Help Battery Draining Quickly

[steuby]

Hey all! I recently got a Galaxy S5 and am absolutely loving it so far. My only problem has been the battery. I heard that it was supposed to be one of the best batteries on the market but so far it hasn't lived up to the hype. For reference. I woke up at 9:30 this morning with a 100% charge and it's 6:45 as I type this and I'm down to 45%. A friend of mine from work showed me his battery details and it showed that he had used it for almost 24 hours and he still had 80% left.

I've never owned a android phone before (I switched from the iPhone 4s) so I'm not sure if there are certain settings that I need to change to get more mileage out of my battery. My friend had some problems with the charger for his Note 3 so maybe that's the issue although my charger charges my phone to 100% so I don't think it's that. I also have a S View case so I thought maybe that drains the battery more. I downloaded battery doctor and deleted some things from my phone and it didn't really do much. I'm thinking about maybe just trying to get a different battery but I honestly just don't even know what to do. It doesn't seem to be a common problem.

Anyway, as you can see I don't really know why the battery isn't lasting very long. If any of you have any tips or tricks to get more out of my battery it'd be much appreciated.

Thanks for the help!

 

[AZgl1500]

There are a couple of other threads running just today and yesterday on the same subject. See if you can find them so we don't have to repeat it all over again.
here is one of those posts.

Check to see if there is an Amazon app running.

I downloaded something for "free' and the payback was Amazon got installed.
That app sucked 54% of my GS5's battery down in less than 4 hours this morning...

I left for work at 0530 and unplugged the charger...

At 0930 AM I happened to notice the battery down to about 50%... By the time I figured out what was draining the battery so much, it was down to 46%.

I went into Settings/Battery and saw the power use charts there.... I uninstalled that thing sooooo fast. I have no use for Amazon period, and damn sure don't want it on a cellphone.

Since I got rid of Amazon's waste land, the battery has only dropped 4% since 0930 this morning. That is some kind of difference.!!!

 

[steuby]

Yea I saw those threads and checked all the things that people had posted there and it's not that. I keep closing and ending all the applications but it still isn't improving much. Here's a pic of my batter settings screen: http://i.imgur.com/tr770C5.png

 

[victek]

Yea I saw those threads and checked all the things that people had posted there and it's not that. I keep closing and ending all the applications but it still isn't improving much. Here's a pic of my batter settings screen: http://i.imgur.com/tr770C5.png

Get a free app called Wakelock Detector from the Play Store. It will show you if something is preventing the phone from sleeping.

 

[Mittar]

Honestly, your battery life doesn't seem unreasonable. 55% use in 9 hours?

I'm more suspicious of your friend's usage. What phone did he have? Did he have power saving apps/settings in place? 24 hours for 20% of battery is suspiciously good.

 

[jmatteis]

I take my phone off the charger at 0430... in 10 minutes, I have lost 1% doing nothing. I leave the phone in sleep mode in my coat pocket all morning at work and at lunch am at about 50% as well. Ridiculous. For me, it seems the first part of the battery drains fast, but the last 40% lasts longer than I would think, still, I would rather have more battery, when I am not even touching the phone.

 

[AZgl1500]

You really need to analyze what apps are consuming the power drain.

I have disabled everything on my S5 that is not needed for major communications needs. I want a phone that is always ready to connect to the world, not be a game player or an advertising link from JackCrapSales.

My battery life has been greatly extended by getting rid of the extra crap that I don't want.

settings/Applications/Application Manager/Running

Running is hidden at first, tap on SD CARD, then tap on Running

I got rid of HealthService, Amazon suite, just to name a few.

I wanted to get rid of that slew of Google crap, but most likely that would cripple the phone.

I charged my phone before going to bed last night around 8:30 PM. It is now 5 PM so about 21 hours since charging? Current Battery is 51%

That is not bad, in any language.

Oh, one more thing. Turn OFF Auto-Sync !!! That is a horrible waste of battery power.
If you are not looking at the phone, it does not need to be sync'd to anything.

I still get Text Messages just fine, incoming phone calls work great. Nothing else is needed.

