Database Users

Android System using too much battery

Hi,guys!
I can't figure out why the Android System is using more battery than others. I feel like it is awful.2 hours and17 minutes of off the charger time and I'm at 86% with wifi-on and leave my phone on airplane . I have been spending most of my time trying to find ways to save battery and it is barely working, or at best working inconsistently. I might need to try a replacement. What do you guys think?
Does anybody knows how to fix it? I'm out of ideas.

I had the same problem on my moto x. I had to uninstall all the updates to anything google related.
Sent from my XT1060 using XDA Free mobile app

It is your Google account. Probably Google + or photos since you have WiFi enanled.

its the same with my s5, after all day when i check my battery stats android system uses the most battery. i'm trying all things to sort it out

Yes, sync troubles… I think that too…

Hermosa said:
Hi,guys!
I can't figure out why the Android System is using more battery than others. I feel like it is awful.2 hours and17 minutes of off the charger time and I'm at 86% with wifi-on and leave my phone on airplane . I have been spending most of my time trying to find ways to save battery and it is barely working, or at best working inconsistently. I might need to try a replacement. What do you guys think?
Does anybody knows how to fix it? I'm out of ideas.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't have it quite as bad but removing carrier IQ has helped a bit, Go get system tuner and go into app mgr and find android system press details then open and go through activities, receivers and services and make sure everything you see that says IQAgent gets unchecked. This will help you stay out of ServiceIQ's eyes and also help your battery as your entire phone is debugged through those apps.(Another words I can't find the darn post that I used to help me)
Even with my friends verizon s5 lasting 9 days on a battery >.> He gets around 15 percent android system usage

Check with wakelock detector

Highpowers23 said:
I had the same problem on my moto x. I had to uninstall all the updates to anything google related.
Sent from my XT1060 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did it work?I got np background updates other than Gmail.Can't wait for a fix!:angel:

JuanCarlos60 said:
Check with wakelock detector
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry where do i find wake lock detector and what does it do?

Alan Shore said:
I don't have it quite as bad but removing carrier IQ has helped a bit, Go get system tuner and go into app mgr and find android system press details then open and go through activities, receivers and services and make sure everything you see that says IQAgent gets unchecked. This will help you stay out of ServiceIQ's eyes and also help your battery as your entire phone is debugged through those apps.(Another words I can't find the darn post that I used to help me)
Even with my friends verizon s5 lasting 9 days on a battery >.> He gets around 15 percent android system usage
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for your hwlp.I would have a try for that.Hope it could work.Thanks in advance.

Hermosa said:
Sorry where do i find wake lock detector and what does it do?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Play store

Alan Shore said:
I don't have it quite as bad but removing carrier IQ has helped a bit, Go get system tuner and go into app mgr and find android system press details then open and go through activities, receivers and services and make sure everything you see that says IQAgent gets unchecked. This will help you stay out of ServiceIQ's eyes and also help your battery as your entire phone is debugged through those apps.(Another words I can't find the darn post that I used to help me)
Even with my friends verizon s5 lasting 9 days on a battery >.> He gets around 15 percent android system usage
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hermosa said:
Thank you for your hwlp.I would have a try for that.Hope it could work.Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have prepared a short guide to do that if it would help you... Here is the link...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2799642

How exactly is this bad? The guy has close to 30 minutes for 10% of battery life, so proportionally close to 5 hours total screen on time for a full charge and this is supposed to be abnormal? Screen on time is purely on what you should base yourself first because you have no idea on what the phone reports as "Android system". As far as I know, if you had 5 minutes of screen on time instead of 30, that would be a problem worth investigating....but 30 minutes for 10%? You should not try to find issue where there are none.
Let me show you why you can't rely on phone stats. Here is my screenshot for today. Just from looking at it, you can already see i have some kind of huge wakelock problem, severe battery drain, especially if you consider I only have about 1h15 minutes of screen on time. Anybody looking at this could see that there is a problem with my phone. The fact is, there isn't. I had a 4h16 hour conversation today, but, my phone only reports voice calls taking up 12% of my battery life. Thats because other features are not included in the voice calls tab, like how the sensors have to always check if i'm close or not to the screen to turn it on or off, or the fact that it has to manage my wifi connection while using my mobile connection that is about 1 bar in my room. There are too many unknown factors to solely rely on what you see here, or on OPs screenshot. If you have 30 mins of screen time, and have 10% battery drain, thats fantastic. Don't forget, only 1 gen ago, having 3 hours of screen time with a full charge was awesome.

