. Corporate: IMAP (1 hour)
(Above two running on Enhanced Email client). Not sure if standart client will also work, will test that and post later)
3. Gmail: using gmail app
Worth mentioning, that I used Enhanced Email and turned on logging to really see what was going on, hence coming to the issue of Calendar taking forever to sync.
3. SNS: The symptom was that SNS would be constanting restarting when seen under Applications/ Running services. Freezing the 2 sns files took care of that. Lost facebook status messages etc for contacts but made the phone faster.
4. KERNEL and CWM : Initially, although the phone was rooted, CWM was somehow, not FULLY installed. And for some reason, the phone would go to Sprint Recovery Menu. Also, worth mentioning, kernel usage was high. Installed the Clean_kernel and the latest CWM till I was satisfied the install was good and clean. A good way to test is to watch kernel usage on better battery stats and CWM behaviour when you go to Recovery.
5. Moved all content of SD card to PC and reformatted it. However, my SD card was fine, so did not see a change in performance, however, others might benefit, especially if you have movie files that the system is having a problem parsing.
I will add more if I think I missed something but doing the above took my phone from a paltry 3 hours on standby to more than 20 hours with usage. Totally acceptable and happy.
Hope this helps others.
Thanks, there's some interesting information in your post!
I cannot find either of those battery tools on the market... I also run clean GB...
I took into account what you mentioned, and removed SNS completely, hell I went a step further and just uninstalled the FB app. I will use the mobile site, and that is fine and dandy for me, I don't really need or want the constant notifications anyways.
I recommend the app Juice Defender, get the ultimate version, either pirate or paid, it is well worth it. Manages your 3g and wifi better, turns them off when the aren't needed, turns them on when they are. Really handy, has at least doubled my standby time.
I also recommend getting CPU Master, and having both it and voltage control on boot. CPU master lets you have profiles based on events, like the screen being off, or the battery getting to hot, again setup properly this also has done a number on my standby time.
Since I just flashed this kernel I haven't run a battery test yet, I am using Legendary 2.1 and IAP 2.0.6. Will run a test tonight to see how long the battery lasts for standby, hopefully it will turn on in the morning, it hasn't in the past very often.
---------- Post added at 07:30 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:26 AM ----------
Milkman00 said:
I cannot find either of those battery tools on the market... I also run clean GB...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't used the graph, in order to find Betterbatterystats it has to be spelled just like that
Yes, BetterBatteryStats from the market. I think there is another one that is free. I will try and find it. However, the graph referred to is the one that is built it. When you see battery usage, click on the the top part and it shows the graph of battery drain.
The important part that I wanted to see was when the screen is off, is there any activity, meaning the phone is not truely speaking. At when the phone was at its worse, there was a activity roughly every 2 minutes. That was the main cause of the battery drain.
saramon said:
I took into account what you mentioned, and removed SNS completely, hell I went a step further and just uninstalled the FB app. I will use the mobile site, and that is fine and dandy for me, I don't really need or want the constant notifications anyways.
I recommend the app Juice Defender, get the ultimate version, either pirate or paid, it is well worth it. Manages your 3g and wifi better, turns them off when the aren't needed, turns them on when they are. Really handy, has at least doubled my standby time.
---------- Post added at 07:30 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:26 AM ----------
[/COLOR]
I haven't used the graph, in order to find Betterbatterystats it has to be spelled just like that
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Click to collapse
I cant say much about those tools cause I havent really used them. However, in my case, the problem was a bad calendar sync and SNS, I can see Juicedefender would maybe improve the battery life as it wont let the phone connect, but wont necessarily correct the issue at hand. Just my two cents.
saramon said:
I took into account what you mentioned, and removed SNS completely, hell I went a step further and just uninstalled the FB app. I will use the mobile site, and that is fine and dandy for me, I don't really need or want the constant notifications anyways.
I haven't used the graph, in order to find Betterbatterystats it has to be spelled just like that
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
FYI: I have the facebook app installed and it works fine. The problem is in the SNS when you put in your facebook info and it lets you sync fb events etc.
Also, by removing, I am hoping you mean you froze or deleted those two SNS files. Just watch Applications/Running to see if you see SNS there. If not, you are golden.
4hours of battery =) blazerRom is the best out right now. Thought it usually would be at 2% with 3g on and not wifi allday
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
My phone stays "awake" constantly. How can I figure out why it is staying awake??? I think that is a big part of my battery problems.
