Help Google Services battery drain

[backdoc77]

So I've had my S4 for a few weeks now and have been very impressed by the battery life.....until 2 days ago. Now Google Services is the top battery drain using 82% of the battery. Before, the screen was the top battery drain. I have not installed anything new or changed any settings. I have no idea what's going on but my battery is draining 50% faster.

Any ideas?

 

[Darnell0216]

If you've recently installed the major update, make a backup and:
Option 1: Remove your Google account and put it back
Option 2: Check your location services settings and disable them if not needed
Option 3: Factory reset so that any and all glitches from the update will disappear.

 

[KOLIO]

What is your overall battery life per charge?

Provided you're getting the desired performance & battery life, I wouldn't get caught up in the %'s.

EDIT:I see that overall battery life has dropped. The preceding post has solid recommendations.

 

[backdoc77]

If you've recently installed the major update, make a backup and:
Option 1: Remove your Google account and put it back
Option 2: Check your location services settings and disable them if not needed
Option 3: Factory reset so that any and all glitches from the update will disappear.

Thanks, but I have not recently installed the major update. Something changed in the last few days to cause this issue. Has there been any google services updates in the last few days?

EDIT:
Battery life is dropping like a rock. 10% per hour with no use. I went from almost 3 days on a full charge to less than 15 hours.

 

[Darnell0216]

Thanks, but I have not recently installed the major update. Something changed in the last few days to cause this issue. Has there been any google services updates in the last few days?

EDIT:
Battery life is dropping like a rock. 10% per hour with no use. I went from almost 3 days on a full charge to less than 15 hours.

Play Store updated to version 4.3.10. If this is part of your issue, Option 1 will still possibly help.

 

[Goodspike]

Don't do anything! The problem will eventually go away. I had the issue for about a week, and then it disappeared. I've read reports here of others saying the same thing. The theory is maybe it's processing or backing up something.

Edit: Although I did just realize I also uninstalled the new version of Google Maps. I think the problem went away before I did that, but I'm not 100% sure of that.

 

[hurley710]

I noticed my Google Services being at 80% for most of the weekend, absolutely draining my battery. After doing some research on another forum (not sure if I can mention name on here?) I realized my google play store was only on version 3.x. I downloaded the .apk for version 4.1.10 and seemed to improve. From there, I went into my Location services and unchecked wi-fi & mobile network location. This sends your location data to Google as they wish. Also make sure that the google maps location setting is unchecked or else Google apps can use your phone's location whenever the device is on.

Did all that and now my battery is so much better. Give it a try and see how much it helps.

 

[RiverCity.45]

I second the idea of turning off the location services. Other things to improve: turn off wi-fi when you are someplace where no wi-fi is available. Try the Greenify app available in the Play Store to hibernate until you are ready to use some offending apps that like to drain your battery.

Here is a very useful guide to improving batter life on your S4: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2357417

 

[smitty543]

It seems that Greenify is for ROOT users. Is there a comperable app for non-rooted phones?

 

[backdoc77]

Issue solved. Before bedtime I shut down my phone (which i don't normally do). In the morning I powered it on and a few programs showed as updated in the notifications window:

Samsung Push Service
Slacker
GROUP PLAY
Samsung WatchON
Samsung Link
Google Play Books

I don't know which one fixed it, but now my phone is back to normal.
Thanks everyone.

 

[marine one]

I've gotten into the habit of restarting the phone 2-3 times a week. Usually do it first thing in the morning.

 

[josborne6]

So I've had my S4 for a few weeks now and have been very impressed by the battery life.....until 2 days ago. Now Google Services is the top battery drain using 82% of the battery. Before, the screen was the top battery drain. I have not installed anything new or changed any settings. I have no idea what's going on but my battery is draining 50% faster.

Any ideas?

I've had this too. Did a factory reset and complete wipe. Still happening. Was not an issue two weeks ago. This is frustrating. Installed some drain detectors but never had much luck with them. We'll see what happens I guess.

 

[jmt9779]

I started having the same issue yesterday. I woke up and my Google Services used 59% of the battery life after 8 hours. (I also noticed that Backup Assistant had synced overnight, which is odd because I thought I'd disable that bloatware.) My Google Play Store version is 4.3.11. And I just uninstalled all updates to Google Maps to see if that helps anything.

RE: Backdoc77's response below. As far as updating apps, I generally don't update any apps/bloatware that I don't use, but I may do it if if this doesn't straighten itself out.

EDIT: Just for the hell of it, I looked up the apps Backdoc77 mentioned below and I updated Samsung Push Service and Samsung Link. (In the description of Samsung Link, the dev mentioned something about the battery drain issue being fixed.)

Gonna throw the phone back on the charger and keep my fingers crossed for the rest of the day.

Issue solved. Before bedtime I shut down my phone (which i don't normally do). In the morning I powered it on and a few programs showed as updated in the notifications window:

Samsung Push Service
Slacker
GROUP PLAY
Samsung WatchON
Samsung Link
Google Play Books

I don't know which one fixed it, but now my phone as back to normal.
Thanks everyone.

 

[jmt9779]

I started having the same issue yesterday. I woke up and my Google Services used 59% of the battery life after 8 hours. (I also noticed that Backup Assistant had synced overnight, which is odd because I thought I'd disable that bloatware.) My Google Play Store version is 4.3.11. And I just uninstalled all updates to Google Maps to see if that helps anything.

RE: Backdoc77's response below. As far as updating apps, I generally don't update any apps/bloatware that I don't use, but I may do it if if this doesn't straighten itself out.

EDIT: Just for the hell of it, I looked up the apps Backdoc77 mentioned below and I updated Samsung Push Service and Samsung Link. (In the description of Samsung Link, the dev mentioned something about the battery drain issue being fixed.)

Gonna throw the phone back on the charger and keep my fingers crossed for the rest of the day.

UPDATE: Issue seems to be fixed. I went into "settings" -> "accounts" -> "google" -> and tapped on my gmail account at the top, and unchecked the following:

- google photos
- google play books
- google play magazines
- google play movies & tv
- google play music

In the last 5 hours and 11 minutes of being on battery, only 5% was used by google services. Seems to be all good now

 

[Goodspike]

UPDATE: Issue seems to be fixed. I went into "settings" -> "accounts" -> "google" -> and tapped on my gmail account at the top, and unchecked the following:

- google photos
- google play books
- google play magazines
- google play movies & tv
- google play music

In the last 5 hours and 11 minutes of being on battery, only 5% was used by google services. Seems to be all good now

I'm not so sure whatever this problem is, that it isn't just a temporary problem. I had the issue for roughly a week and then it went away, and I didn't do any of those things.

It's almost as if it's indexing something, or backing something up, and then stops.

 

[jmt9779]

I'm not so sure whatever this problem is, that it isn't just a temporary problem. I had the issue for roughly a week and then it went away, and I didn't do any of those things.

It's almost as if it's indexing something, or backing something up, and then stops.

i agree - it very well could just be something temporary. but i don't necessarily need constant syncing of any of those things that i unchecked anyway (i don't even use any of them except for google play music). everything is currently working fine for me, so i'm through tinkering for now, before i end up breaking something else. heh.