Now, I am doing what I read from a guide. I just plug it in every night and only use Ultra Power Saving in the day.From the guide,I would have full internet, phone and message capabilities with maximum battery life each day.Then I can leave off UPS on weekends and holidays to enjoy all the other apps.

JuanCarlos60 said:
Play store
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you,mate.I find it.But it seems no help.Is there anything else I should do?

Hermosa said:
Thank you,mate.I find it.But it seems no help.Is there anything else I should do?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe a Factory reset and then install your applications one by one to see which is drained your battery... anyway, take a good look to @polish_pat post

jgonzales74 said:
It is your Google account. Probably Google + or photos since you have WiFi enanled.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't have a Samsung account linked and Android System is still a battery hog.

Hermosa said:
I don't have a Samsung account linked and Android System is still a battery hog.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Play store - betterbatterystats

use s5 only as a camera?

So I have a bazaar question. I'm going out in the desert for week and want to use my s5 as a camera only. Is there a way to disable EVERYTHING so just the camera works to conserve battery? I know I can do airplane mode and such, but I'm sure there's still things going on in the background that will drain the battery.
Thanks in advance!

disable them
johnboy693 said:
So I have a bazaar question. I'm going out in the desert for week and want to use my s5 as a camera only. Is there a way to disable EVERYTHING so just the camera works to conserve battery? I know I can do airplane mode and such, but I'm sure there's still things going on in the background that will drain the battery.
Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In setting
go to each app you don't want and disable it
the disable option is beside force close. for 4.0+

johnboy693 said:
So I have a bazaar question. I'm going out in the desert for week and want to use my s5 as a camera only. Is there a way to disable EVERYTHING so just the camera works to conserve battery? I know I can do airplane mode and such, but I'm sure there's still things going on in the background that will drain the battery.
Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Last time I been to a bazaar I bought some smoked ham and sausages.
I think you meant "bizarre"
On another note I like that you are going to a desert. It would have been awfully strange if you were to take pictures of dessert using only your S5 for a week.

mediumsteak said:
Last time I been to a bazaar I bought some smoked ham and sausages.
I think you meant "bizarre"
On another note I like that you are going to a desert. It would have been awfully strange if you were to take pictures of dessert using only your S5 for a week.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you, that was so very helpful in letting me know that my text to speech software sucks and that I should freeze it.
As to the other post. Yeah I went in and did that. I just didn't know if there was a batch way to disable all the safe things to disable then unfreeze them again when I'm back in civilization and will need them again.

Sounds like a pain in the butt to disable then re-enable everything, there's an option in developer options that don't keep any background activities active, might help.

Just take your Sim card out and throw airplane mode on.

Just buy the camera for the desert and there will be no unnecessary processes

[Q] Battery issues/questions

So, I've been having some battery issues lately and I can't really tell why. I haven't been doing anything too extreme, but my battery is almost dead within 12 hours of a charge, and the highest usage is mostly the Kernel and/or OS. I know next to nothing about that side of things, so I exported reports from GSam, and I'm hoping someone will be able to translate them for me if there's an obvious problem. Thanks in advance!
(I've also uninstalled Boxer, I only had it because Pro was free yesterday.)

greycobalt said:
So, I've been having some battery issues lately and I can't really tell why. I haven't been doing anything too extreme, but my battery is almost dead within 12 hours of a charge, and the highest usage is mostly the Kernel and/or OS. I know next to nothing about that side of things, so I exported reports from GSam, and I'm hoping someone will be able to translate them for me if there's an obvious problem. Thanks in advance!
(I've also uninstalled Boxer, I only had it because Pro was free yesterday.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Keep the location enabled.
Are you using any of the smart stay/air view etc. controls?
If not turn them ALL off.

mirror3d said:
Keep the location enabled.
Are you using any of the smart stay/air view etc. controls?
If not turn them ALL off.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As far as I know, location is always turned on (meaning I never turn it off myself). One of the first things I did was turn off all the smart crap, and turn off every piece of bloatware I could in the settings (I'm not rooted).