Milkman00 said:
My phone stays "awake" constantly. How can I figure out why it is staying awake??? I think that is a big part of my battery problems.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Betterbatterystats has a listing of programs under partial wake lock. See which is using up the most time.
hindibuff said:
Worth mentioning, that I used Enhanced Email and turned on logging to really see what was going on, hence coming to the issue of Calendar taking forever to sync.
.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do you turn on logging in enhanced email?
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda premium
sethlo said:
How do you turn on logging in enhanced email?
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This might help:
http://enhancedemail.net/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=4&sid=25404e9a1c5b7b2471d2e184a1fbb6e2
saramon said:
I recommend the app Juice Defender, get the ultimate version, either pirate or paid, it is well worth it. Manages your 3g and wifi better, turns them off when the aren't needed, turns them on when they are. Really handy, has at least doubled my standby time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also highly recommend this app, and have realized enormous power savings from it. My phone takes microscopic sips of electrons when in standby with JD.
However, I most emphatically DO NOT recommend that anyone be a thieving, pond-scum, crook with the ethics of a crack whore and obtain a pirated copy of this app, as saramon has recommended above. The author if this app has spent a lot of their time developing it, and should be compensated fairly. It is one of the best supported, most often update apps around. For the value it provides, there really isn't any legitimate argument justifying stealing it to avoid a few bucks.
Shame, saramon, shame.
I purchased JuiceDefender but ended up uninstalling it. Much easier just to toggle wifi and sync on-off manually, rather than tweaking it constantly. I found that the app causes more connection hassles and permission annoyances which offset any battery saving benefits it offers, and is yet another ram-draining backround process that slows my phone.
Never said that I did, but not everyone can afford it, just sayin'
hindibuff said:
3. SNS: The symptom was that SNS would be constanting restarting when seen under Applications/ Running services. Freezing the 2 sns files took care of that. Lost facebook status messages etc for contacts but made the phone faster.
4. KERNEL and CWM : Initially, although the phone was rooted, CWM was somehow, not FULLY installed. And for some reason, the phone would go to Sprint Recovery Menu. Also, worth mentioning, kernel usage was high. Installed the Clean_kernel and the latest CWM till I was satisfied the install was good and clean. A good way to test is to watch kernel usage on better battery stats and CWM behaviour when you go to Recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had 2 questions. First, what exactly is SNS? I see it restarting a lot as well, but I've been afraid it was something important so I've always left it alone.
And how would ClockworkMod affect battery life? Doesn't that only come into play when going into recovery mode?
Thanks
TheSkipperCDB said:
I had 2 questions. First, what exactly is SNS? I see it restarting a lot as well, but I've been afraid it was something important so I've always left it alone.
And how would ClockworkMod affect battery life? Doesn't that only come into play when going into recovery mode?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you have SNS restarting it's probably because you removed the stock "Feeds & Updates" widget that came with your phone. Either freeze SNS in Titanium Backup (rooted), put the F&U widget back on one of your screens (unrooted) or kill it after every reboot (unrooted and no F&U widget).
saramon said:
Never said that I did, but not everyone can afford it, just sayin'
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
He's not suggesting that you did. He is just saying that you shouldn't suggest it to others.
Piracy is for children that want to feel savvy because they know how to steal Photoshop. Thepiratebay.org, kat.ph, isohunt, and the various novas aren't original or cool, everyone knows about them. The difference is that some people have grown up and understand that people that do work deserve to be paid for it.
Besides it is what? $2-3? Anyone with the intention to buy a product could afford that.
I bought After Effects, Sony Vegas, and Photoshop Elements. Elements I got on sale for $50. The others were a couple versions old and I got them for $300 and $150 respectively. I am a poor college kid. However, I know I can get a part time job and pay for the things I need and that's what I did. I only needed to work for about a month to buy all my software and now I have a legal license to use it. So Sony and Adobe won't try to steal the rights to everything I make >.>
In short, stuff only seems expensive if you have no intentions of paying for it in the first place. My family lives well below the poverty line and I still can afford a pretty decent production set up. I'm sure anyone could conjure up $2. It's less than a round trip bus ride.
I know this was long enough, but I figure I should mention this isn't an attack on you or anyone else. I feel very strongly about the subject and I would say this regardless of who brings the subject up. I have a lot of friends that disagree with me and I have pirated software in the past, I just think that people deserve the money they worked for. Perhaps prices could even go down if everyone actually paid for their software.
