Help I need help with my galaxy s5 battery life

[shablagoosh]

Hello, I bought my galaxy s5 from at&t about 9 or 10 months ago and at first the battery life was pretty great. I did upgrade from an Iphone 4 though so anything would be great. Fast forward to a few months ago, and now my battery life is abysmal. It takes almost double what it used to to charge it to 100% and it dies very quickly. For example just last night I had it at 100% closed all apps unplugged it and slept for 6 hours and woke up and it was at 74%. It went down 26% when I was sleeping with all my apps closed, that just doesn't make sense to me. I've tried looking at backround processes in the applications manager like suggested on a thread a few months ago, but all I see there is bluetooth, which is strange because I have bluetooth off, and facebook. Throughout my day at work, through very minimal usage, and I mean very minimal, with my screen on auto brightness just checking for texts every hour or so I go through full battery in around 4 and a half to 5 hours. Am I missing something? Do android phones need replacement batterys every year? Like I said I came from iphone and my battery on that was the same for the entire 4 years I owned the phone. I did look up replacement batterys on google, and most of the reviews say they are all cheap knockoffs in a samsung wrapper. I suppose I'm just looking for advice in case I have missed anything, or how i can get a replacement battery, or if this is how my battery is supposed to act. I don't have an upgrade for 4-5 months and I probably would want to wait for the galaxy s7 when it comes out anyways. Thanks ahead of time for any responses, I am at home today so I will be watching this thread for any suggestions or posts.

 

[funkylogik]

How is your signal at home?
Also you mention Facebook which is a notorious battery hog.
Other than that I don't know but install Gsam Battery Monitor and check that after a normal discharge to see if that sheds any light on anything.. Good luck
PS has this started since an operating system update? (lollipop)

 

[shablagoosh]

How is your signal at home?
Also you mention Facebook which is a notorious battery hog.
Other than that I don't know but install Gsam Battery Monitor and check that after a normal discharge to see if that sheds any light on anything.. Good luck
PS has this started since an operating system update? (lollipop)

You know, since lollipop I think it's gotten worse actually. Like it might not be the only problem but I think it might be a considerable sized one. My entertainment center is in my basement and theres like no signal down here, but I'm not down here often just when I watch sporting events and have friends over. Usually throughout my house i have at least a bar, never more than 2 bars though. I actually preferred kitkat but I'm new to android so I'm not sure how to go back or if thats a good idea or not.

 

[funkylogik]

A better idea would be to do a factory reset (wipes the phone) in the chance that it will fix any bugs left over from the update.
Poor signal strength is also bad for battery

 

[shablagoosh]

A better idea would be to do a factory reset (wipes the phone) in the chance that it will fix any bugs left over from the update.
Poor signal strength is also bad for battery

Alright thanks, should I put on airplane mode or something? And do you think getting a new battery from at&t would help at all? Another question I have is, would it reset all of my games progress on the phone?

 

[funkylogik]

Alright thanks, should I put on airplane mode or something? And do you think getting a new battery from at&t would help at all? Another question I have is, would it reset all of my games progress on the phone?

Yes you'll use all app data unless you use an app called Helium https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.koushikdutta.backup
You could put on airplane mode during the night but I prefer to just leave it on charge all night
I doubt your battery is old enough to need replaced but you could try it if you want and at least you'll have a spare

 

[shablagoosh]

Yes you'll use all app data unless you use an app called Helium https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.koushikdutta.backup
You could put on airplane mode during the night but I prefer to just leave it on charge all night
I doubt your battery is old enough to need replaced but you could try it if you want and at least you'll have a spare

I downloaded the gsam battery app you told me about and then put my phone down for 10 minutes. It says on average my battery will only last 3 hours and 5 minutes on standby. My battery has to be defective right?

 

[shablagoosh]

I downloaded the gsam battery app you told me about and then put my phone down for 10 minutes. It says on average my battery will only last 3 hours and 5 minutes on standby. My battery has to be defective right?