When was the last time that your phone was restarted?

mirror3d said:
When was the last time that your phone was restarted?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I usually restart it every other day, give or take. It's gone a couple days without it before. I don't usually have it off for more than a couple minutes at a time though.

greycobalt said:
I usually restart it every other day, give or take. It's gone a couple days without it before. I don't usually have it off for more than a couple minutes at a time though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is beginning to sound much more complicated.
Did you install any apps recently?
How old is the phone?
Also do you have data/wifi on all the time?

mirror3d said:
This is beginning to sound much more complicated.
Did you install any apps recently?
How old is the phone?
Also do you have data/wifi on all the time?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's not good. :-/
I install apps often, but I just as often uninstall them...I guess that's not much help. If it was one of them though, wouldn't it show up under the battery log?
It's approaching a year old, I got it last November I believe.
Yes, I keep my Wifi and data on all the time.

Bad network will drain your battery. Check how the signal is.

Android OS and Kernel are normal between 12-25% on 4.4.2. It's an issue with the battery reporting.
It looks like you've got a wakelock. 12% per hour means it's not going into deep sleep.
Check Wakelock Detector to see if it's going into deep sleep or not. (It needs root for everything else, but that still works.)

ShadowLea said:
Android OS and Kernel are normal between 12-25% on 4.4.2. It's an issue with the battery reporting.
It looks like you've got a wakelock. 12% per hour means it's not going into deep sleep.
Check Wakelock Detector to see if it's going into deep sleep or not. (It needs root for everything else, but that still works.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Stated in reply post that the phone is not rooted.
My advice will be to uninstall apps one at time to find the one causing the drain.

ddogishere said:
Stated in reply post that the phone is not rooted.
My advice will be to uninstall apps one at time to find the one causing the drain.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And neither is mine. Wakelock detector still works in the tab that shows Deep Sleep vs Awake. As I said by 'Everything else requires root, but that still works'.

Cundis said:
Bad network will drain your battery. Check how the signal is.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That varies. At home, I have great signal (full-signal 4G, router is never more than 20 feet away). Some places in town, I can drop to 3G, especially my grandparents (although my grandma does have a router I'm connected to). There's a weird (unrelated?) bug where if I drop to 3G, I either have to turn airplane mode on or wait several hours until it reverts back to 4G, even though I'll be back in a verified 4G area.
ShadowLea said:
Android OS and Kernel are normal between 12-25% on 4.4.2. It's an issue with the battery reporting.
It looks like you've got a wakelock. 12% per hour means it's not going into deep sleep.
Check Wakelock Detector to see if it's going into deep sleep or not. (It needs root for everything else, but that still works.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will definitely check that out and use it tonight. Thanks for the suggestion. I'll get back to you on what it says. What generally causes the wakelocks, specific apps? Or just poorly set-up preferences?

greycobalt said:
I will definitely check that out and use it tonight. Thanks for the suggestion. I'll get back to you on what it says. What generally causes the wakelocks, specific apps? Or just poorly set-up preferences?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Usually apps. Facebook, Skype, some games. Although Mediascanner(Android process) is also known to be responsible for it quite often.
Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk 2

ShadowLea said:
Usually apps. Facebook, Skype, some games. Although Mediascanner(Android process) is also known to be responsible for it quite often.
Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It looks like PayPal was one of the culprits? For some reason?
I did find out I could root extremely easily, so did so and downloaded Greenify, so I'm hoping I can tweak enough to get my battery life back.

greycobalt said:
It looks like PayPal was one of the culprits? For some reason?
I did find out I could root extremely easily, so did so and downloaded Greenify, so I'm hoping I can tweak enough to get my battery life back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That does seem to be the case... Either uninstall paypal or drop it in the Greenify list.
Google Search is probably either the widget or you're using Google Now.

ShadowLea said:
That does seem to be the case... Either uninstall paypal or drop it in the Greenify list.
Google Search is probably either the widget or you're using Google Now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
By widget, do you mean the search bar? I use Nova, and I've removed that, so it must be Google Now. I don't use it often, but it does leave me weather cards and shipping info, so would that be it?

greycobalt said:
By widget, do you mean the search bar? I use Nova, and I've removed that, so it must be Google Now. I don't use it often, but it does leave me weather cards and shipping info, so would that be it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think they're related, but I can't be a hundred percent sure. You can try disabling both Google Search ones under apps -> all, see what that does to the info updates. If it scrambles them, just turn them back on.
(There's two Google Search, one is the search bar, the other is the app related to it.)
With that and Paypal dealt with, battery life should improve significantly.