I got some life back out of my battery with CM7. Then went back to ERA legendary. I did all the following:
Wiped / reformatted the sd card, odined and repartitioned, odined ec05, odined CWM5, flashed ei22, flashed the rom, then kernel I wanted to try, multiple setups.... no avail. (Monitoring every combo with battery status)
What I have done now is repackaged the rom, removed the "stock" launcher (swapped for zeam) and a couple apks I though were pointless to me, and replaced the kernel so there is all only one flash. I am really starting to think mix_n_match flashing was causing an issue for me. Also, CWM 5 odined and not using the app is not giving me all the aformentioned issues or running as a background process...
So far my battery life is much better with one flash, but one thing I notice in all cases is after a reboot, better battery stats shows "system" under process tab, always highest on the list. Once charged it goes away until a phone call, reboot, and even after forced sync.
SNYPE2K9 said:
He's not suggesting that you did. He is just saying that you shouldn't suggest it to others.
Piracy is for children that want to feel savvy because they know how to steal Photoshop. Thepiratebay.org, kat.ph, isohunt, and the various novas aren't original or cool, everyone knows about them. The difference is that some people have grown up and understand that people that do work deserve to be paid for it.
Besides it is what? $2-3? Anyone with the intention to buy a product could afford that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
my troll post for the day.

Battery life in SwiftDroid (may apply to other ROMs too).

Hai,
Since nobody bothered to answer my call to track down what drains the battery I decided to just post my findings and you do with it whatever you like...
In recent couple of months I've been experiencing quite nice battery life, almost a week on standby, which is basically on par with original LG ROM. The trick is simple:
It's happening as long as the Gallery app is NOT running.
I don't know what this piece of software does but when it's loaded to memory it stays in there and ignores attempts to terminate it, doesn't sleep when phone wants to and eats battery in a matter of single day. Unfortunately it seems some other apps use it directly or indirectly, like when Wi-Fi starts and/or by Market for example. Thus my solution is just to force close the Gallery after I finish activities which seem to require it.
I don't know whether root of the problem is with the app itself (like, CM modifications made so it's more cool, at the price) or it's just something else unearthed by certain SwiftDroid's configuration. To anyone who wishes to furher investigate my sincerest good luck. And I'd be grateful if results were published too.
hmskrecik said:
Hai,
Since nobody bothered to answer my call to track down what drains the battery I decided to just post my findings and you do with it whatever you like...
In recent couple of months I've been experiencing quite nice battery life, almost a week on standby, which is basically on par with original LG ROM. The trick is simple:
It's happening as long as the Gallery app is NOT running.
I don't know what this piece of software does but when it's loaded to memory it stays in there and ignores attempts to terminate it, doesn't sleep when phone wants to and eats battery in a matter of single day. Unfortunately it seems some other apps use it directly or indirectly, like when Wi-Fi starts and/or by Market for example. Thus my solution is just to force close the Gallery after I finish activities which seem to require it.
I don't know whether root of the problem is with the app itself (like, CM modifications made so it's more cool, at the price) or it's just something else unearthed by certain SwiftDroid's configuration. To anyone who wishes to furher investigate my sincerest good luck. And I'd be grateful if results were published too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i deleted this slow sh** from /system/app and installed QuickPic!
hmskrecik said:
almost a week on standby
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you joking? Should i use my phone as a doorstop,or what else?
EDIT: And,an old trick: when an app stays opened,to prevent it to reload again you have to delete his user data (works with Maps and Gmail too)
Eth4n said:
Are you joking? Should i use my phone as a doorstop,or what else?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You do with your phone what it damned pleases you. In case you haven't noticed the battery life is most often reported as either standby time or call time. In my typical usage battery lasts no less than two or three days but what 'typical usage' means may mean totally different things to me and to you.
Eth4n said:
EDIT: And,an old trick: when an app stays opened,to prevent it to reload again you have to delete his user data (works with Maps and Gmail too)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hm, even more shotgun approach to what I described. Having user data could be the primary reason for keeping the app installed. But thanks for tip anyway, may come handy one day.
There is gr8 app on xda, better batery state. With this app you can see what aplication keep wake lock, use cpu, gps, etc...

Battery Life with Greenify on Droid Turbo

SInce Greenify works with the new MOFO method, I thought it would be interesting to see how it's affecting the Turbo's already superior battery life. How much further are people getting on a single charge?
i completely forgot about that. i will let you know. may take a couple days though to really see.