It also says my battery is at 89 degrees when my house is at 68

 

[funkylogik]

What's that in Celsius lol I don't work in Fahrenheit.
I don't worry until my phone gets to 55°C.
A weak signal can cause heat and battery drain.
You haven't let Gsam run long enough to get anything useful from it. You want to wait till battery is nearly dead then check out the "app suckers" to see what's been eating juice

 

[shablagoosh]

What's that in Celsius lol I don't work in Fahrenheit.
I don't worry until my phone gets to 55°C.
A weak signal can cause heat and battery drain.
You haven't let Gsam run long enough to get anything useful from it. You want to wait till battery is nearly dead then check out the "app suckers" to see what's been eating juice

Hey do you also know why my phone instantly declines text messages sometimes? I'll have bars it will say 4g and att but it will instantly decline and I have to keep spamming resend or restart my phone. Also my phones at 45% so that app will be ready soon.

 

[AZgl1500]

IMO, you need to configure Facebook for "No notification period". I can't remember now, but somewhere in Facebook I set it to never try to sync up, or look for anything at all. Especially do not allow it to have access to your Contacts List.

Personally, I don't like to have my phone on the internet when it is asleep. there is nothing there that is needed if the phone is asleep. So, I turn off DATA and WiFi when the phone's screen is locked. I automate that with MacroDroid.... turn phone off, internet off.... phone awake and I'm using it, internet is ON again.

I get anywhere from 1 day to 3 days per charge cycle. It just depends on how much I use the phone.

My wife's phone is never used for anything except a telephone. She is not an internet junky period. So, her S5 can go 12-15 days between charges.... that's no joke... it is all about how much the apps are talking to the world at large. If they can't find the internet, then they won't be using up battery power.

A screen shot for just 8 days on the wife's phone... both of S5 phones, mine is 1.5 years old, the wife's is 8 months old or more. It is a refurb.

____________________________________
2 ea. Verizon Galaxy S5, Lollipop
MyPhoneExplorer lets you access a broken phone while locked
Nova Prime, Textra, Blue Mail, Qi wireless equipped
MacroDroid can help extend battery life
MacroDroid senses Screen off, turns Wifi & Data OFF
MacroDroid senses Screen UnLock, turns Data ON
PureVPN when using a public WiFi

 

[shablagoosh]

What's that in Celsius lol I don't work in Fahrenheit.
I don't worry until my phone gets to 55°C.
A weak signal can cause heat and battery drain.
You haven't let Gsam run long enough to get anything useful from it. You want to wait till battery is nearly dead then check out the "app suckers" to see what's been eating juice

OK so my phone completely died about an hour ago, on the home page of gsam is said screen 29% apps were in the high 60s. Under apps the top 2 things were android system at 17% and kernal (android os) at 15% the rest of my apps were all at like 2% only.

 

[shablagoosh]

OK so my phone completely died about an hour ago, on the home page of gsam is said screen 29% apps were in the high 60s. Under apps the top 2 things were android system at 17% and kernal (android os) at 15% the rest of my apps were all at like 2% only.

Phone lasted a little over 7 hours and it was in my pocket all day besides 2 texts.

 

[AZgl1500]

Tomorrow, try turning OFF both DATA and WiFi while the phone is not in use.

You need to isolate what is going on, and that will divide the problem in half.
Either the phone is still trying to converse with something on the internet,
or there is something wrong with the phone....
It could be a bad battery, but I have never had a battery get that bad....

My Samsung Galaxy S is about 4.5 years old and still using the OEM battery.
Not quite as good as it was new, but still very good.

 

[shablagoosh]

Tomorrow, try turning OFF both DATA and WiFi while the phone is not in use.

You need to isolate what is going on, and that will divide the problem in half.
Either the phone is still trying to converse with something on the internet,
or there is something wrong with the phone....
It could be a bad battery, but I have never had a battery get that bad....

My Samsung Galaxy S is about 4.5 years old and still using the OEM battery.
Not quite as good as it was new, but still very good.

Alright so, I turned airplane mode on when I was sleeping last night. I slept for 6 and a half hours and only used 3% battery. I hope this helps narrow down a solution.