ShadowLea said:
I don't think they're related, but I can't be a hundred percent sure. You can try disabling both Google Search ones under apps -> all, see what that does to the info updates. If it scrambles them, just turn them back on.
(There's two Google Search, one is the search bar, the other is the app related to it.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome! I'll try it out today, and then get back to you again. Thanks for all your help, it's much appreciated!

greycobalt said:
Awesome! I'll try it out today, and then get back to you again. Thanks for all your help, it's much appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Happy to help Let's hope that solves it! Also don't forget to greenify Paypal (Or uninstall it if you don't need it), as that seems to be the main culprit.

Save your Note 3 battery.

Source: http://androidforums.com/samsung-galaxy-note-3/862515-note-3-horrable-battery-life.html
1. Reboot daily, and do it when the phone is fully charged AND STILL ON THE CHARGER! Let it sit on the charger for a good five minutes so it goes through the whole boot process without taking any battery usage.
2. find the best (lowest) screen brightness you can live with and set that as your fixed screen brightness. Using Auto-brightness is NOT a good battery saver.
3. Active Apps Manager. I also put this right on the front screen. It's a little number inside a circle. The number is for how many apps are currently running in your phone's memory. The circle around the number turns colors from green to orange to red. If it's red then at least one of your running apps is using the cpu and therefore battery. If it's green then the apps are idle and not using much battery. You can press the button and it will show you what apps are open and what percentage of cpu is being used.
This little widget is invaluable in telling you which apps are notorious for using the cpu (and battery) even though you are not actively using them. It helps you understand which apps you need to kill off each time you use them. For instance I have found that almost all my news apps that have notifications activated will continued to run and eat battery. Also, my chess app, Chess.com. So now I just know to kill them off after I'm done using them.
4. Turn off wifi, bluetooth, gps, 4G, syncing and don't use any live wallpapers.
5. Enable Developer Options and check 'disable hardware overlays' and then 'enable MSAA' (automatically turned off on reboot)

Whats the point in having WiFi, Bluetooth, 4G if you're suggesting to turn it off?? Might want to think that part over again buddy lol

speedyjay said:
Whats the point in having WiFi, Bluetooth, 4G if you're suggesting to turn it off?? Might want to think that part over again buddy lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Off when you are not using them.
Sent from Galaxy Note 3 SM-N9005

Thats too simple

thahim said:
Off when you are not using them.
Sent from Galaxy Note 3 SM-N9005
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can still have them on....but turn scanning off. Seriously dude, i think you need to get to know android a bit better.

speedyjay said:
You can still have them on....but turn scanning off. Seriously dude, i think you need to get to know android a bit better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hardware uses battery power, when its on, even when not using it or its not scanning.

thahim said:
hardware uses battery power, when its on, even when not using it or its not scanning.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No it really doesnt....how can it possibly use power when its not doing anything? With 4G and wifi on....i could easily get 2 days usage out of my device.

speedyjay said:
No it really doesnt....how can it possibly use power when its not doing anything? With 4G and wifi on....i could easily get 2 days usage out of my device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok, i don't know about this.

always on display?

Does anybody know of a method or app to add always on display? I tried an app from the app store and it worked well but killed my battery. Probably because it disabled doze and kept the phone awake... Anybody have any input on this?

That function doesn't work exactly perfectly on the Axon but I am using ACdisplay with some success. The always on thing isn't going to be exactly what you'd see on a Motorola device though. If you want the wave to wake feature as good as it gets, try ambient display through xposed but it's still iffy and ACdisplay has much better notification layouts imo.
This is one of the things that really bugged me about this phone at first, especially with the tiny, barely visible LED notification light. Not good synergy.

Always on Amoled Beta
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tomer.alwayson

howdid said:
Always on Amoled Beta
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tomer.alwayson
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried that one actually. I liked the idea but the power consumption was pretty crazy. Had to uninstall. Maybe others will have better luck.