I've been using greenify since owning the turbo. Without xposed, root only allows for hibernation without having to turn the screen on. Otherwise, I haven't noticed much of a difference - though it is nice not watching the screen turn on, stop processes, then turn off many times a day.
Sent from my device
Demiurge7 said:
I've been using greenify since owning the turbo. Without xposed, root only allows for hibernation without having to turn the screen on. Otherwise, I haven't noticed much of a difference - though it is nice not watching the screen turn on, stop processes, then turn off many times a day.
Sent from my device
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i thought without root it could not autohibernate. before root you had ot manually hit the button to close apps. at least i couldnt find a way to have it auto hibernate without root
johnbravado said:
i thought without root it could not autohibernate. before root you had ot manually hit the button to close apps. at least i couldnt find a way to have it auto hibernate without root
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No it can auto hibernate without root. You just have to set greenify as a device administrator - and it has to turn the screen on to stop apps. This function may require the paid version (dont remember), but not root. I think root may also allow hibernation of system apps, but even then I think that was an option without root.
Sent from my mobile device
does not work 100%?
My workaround was to use fast reboot pro since it stops apps without root or turning on the screen.
Haven't rooted my turbo yet (not paying for it when they give disclaimers and there was a bounty) but frp seems to save some battery plus switching to ART helps as well.
I don't think greenify will do much difference because it requires more of cpu downclocking and Governor change.
wadamean said:
I don't think greenify will do much difference because it requires more of cpu downclocking and Governor change.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Huh? Greenify does not "downclock" or change your governor. It keeps wake locks down, and prevents apps from using battery by running when they don't need to be.
Sent from my mobile device
My battery barelly holds 16 hours and I have the donation package of greenify. What am I doing wrong? My Z2 battery used to hold like 18~20 hours or even more.
Demiurge7 said:
Huh? Greenify does not "downclock" or change your governor. It keeps wake locks down, and prevents apps from using battery by running when they don't need to be.
Sent from my mobile device
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am well aware of that. My lack of not seperating the sentences may have brought confusion. What I was implying, was that greenify won't do so much of a difference because to obtain legit battery improvements it requires tweaking of kernel and cpu and governors and achieve the best battery possible.
maximuscesar said:
My battery barelly holds 16 hours and I have the donation package of greenify. What am I doing wrong? My Z2 battery used to hold like 18~20 hours or even more.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do not be mislead to how many hours it lasts in the long run of quantity but focus on screen on time which matters most. I am not rooted whatsoever and I constantly achieve this battery life.
wadamean said:
I am well aware of that. My lack of not seperating the sentences may have brought confusion. What I was implying, was that greenify won't do so much of a difference because to obtain legit battery improvements it requires tweaking of kernel and cpu and governors and achieve the best battery possible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see. I do think greenify does its job, and certainly helps battery life (especially in conjunction with xposed). I would, and I am sure many others would agree that it's still an effective and legitimate tool. I agree, not as much so as throttling, but that's not really what I thought this thread was about. We are unfortunately far from kernel tweaks at the moment ☺
Sent from my mobile device
wadamean said:
I am well aware of that. My lack of not seperating the sentences may have brought confusion. What I was implying, was that greenify won't do so much of a difference because to obtain legit battery improvements it requires tweaking of kernel and cpu and governors and achieve the best battery possible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
apps not waking the cpu from deep sleep and being more efficient than a super fast cpu running more slowly and performing the tasks for longer. sounds better to me at least thats the idea behind the new job scheduler api in 5.x and greenify thats longer that all the components on the phone have to be operating and creating heat Im not an expert but my 2 cents
53?!?
Thats right, 53 hours, or around there at least. So I am using the original root image from mofo, with Greenify Donation Package installed, so I get auto hibernation, but not the system function hibernation....yet. I may be updating to an Xposed image soon, to unlock those features. I have every app possible except Carbonite Mobile (Auto Pic/Video backup/access) and TextSecure ( 3rd party SMS/MMS) set to auto-hibernate, including my 3rd party email K-9 Mail, I don't use the normal GMail app. With my current combination, normal usage inc. phone calls, texts, (mostly) web browsing or stalking the XDA app, I got a whopping ~53 hours of battery life before I had to charge at 2%. My phone is also my alarm clock. Unfortunately I forgot to take a screen shot, but I will try and duplicate it and take one.