And I will again talk about Battery Doctor and Closing all apps before putting the phone to sleep.

1 - Close all apps
2 - Battery Doctor's widget. I keep it on my main home screen.

Every time I am thru with the phone, I close all apps, and then I tickle the Battery Doctor widget. Then I tickle the power button and it sleeps a long long time w/o using up the battery.

Battery Doctor needs to be thoroughly studied to understand how to make it prolong the battery. It has several modes to it, and each mode can be independently programmed as to what it will kill or leave running.

Learn what it can do, and you will be very happy. I sure am.

again, 51% battery after 21 hours? good enough for me.

 

[jmatteis]

I'm confused. I go to running abd I can stop apps but not remove them. And a lot just say things like "service" etc. So I don't think they should be stopped.
What is this amazon app people speak of?

 

[Mittar]

I would be careful about which apps you kill or turn off. Anything with your carrier branding can safely be turned off. Google services basically run the phone. I don't go as aggressive as AZG, I like my phone to tell me when I have a facebook notification or an email, but he's right that those things do use battery life.

Also, make sure your location is set to wifi only (turn off gps) unless you're actively using location apps (maps, navigation).

For me, having 40% when I got to bed with heavy use is fantastic battery life, and I am always in the habit of plugging in at night. I don't need much more than that.

 

[AZgl1500]

Hey all! I recently got a Galaxy S5 and am absolutely loving it so far. My only problem has been the battery. I heard that it was supposed to be one of the best batteries on the market but so far it hasn't lived up to the hype. For reference. I woke up at 9:30 this morning with a 100% charge and it's 6:45 as I type this and I'm down to 45%. A friend of mine from work showed me his battery details and it showed that he had used it for almost 24 hours and he still had 80% left.

Just back with an update on my S5.

In another thread I talked of locking my phone's security so tight it was unusable. In fact, trying to get it unlocked again, I scrambled the "new password" so bad I could not guess what it was.

After the 9th or 10th try at fixing it, the phone did a reboot and erased everything thing on it to Box Stock new Factory Default.

that was a Blessing in Disguise!

It removed nearly all of the Verizon junk, and the newly minted phone is now very miserly on battery consumption. It is now 2:30 PM and the phone was last charged yesterday around 10 AM or so.

the current battery state is 49%, Sync is still turned ON, Amazon Suites I disabled immediately after the reboot (it was in the phone after the reboot formatting)

And I have been using the phone a lot.... Trying out new apps... MyMail was suggested and I got that going, love it.

Downloading all of the "standard fare of apps" that I use on my Android phones took a couple hours, and then reconfiguring the phone like I want it took most of the afternoon. so, the display has been alive most of yesterday...

and there is still 49% battery life left... I attribute a lot of that good news to the S5 and Battery Doctor..... that app is worth its' weight in gold. Screen goes to sleep and in half a minute, Battery Doctor shuts down all the background operations not needed. You program what you want to leave up and running...

.

 

[jmatteis]

Liking the sounds of battery doctor, will try that tonight. I am at work now... Took phone off of charger at 4:20, and at 8 am, without using it at all, the battery is down to 87%??? I had killed all apps... I can't check right now to see if Sync is on, but I suspect it is... Does anyone know if the gear watch would cause a lot of drain on the phone, via the BT link always being active, yet in the background?
Also, with the reset, which i had done week 1 in... I can't remember, but is it a pain setting everything back up again?
My battery life is not great, even with nothing running, within 5 minutes off of charger and doing nothing more than reading an email, I drop to 99% and it goes downhill quickly. I will admit, I am a heavy app user, but am going back and removing stuff I wanted to try but do not need. I rarely have much ram left to spare, even with nothing really running other than android stuff I am afraid to kill.
Can the carrier be affecting it too. In that the stuff they install, I am with Rogers and there are Rogers apps on here that I can't remove...
Hoping that Battery doctor will be key, since my battery is really draining, when the phone is asleep.
I read your other posts about disabling certain items and such... I may try some, but I wanted this phone as a device, more than a phone. Not that young, so not texting all the time, not watching youtube all the time, however, at home, I will use it for email rather than fire up the laptop. I will play the odd game, but grew tired of that, with the iPhone as well... But I am constantly reading forums like these on it and trying new apps, or reading about them.

