Help Google Play Services Killing Battery

[Android Question]

All of a sudden my battery life stinks! Down 50% in 3 hours with only light usage. When going into Power, it shows Google Play Services using 72%, Google Services 11%!

I've tried clearing cache, uninstalling updates (then re-installing) and another fix on Youtube (

). I also turned on Power Saver mode and sleep mode. So far, no luck.

This started a few days ago, before that my battery easily lasted 15+ hours.

Any ideas?

 

[Hadron]

I've not had this myself (and am also using an M7, albeit with custom software), but every now and then Google release a bad update which causes battery problems for some phones. Unfortunately while you can uninstall an update to Google Play Services you can't stop it reinstalling, other than by turning all internet connections off. So if that is the cause it might be just that you have to wait for the next update to fix it.

If we can identify why it's draining power though there might be a way of mitigating it. For example, if it's constantly polling for location then turning off location or setting to device only mode might help. A better battery monitor (GSam Battery Monitor or BatterBatteryStats) might give more clues as to how Play Services is using the power (if it's location or downloading that's going on you might be able to limit this).

Before jumping to conclusions though, was anything else changed or updated shortly before this started, and are you having any other problems?

 

[MLSS]

Usually a restart will clear this up, but since you tried that and it didn't work......
Hopefully it will correct itself.

 

[Heather_13]

I've downloaded the Gsam battery monitor, so I'll update when I see what it says. So far it appears to be telling me something very different from my phone's Power area. The Power area has now changed and Google Play Store (not services) is now taking up 66%, so something I did changed something, but the battery is still draining like crazy. I'm down to 18% battery now, and it's only been unplugged for 6 hours.

 

[Heather_13]

Ok, Gsam says that Android System is taking up 17%, Kenrnel (Android OS) 7%, Google Services 4%, Sense Home 4%. 50% of my battery total is being consumed by apps, 13% screen, 31% phone (I was on the phone for 30 min or so).

Should Android be drawing that much battery life?

 

[dylane]

This is unlikely to be of direct help to you, but I was also seeing a very high battery usage associated with Google Play Services for a couple of months that would suck my battery dry in half a day or less. I was also having bigger issues with my phone at the time, so didn't ever get to the point of being able to investigate it directly. But a couple of weeks ago I reflashed my phone again, and to try and troubleshoot some of the other issues I was having I decided not to install GAPPS right away. I was only planning on keeping it this way for a couple of days troubleshooting, but I was surprised to find just how much better my battery life was. I've been able to easily get 3 days off my phone, even with moderate use, something it couldn't even do when it was brand new. I've used 11% of my battery today in 10 hours, which is a little higher than it has been only because Exchange Services seems to be having problems and is taking up 30% of my battery. So I'm sticking with it for now, the increase in battery life is worth the inconvenience of not being able to get apps from the Play Store (I use F-Droid and Amazon). Not the solution for everyone, and no idea if it would even have the same impact on other phones, but thought it was worth mentioning.

 

[Heather_13]

Ok so, my phone has been unplugged for 2 hours and I'm down 30%. 73% of that battery went to app usage with only 20% to Screen. Of the app usage, the android system is taking up 22% and Kernel (android os) 9%.

Anyone have ideas here of things I could try?

Not sure if this is related or not, but around the same time this started happening, I found my phone very hot while plugged in during the middle of the night.

 

[MLSS]

You could try a factory reset. I know it's a pain in the rear, but it will do the trick.