BEDickey said:
Thats right, 53 hours, or around there at least. So I am using the original root image from mofo, with Greenify Donation Package installed, so I get auto hibernation, but not the system function hibernation....yet. I may be updating to an Xposed image soon, to unlock those features. I have every app possible except Carbonite Mobile (Auto Pic/Video backup/access) and TextSecure ( 3rd party SMS/MMS) set to auto-hibernate, including my 3rd party email K-9 Mail, I don't use the normal GMail app. With my current combination, normal usage inc. phone calls, texts, (mostly) web browsing or stalking the XDA app, I got a whopping ~53 hours of battery life before I had to charge at 2%. My phone is also my alarm clock. Unfortunately I forgot to take a screen shot, but I will try and duplicate it and take one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's intense.
Just rooted and got xposed working last night to hibernate some system apps. Excited to see how it works.
Sooooooooo..... Battery life with greenify and lux after root and disabling bloat. My location services are on high accuracy. My Bluetooth is always on with my moto 360. Wi-Fi and data are also always on. I receive all notifications. How can I ask for any better.....
That picture doesn't really mean anything without also showing screen on time.
JasonJoel said:
That picture doesn't really mean anything without also showing screen on time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because of the moto 360 not a lot of screen time. I reply and skip music through through the watch.
So for people like me that means a lot. Just news when I'm free for screen on time.
XT1225, Kit Kat with some apps greenified and some bloat removed/frozen.

Wakelocks

Well, I've been searching for days on this so hopefully someone here has some insight on this.
I'm having some pretty bad wakelock issues, and I can't figure out what's causing this. I'd rather not root the device, since I have Nexus Protect and don't want to risk voiding that, so the tools I'm left with to figure out what's causing this are a bit primitive.
I read somewhere that Bluetooth scanning can cause wakelock issues like this, so I turned that off yesterday. So far today, the results are the same.
Screenshots: http://imgur.com/a/HltQ7
As you can see, I've barely been using the thing at all, and yet it's been awake almost constantly since I left for work this morning. As far as widgets, all I'm using are Google Clock, Google Calendar, and Weather Timeline. I have multiple Google accounts connected to the phone, but only one with synced items (and only what's absolutely necessary. Naturally, I've cleared app cache and system cache and rebooted, and I do not have Facebook or Messenger installed.
To be fair, we need a little more info including the build you're on. The changes you're making are small and clearly not changing anything for you. The multiple accounts are a possibility, and you could try syncing them and then turning sync off, or deleting them and beginning again. You could try booting in safe mode and testing it that way.
Personally, I'd back up the device, unlock the bootloader, flash the latest factory image and set up again (which is often el goog's advice) to see if the issue recurs. If it does you relock the bootloader and get onto Nexus Protect.
Arcendus said:
Well, I've been searching for days on this so hopefully someone here has some insight on this.
I'm having some pretty bad wakelock issues, and I can't figure out what's causing this. I'd rather not root the device, since I have Nexus Protect and don't want to risk voiding that, so the tools I'm left with to figure out what's causing this are a bit primitive.
I read somewhere that Bluetooth scanning can cause wakelock issues like this, so I turned that off yesterday. So far today, the results are the same.
Screenshots: http://imgur.com/a/HltQ7
As you can see, I've barely been using the thing at all, and yet it's been awake almost constantly since I left for work this morning. As far as widgets, all I'm using are Google Clock, Google Calendar, and Weather Timeline. I have multiple Google accounts connected to the phone, but only one with synced items (and only what's absolutely necessary. Naturally, I've cleared app cache and system cache and rebooted, and I do not have Facebook or Messenger installed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately you're not going to be able to properly investigate what's causing the wakelocks without root. Any accurate app that can investigate this, like BetterBatteryStats, requires root.
so it seems that google search is the number one thing killing your battery. Try disabling that for a day or two and see how your battery fairs.
Like others have said, you can't really find out what specifically is causing the wakelock without root. Rooting your nexus will not affect your nexus protect warranty. You can restore it to stock very easily by flashing system in fastboot
Well I bit the bullet and rooted my device today, so I'll be able to take a closer look at this after normal use tomorrow - but currently I'm thinking it could be due (at least in part) to my workplace WiFi configuration. On my home network the wakelocks are pretty normal, but whenever I'm on the workplace WiFi it's held awake constantly. Upon disabling WiFi I'm seeing FAR more reasonable Awake frequency/times: http://imgur.com/dYstikJ
Amplify, greenify and autostarts, sort of deals with everything.