 

[AZgl1500]

Alright so, I turned airplane mode on when I was sleeping last night. I slept for 6 and a half hours and only used 3% battery. I hope this helps narrow down a solution.

that is enough right there for you to start trying to find the app or apps that are sucking your battery dry.

Did you follow the suggestion in Post #2 about install Gsam Battery Monitor?
If not, you overlooked some valuable advice. Do so, let it run for a full day at a minimum with the internet turned ON.

When the battery reaches about 10% or so, open up GSAM and look at the list of apps that are using the most power. Disable, or uninstall those particular apps for a trial period and then see how the next day's test run goes.
Don't be looking at GSAM multiple times a day. That is not how to use that app, it is a historical logger. and as such, it cannot provide you with a decent info until it has had time to monitor the phone for a full 24 hours...

In your case, you don't seem to get that much battery life.... so, use GSAM at the end of each battery life cycle just before it goes dead. Turn off or disable the two or three power mongering apps....

You will soon be able to figure out what is eating up the battery. As you can see from my post above, on my wife's S5, it can indeed get extremely good battery life if you shut off the internet. This is not practicable for 99% of the folks who own smartphones.... but it is a way to determine what is going on.

 

[shablagoosh]

Alright so, I turned airplane mode on when I was sleeping last night. I slept for 6 and a half hours and only used 3% battery. I hope this helps narrow down a solution.

that is enough right there for you to start trying to find the app or apps that are sucking your battery dry.

Did you follow the suggestion in Post #2 about install Gsam Battery Monitor?
If not, you overlooked some valuable advice. Do so, let it run for a full day at a minimum with the internet turned ON.

When the battery reaches about 10% or so, open up GSAM and look at the list of apps that are using the most power. Disable, or uninstall those particular apps for a trial period and then see how the next day's test run goes.
Don't be looking at GSAM multiple times a day. That is not how to use that app, it is a historical logger. and as such, it cannot provide you with a decent info until it has had time to monitor the phone for a full 24 hours...

In your case, you don't seem to get that much battery life.... so, use GSAM at the end of each battery life cycle just before it goes dead. Turn off or disable the two or three power mongering apps....

You will soon be able to figure out what is eating up the battery. As you can see from my post above, on my wife's S5, it can indeed get extremely good battery life if you shut off the internet. This is not practicable for 99% of the folks who own smartphones.... but it is a way to determine what is going on.

Yeah sorry for any confusion. I did download gsam and the top 2 apps were android os at 17% usage and kernal (android os) at 15%. All of my own apps were at 2%or less. When I had airplane mode on all night I only used 3% in the time it takes for my phone to completely die. There has to be something hiding right? And I just don't know how to find it.

 

[bIOforger]

Factory reset.

 

[AZgl1500]

I agree, there is a lot of stuff in the cache partitions that needs to be flushed out.

Bite the bullet, and just do a Factory Data Reset.
Your symptoms have been posted before, and the FDR usually takes care of it.

 

[camphill]

Turn off "Location" services. ONly turn it on when you use any map/gps app. I immediately got a 10 hour boost. I rarely use maps or anything that needs to know where I am so I simply turn it off/on when I need it.

 

[AZgl1500]

I have Location set to GPS only, and so far, it has not effected my battery life.
That crap about using WiFi "to improve" your locations fixing is hogwash....
just think about it for a minute,,,, the GPS can find you within 9 meters usually.
A WiFi signal might fix you within a half mile.... whoopie doo cat poo.

 

[camphill]

Unless you use maps or any apps that NEED location, turn it off completely. You can always turn it on as you need it. If location is on in any fashion I lose 10% per hour. If I turn off location, via the pull-down, I only use 2% per hour.

 

[jens5]

How is your signal at home?
Also you mention Facebook which is a notorious battery hog.
Other than that I don't know but install Gsam Battery Monitor and check that after a normal discharge to see if that sheds any light on anything.. Good luck

Not to hijack this thread but Installed GSam on an S5. It's been in a calculating loop for like 30 minutes with no end in sight. Un Installed.