 

[AZgl1500]

Went to bed with the battery at 49%,
awoke at 0500 and saw 48%

The only thing I used while at work was to read the forum for about 10 minutes.
Battery is currently showing 47% at 5 PM

I use the Battery Doctor widget to shut off WiFi, bluetooth, Sync & Data & GPS while not being used.
Tested SMS and it works even with Data OFF, so I am very happy, I won't miss any text messages or phone calls. Everything else can keep until I am settled down and ready to use the phone.

By deactivating all the unnecessary stuff the S5 can idle along for Days and Days between charges.

Email? Turn on DATA, wait a minute for it to connect to Verizon, then download email.

Oh, used the Weather Channel app once to look at the Tornado warnings, they were miles away, so turned that off again.

This method will NOT work for game junkies that require sync to be ON all the time.

Choose your poison, great battery life, or a great game/video device to play with.

 

[iamloco724]

Just back with an update on my S5.

In another thread I talked of locking my phone's security so tight it was unusable. In fact, trying to get it unlocked again, I scrambled the "new password" so bad I could not guess what it was.

After the 9th or 10th try at fixing it, the phone did a reboot and erased everything thing on it to Box Stock new Factory Default.

that was a Blessing in Disguise!

It removed nearly all of the Verizon junk, and the newly minted phone is now very miserly on battery consumption. It is now 2:30 PM and the phone was last charged yesterday around 10 AM or so.

the current battery state is 49%, Sync is still turned ON, Amazon Suites I disabled immediately after the reboot (it was in the phone after the reboot formatting)

And I have been using the phone a lot.... Trying out new apps... MyMail was suggested and I got that going, love it.

Downloading all of the "standard fare of apps" that I use on my Android phones took a couple hours, and then reconfiguring the phone like I want it took most of the afternoon. so, the display has been alive most of yesterday...

and there is still 49% battery life left... I attribute a lot of that good news to the S5 and Battery Doctor..... that app is worth its' weight in gold. Screen goes to sleep and in half a minute, Battery Doctor shuts down all the background operations not needed. You program what you want to leave up and running...

.

are you saying when your phone got reset it removed all the bloatware?

 

[AZgl1500]

Not all of it, but it did get rid of a lot of it for some reason and being somewhat familiar with the phone, I went straight way to the Applications List and disabled everything there I did NOT want.
with that crap out of the way, the apps screen was reduced down to one instead of the 3? that was there?

I just know that it was much easier and quicker to reconfigure it after the Reset to Factory Default occurred.

Just make darn sure you have a backup with Kies 3.0 before you go fooling around with Reset.

* My Kies 3.0 install post

 

[iamloco724]

Not all of it, but it did get rid of a lot of it for some reason.

I just know that it was much easier and quicker to reconfigure it after the Reset to Factory Default occurred.

Just make darn sure you have a backup with Kies 3.0 before you go fooling around with Reset.

* My Kies 3.0 install post

thanks i will look into it, what exactly does kies back up like will it backup all my apps and settings?

 

[AZgl1500]

totally.... look at that post I made, click on the images, it will backup the complete configuration if you Select "All"

 

[AZgl1500]

One last update on making the S5 battery last a long time.

Last night it was charged up to 96% at 10 PM beddie bye time.

Off to work at 0500 AM this morning. Used it once at lunch time surfing this forum for about 30 minutes.

Talked on it for about 15 minutes during the day.

Right now at 7 PM it has 84% battery, that is only 12% battery consumption in 21 hours.

I use Battery Doctor's Widget to monitor what is on/off.
Each time before shutting the screen off, I use the widget to turn OFF
Data, Sync, WiFi, GPS.

Both phone service and text messaging work w/o Data on, so don't mess with that during the day. Had to turn on Data though to access the internet to use the Phandroid app to browse this forum at the lunch time.