---------- Post added at 06:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:08 PM ----------
Also I wouldn't leave bbs or battery monitors on your phone when you're not wake lock hunting. As they tend to burn battery themselves
dladz said:
Amplify, greenify and autostarts, sort of deals with everything.
---------- Post added at 06:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:08 PM ----------
Also I wouldn't leave bbs or battery monitors on your phone when you're not wake lock hunting. As they tend to burn battery themselves
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
BBS doesn't sap battery at all. Well, not enough to matter anyway.
Heisenberg said:
BBS doesn't sap battery at all. Well, not enough to matter anyway.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's actually not true
It definitely had an impact.
My point is, don't leave it on there is you've found the issue. There is no point.
dladz said:
That's actually not true
It definitely had an impact.
My point is, don't leave it on there is you've found the issue. There is no point.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Show me some corroborating data on this and I'll eat my words. I agree that there are some battery apps out there that waste a lot of resources (I'm looking at you, Cheetah Mobile), but BBS is not one of them.
dladz said:
That's actually not true
It definitely had an impact.
My point is, don't leave it on there is you've found the issue. There is no point.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just to further clarify what I'm saying, the app doesn't run in the background, it only runs when you open it and simply retrieves the data that is already generated at a system level. From the OP in the BBS thread:
BetterBatteryStats is calling the "batteryinfo" service of Android to retrieve data already lying there without generating overhead. Since Kitkat Google has revoked the permission for normal apps to access these stats (without valid reasons IMHO). You can read more about that here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Heisenberg said:
Show me some corroborating data on this and I'll eat my words. I agree that there are some battery apps out there that waste a lot of resources (I'm looking at you, Cheetah Mobile), but BBS is not one of them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mate I will have to do some looking into it. I already removed the application as I saw it burn down battery more as it was installed, why would I say it if it wasn't true lol, how do I benefit here?
I bought the app. Its not an apk and I'm not trying to be disrespectful here either but I saw drain. It's going to be a pain and I have very little time anyway in my life but ok. I'll get you some proof.
Actively collaborating data on that level has to have an implication on power, if it's symptoms reading a file then why do we need the app? Why not just read the file ourselves?
That's not me suggesting it, that's just common sense, surely you can see that prior to me proving it.
dladz said:
Mate I will have to do some looking into it. I already removed the application as I saw it burn down battery more as it was installed, why would I say it if it wasn't true lol, how do I benefit here?
I bought the app. Its not an apk and I'm not trying to be disrespectful here either but I saw drain. It's going to be a pain and I have very little time anyway in my life but ok. I'll get you some proof.
Actively collaborating data on that level has to have an implication on power. That's not me suggesting it, that's just common sense, surely you can see that prior to me proving it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
See my other reply. The app only runs when you open it and it refreshes then and only then, no running in the background. It's pulling existing data that's already generated by the OS. Sure, it uses power, I'm not denying that (any app has to use power). What I'm saying is it only uses power when you're actually in the app, nowhere near enough to have a noticeable impact on battery life.
Heisenberg said:
See my other reply. The app only runs when you open it and it refreshes then and only then, no running in the background. It's pulling existing data that's already generated by the OS. Sure, it uses power, I'm not denying that (any app has to use power). What I'm saying is it only uses power when you're actually in the app, nowhere near enough to have a noticeable impact on battery life.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't deny what you're saying. All I know is it uses power mate. Why have something running when you've anyway used it to fix what you can?
Amplify does a better job on its own.
dladz said:
I don't deny what you're saying. All I know is it uses power mate. Why have something running when you've anyway used it to fix what you can?
Amplify does a better job on its own.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It doesn't claim to save any power, it's simply a tool for investigating power usage. I run it constantly, I use it to check how often certain apps are waking, or to check screen-on time and the amount of time the phone is awake while not actually in use. The point I'm making is it's virtually impossible for this app to use an amount of power that would have a noticeable impact on battery life, because of the fact that it only runs when you actually open it. You open it, it gathers existing data that has already been collected external to the app, you view the data, you close the app, it's no longer running.
Amplify is a completely different app, and it actually does have to run in the background, so if anything Amplify would use significantly more power than BBS.

Hight CPU and battery usage on idle system; restarts don't help

I've got a problem with my S8 which is running latest, official, non-rooted XEO firmware. Specifically, it uses battery like crazy and heats up whilst doing nothing. This smells like a virus / malware infection or just... well, the last update was in December 2021 so it's also possible some system component is wonky OR... <shivers> some rootkit? I'm generally rather careful when installing apps, most of which will be coming in from official sources (Google Store) or at least fairly trusted sources.