What you need is a way to allow the CPU to go into deep sleep without turning the display off. I believe this is hardware dependant, though.
All recent moto phone have their own low-power CPUs specifically for ambient display and voice commands without requiring the CPU to wake.
Oneplus devices support gestures while the device is in deep sleep, but this is a hardware feature built into the panel, which is why these gestures are not customizable.
The problem with both of these is that they're hardware-specific, so unless ZTE has made provisions for always on displays, active display, off screen gestures, etc, theres going to be a pretty significant hit to battery when using apps that do these things.

xxBrun0xx said:
What you need is a way to allow the CPU to go into deep sleep without turning the display off. I believe this is hardware dependant, though.
All recent moto phone have their own low-power CPUs specifically for ambient display and voice commands without requiring the CPU to wake.
Oneplus devices support gestures while the device is in deep sleep, but this is a hardware feature built into the panel, which is why these gestures are not customizable.
The problem with both of these is that they're hardware-specific, so unless ZTE has made provisions for always on displays, active display, off screen gestures, etc, theres going to be a pretty significant hit to battery when using apps that do these things.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can read on Qualcomms homepage about the 820 that it supports always on low power mode ....it is something the CPU can do ....look at Samsung's s7s they have the same CPU

howdid said:
You can read on Qualcomms homepage about the 820 that it supports always on low power mode ....it is something the CPU can do ....look at Samsung's s7s they have the same CPU
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sweet. I doubt the always on app uses whatever process the s7/g5 use to do this, is this something kernel related?

Thanks for the input everybody. If the Snapdragon 820 can support low power use like some of you suggested we may see this feature in cyanogenmod? (hopefully ZTE actually helps...) otherwise custom roms built on ZTE's base maybe. Although I doubt ZTE will add the feature to the rom in future updates.

xgerryx said:
That function doesn't work exactly perfectly on the Axon but I am using ACdisplay with some success. The always on thing isn't going to be exactly what you'd see on a Motorola device though. If you want the wave to wake feature as good as it gets, try ambient display through xposed but it's still iffy and ACdisplay has much better notification layouts imo.
This is one of the things that really bugged me about this phone at first, especially with the tiny, barely visible LED notification light. Not good synergy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've seen this app before. Might try it out.

Yes, glance plus
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.thsoft.glance
It's awesome, plus your phone thinks it's on the lock screen. So you can shake whenever glance is active to turn on your flashlight.
Double tap to wake works WAY better.
Is also compatible with fingerprint unlock.
I use this on my Axon, haven't noticed any battery drain

MrWilsonxD said:
Yes, glance plus
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.thsoft.glance
It's awesome, plus your phone thinks it's on the lock screen. So you can shake whenever glance is active to turn on your flashlight.
Double tap to wake works WAY better.
Is also compatible with fingerprint unlock.
I use this on my Axon, haven't noticed any battery drain
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't figure out how to get the fingerprint working!
When it's on, you can't unlock with fingerprint, you have to wait until the screen is fully black

amus76 said:
I can't figure out how to get the fingerprint working!
When it's on, you can't unlock with fingerprint, you have to wait until the screen is fully black
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you enabled these settings?

MrWilsonxD said:
Have you enabled these settings?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes and I havec to double tap ton open, the fingerprint is not working when glance is on screen

amus76 said:
Yes and I havec to double tap ton open, the fingerprint is not working when glance is on screen
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's strange! I haven't had that issue.. It just immediately unlocks for me.
I would try uninstalling, rebooting, reinstalling? + maybe another reboot? (I'm no tech expert.. But I'll reboot a phone till magic happens lol)

MrWilsonxD said:
That's strange! I haven't had that issue.. It just immediately unlocks for me.
I would try uninstalling, rebooting, reinstalling? + maybe another reboot? (I'm no tech expert.. But I'll reboot a phone till magic happens lol)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Still got the problem

amus76 said:
Still got the problem
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you activated it as a device administrator?

MrWilsonxD said:
Have you activated it as a device administrator?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, all autorisation
Maybe i'm expecting too much from this app, i want to unlock with the fingerprint directly when you get a notification instead of double tap and I don't think any app at the moment manage to do it
Thanks for the help

amus76 said:
Yes, all autorisation
Maybe i'm expecting too much from this app, i want to unlock with the fingerprint directly when you get a notification instead of double tap and I don't think any app at the moment manage to do it
Thanks for the help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's strange.. As I'm able to do exactly that.. Sorry man.

I am using this app. The clock goes away after showing for a few seconds. It seems to happen intermittently.

MrWilsonxD said:
That's strange! I haven't had that issue.. It just immediately unlocks for me.
I would try uninstalling, rebooting, reinstalling? + maybe another reboot? (I'm no tech expert.. But I'll reboot a phone till magic happens lol)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My fingerprint was working. Now its doing the same as yours. Its not working not double tap unlocks phone now.