So, if need be, the S5 can really stretch out the battery life.
If you need to keep data and sync turn ON though, the cost is battery consumption.

We each have our own needs, and mine is basic communications during the day. I am not a game player, don't like Facebook or any other social app. Will not allow them on my phones.

So that is it, my little tidbit on battery life. I am estimating that if need be, the S5 could easily go 6 days w/o a recharge under the conditions that I use it.


.

 

[TimJay]

Everyone in this thread is talking about the wrong things. His battery life sucks because the "Android System" and "Android OS" as shown in the picture are eating up the battery. Mine is doing the same thing. My Galaxy s5 was getting 48 hours of battery with average use until I had this happen and I can't find a fix anywhere online. Turning off location services helps a little because there is a bug that causes that to search for location a lot and keep the device awake but there is another MAJOR problem causing the system to eat up memory and battery.

I went from 36-48 hours of regular use on a charge to 13 hours MAX with almost no use. Major problem.

It does not matter how many features I turn off. Everything is off and brightness is at the lowest setting. Trust me when I say all the "battery saving tips" do not apply. This is a system problem that affects a lot of people but there appears to be no fix that I can find. I hope someone finds one I missed.

 

[AZgl1500]

TimJay,

IMO your phone probably needs to be Factory Reset so that it will start all over and have only what is in the ROM running in the system.

My phone also was using a lot of battery until I went through the reset procedure and was very careful about what I let be installed on it again.

I immediately noticed better battery life.... after the reset was done and the phone back up and going again, the first thing I did was to Disable all of the carrier supplied bloatware.

From there, I only installed the critical apps I needed from the Play Store. I will NOT allow apps that are not from the Play Store. I don't trust them as I have not way to vet them out.

 

[Mittar]

There are certain apps that use "android system" and "android os" more than others. One example is HD Widgets. While I love the widgets with their connected areas, it likes to update location every time you open it as well as weather, and both of those show up as Android system or some such.

I just came off of two full days of heavy usage on a battery before installing HD Widgets again so I'm seeing the difference. I've optimized it as much as possible, so we'll see how much it's eating up. Go through the apps you've installed since you had fantastic battery life and look at their permissions, or find an app that will tell you specifically what's using the services that use the battery.

 

[TimJay]

That's the thing. I don't have that much. The apps are all the same. I removed a bunch today just to see. Yesterday I tried location services off all day. This morning I tried removing the SD card. None of it worked.

So far it's still horrible. Down to 90% after a few minutes off the charger. "android system" and "android os" did it all.

 

[Mittar]

That's the thing. I don't have that much. The apps are all the same. I removed a bunch today just to see. Yesterday I tried location services off all day. This morning I tried removing the SD card. None of it worked.

So far it's still horrible. Down to 90% after a few minutes off the charger. "android system" and "android os" did it all.

You've probably done it already, but make sure you do a hard reset, pull the battery, reboot.

 

[TimJay]

How often am I going to have to hard reset? I hate that. It takes forever to get all my settings right again and I spent the last 2 day screwing everything up turning everything off. My phone barely does anything at this point. No fix but to reset every time this happens?

 

[AZgl1500]

Just pulling the battery will not cause you to reconfigure the phone.
It will just restart the phone

With memory clear

 

[jmatteis]

So, Battery doctor has made a difference, however, the last couple of days, I am draining fast again. Not sure what has changed... but today for instance, took the phone off the charger, threw it in my pocket and went out on the motorcycle for an hour, got home, took phone out of pocket, and it's down to 89%. Battery doctor did it's thing before I left for my ride and was still doing it's thing when I got back. It always suggests to turn off Bluetooth and wifi, as well as gps, but I leave those on, and last week, when I first started with it, it was fine, now it's draining fast again... Ugh, the weird thing is, the first 15 to 20% of my battery drains fast, then it seems like I can surf, view images, read emails etc for the next 25% for hours... it has always been like that, minutes off the charger, I am down 1% after checking 2 emails, lets say... then down another, then another, until I hit 95% within 15 minutes...