Every so often I'll get a warning that a system component is using too much CPU and I should restart the phone - which obviously doesn't help at all. Also the battery drain is reported primarily by Android System and System Core (29 and 15% respectively). Battery usage stats generally don't add up because the listings don't add up to 100%. :/
I know the S8 is an old phone... and I know there are probably steps I should take prior to asking here - like a factory reset. But I'm really sceptical of doing a factory reset simply because I've got so much stuff on the phone that, while not impossible to backup, is certainly annoying (authenticator or banking apps for example - and I don't think the standard backup tools like those available from Google or Samsung backup such apps).
So I'd rather try some solutions or methods of dealing with the damned thing without resetting the phone first. Is there anything I can do?
You need to find the root cause. It may be a 3rd party using one or more of the Samsung system apps running under Android services, lol Legend for there are many... all lumped together.
A firewall with logging can help. Karma Firewall is what I use, uses almost no battery. Being rooted you have more options... use them.
Malware is always a possibility.
3rd party apps can cause hell. I don't allow any social media apps on the phone, ever.
Try in safe mode... if things calm down it's likely a 3rd party app. If so start going through the installed apps.
Clear system cache.
blackhawk said:
You need to find the root cause. It may be a 3rd party using one or more of the Samsung system apps running under Android services, lol Legend for there are many... all lumped together.
A firewall with logging can help. Karma Firewall is what I use, uses almost no battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Will try that, thanks!
blackhawk said:
Being rooted you have more options... use them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The phone is NON-rooted.
blackhawk said:
Malware is always a possibility.
3rd party apps can cause hell. I don't allow any social media apps on the phone, ever.
Try in safe mode... if things calm down it's likely a 3rd party app. If so start going through the installed apps.
Clear system cache.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, safe mode! I'll try that too! Thanks!
Shaamaan said:
Will try that, thanks!
The phone is NON-rooted.
Oh, safe mode! I'll try that too! Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry about the root thing, my bad.
If you're running on Android 9 or lower Karma Firewall's logging feature is fully active otherwise not. Samsung store>Galaxy Labs> Battery Tracker can be useful.
I use Accubattery's history page to get a quick idea of charge/discharge rates.
I use Device Care>storage>clean as well.
Make sure no cloud apps are running in the background.
Update: in safe mode the phone doesn't heat up and battery usage seems normal. So it's probably some app.
Alas, the firewall wasn't very helpful - it seemed that apps that attempted accessing the internet were your usual suspects - Play Store, One Drive or other sync apps, Vanced.
Any other suggestions on possibly nailing down the culprit?
PS. I've also decided to send Samsung an error report via the Members app - I don't know what their reply times are and I honestly don't expect much from them but who knows? Perhaps they'll come through.
Shaamaan said:
Update: in safe mode the phone doesn't heat up and battery usage seems normal. So it's probably some app.
Alas, the firewall wasn't very helpful - it seemed that apps that attempted accessing the internet were your usual suspects - Play Store, One Drive or other sync apps, Vanced.
Any other suggestions on possibly nailing down the culprit?
PS. I've also decided to send Samsung an error report via the Members app - I don't know what their reply times are and I honestly don't expect much from them but who knows? Perhaps they'll come through.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why other than maybe text messages is anything syncing? Take out the trash and go from there.
The ones that are connecting every minute or more when not open are prime suspects.
Some apps like Brave browser need to be closed out when not in use or they eat battery.
You can also try a hard reboot.
Update!
I left the phone in safe mode overnight. I mean, it seemed like things were better, so at least I'd have a stable phone.
Well, in the morning I was greeted with a severely depleted battery (went from 100 to 40 in the span of 6 hours) and I got the "high CPU usage" warning popup. The phone wasn't as hot to the touch tho.
So... Whatever is going on seems to happen also in safe mode, albeit less often? Or perhaps it's less "severe" where it doesn't heat up the phone but the drain is still there? But since safe mode is affected it's probably NOT an app, right?
At this point I'm completely baffled. Any other ideas?
Shaamaan said:
Update!
I left the phone in safe mode overnight. I mean, it seemed like things were better, so at least I'd have a stable phone.
Well, in the morning I was greeted with a severely depleted battery (went from 100 to 40 in the span of 6 hours) and I got the "high CPU usage" warning popup. The phone wasn't as hot to the touch tho.
So... Whatever is going on seems to happen also in safe mode, albeit less often? Or perhaps it's less "severe" where it doesn't heat up the phone but the drain is still there? But since safe mode is affected it's probably NOT an app, right?
At this point I'm completely baffled. Any other ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hard reset... hold power button until it powers off.
Try temporarily disabling Google play Services at night, see what that does.
OK, I'm baffled. I feel like I didn't really do anything but the phone is now running fine. Battery drain now might be better than ever!
Warms up on usage, obviously, but when idle it's nice and cool and battery drain seems minimal. I'll... leave it for a few days to see how this develops. It's very difficult to tell what the heck's the case here.
Shaamaan said:
OK, I'm baffled. I feel like I didn't really do anything but the phone is now running fine. Battery drain now might be better than ever!
Warms up on usage, obviously, but when idle it's nice and cool and battery drain seems minimal. I'll... leave it for a few days to see how this develops. It's very difficult to tell what the heck's the case here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Retrace what you did. Reason being you may need to do it again. Really most times all you need to do is just "play" with it a bit (a lot). Almost impossible to crash a stock load, so explore and learn by playing with it. You are what you load and download; be careful with 3rd party apps they are the biggest potential hazards.
Once you have a fast, stable OS that's fulfilling its mission, let it be. Don't update or upgrade it.
Updates can and do break Sammy's. This N10+ is still running on Pie, current load is over 2yo. Rock solid stable and it runs like a bat out of hell with minimal maintenance. Security isn't an issue.
blackhawk said:
Retrace what you did. Reason being you may need to do it again. Really most times all you need to do is just "play" with it a bit (a lot). Almost impossible to crash a stock load, so explore and learn by playing with it. You are what you load and download; be careful with 3rd party apps they are the biggest potential hazards.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a suspicion this might have been some Samsung app (my bet's on Bixby) since those are likely still able to run in Safe Mode that got updated and then fixed...? Does that make sense?
blackhawk said:
Once you have a fast, stable OS that's fulfilling its mission, let it be. Don't update or upgrade it.
Updates can and do break Sammy's. This N10+ is still running on Pie, current load is over 2yo. Rock solid stable and it runs like a bat out of hell with minimal maintenance. Security isn't an issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm concerned about the last bit. I mean, upgrading to a new Android version is one thing but security updates are common, no?
Shaamaan said:
I have a suspicion this might have been some Samsung app (my bet's on Bixby) since those are likely still able to run in Safe Mode that got updated and then fixed...? Does that make sense?
I'm concerned about the last bit. I mean, upgrading to a new Android version is one thing but security updates are common, no?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Kill wittle bixby... you read it EULA?☠
It's more than one apk though. Takes a while to optimize a Sammy the first time
Well... if it's set up and used right Android 9 will run securely in the real world. No saving dumb bunnies anyway; they'll still get tagged even with the latest version
The proof is in my hand. Loaded over 2+ years ago and this N10+ UI version 1.5 is running clean like a bat out of hell. If I do get malware I can't erraticate in an hour or so, factory reset and change passwords.
My data is redundantly backed* up 4+ times, plus the onboard SD card used as a data drive. I'm ready to reload right now if I have to...
A malware forced reload is still less trouble than constantly updating and having the updates screw things up. That means more troubleshooting, finding new work arounds and still maybe needing a factory reset on top of all that. No.
Not vaxed either... not buying the hype.
*critical data must be redundantly backed up or sooner or latter it will likely be lost. Never encrypt data drives as you are the most likely to be locked out!
blackhawk said:
Kill wittle bixby... you read it EULA?☠
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh I'd love that - but it's a system app and removing those without root is kind of... impossible? I can look into disabling it completely however - I never use it anyway. Since it's not a single app - any chance you got a link to the list of apps that need manual disabling?
Anyway, I'm still getting those damned warnings. The phone isn't constantly hot however, which is some improvement.
Shaamaan said:
Oh I'd love that - but it's a system app and removing those without root is kind of... impossible? I can look into disabling it completely however - I never use it anyway. Since it's not a single app - any chance you got a link to the list of apps that need manual disabling?
Anyway, I'm still getting those damned warnings. The phone isn't constantly hot however, which is some improvement.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Package Disabler kills bixby proper.
You can also disable it with an adb edit. That's one of the first things I do.
Bixby is a hot mess best dump along the interstate... like Google Assistant it needs external servers for many of its functions. I may change my mind but it's eula is like eating dry hardtack for breakfast.

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