Help battery problems

[sare99]

Hi. Sorry if I'm jumping in late to an old thread. But I believe I can share some information that may help others with the same battery drain problem after the 4.4.2 update. Shortly after 4.4.2, Google acknowledged there was a bug in the update relating to camera hardware that was causing severe battery drain for some users. According to articles I read at the time, the bug was one of the patched items in 4.4.3. Sorry, I have no links to those articles but I found them via searches on Google. Although the bug had nothing to do with the Skype app, I read that something in Skype could trigger the bug with the camera software and that would start the battery draining unusually fast. I removed Skype from my phone but that had no effect. I had to do a factory reset after which I did not re-install Skype. My battery drain problem seemed to be repaired. However, since the reset, the battery drain problem had re-appeared several times. I haven't nailed down the exact trigger, but the last time this happened (yesterday) it was after I used the camera.

In a typical day I start off with a 100% charge if I have plugged in overnight. By the end of the day with my normal light use I'm getting down to around 80%. On days when I realize that I'm having battery problems, I'm down to 80% by the time I arrive at work (when normally I'd be around 98%) and the phone feels warm to the touch. When this happens, I have to shut off the phone and remove the battery. When I reassemble the phone, the battery drain problem is gone, at least until the next time.

I wish HTC would put together a 4.4.3 or higher update for the Desire. But I don't think enough people have experienced this problem or have just decided to live with it until they can switch phones.

Anyway, hopefully this information can be helpful to someone.

wmo43

^ this. I only just updated to Kit-Kat recently and immediately started having this problem. Same massive battery drain issue and the handset was getting very hot to the touch which was quite worrying.

Rummaged around on the internet and found this about the known bug:-

KitKat giving you battery drain problems? Try uninstalling Skype, says Google as it prepares a fix | ZDNet

Took Skype off my phone. Re-booted and BINGO! Solved the problem immediately. Phone is cool as a cucumber and completely back to normal battery usage (I'm not using a Desire but an HTC One Mini btw but I saw this thread and wanted to help). I can live without Skype on my phone as I primarily use WhatsApp in any event and have Skype on my laptop. Might put it back on at a later date once they patch this and see what happens but for now removing Skype definitely proved to be my knight in shining armour.

 

[gizmo88]

^ this. I only just updated to Kit-Kat recently and immediately started having this problem. Same massive battery drain issue and the handset was getting very hot to the touch which was quite worrying.

Rummaged around on the internet and found this about the known bug:-

KitKat giving you battery drain problems? Try uninstalling Skype, says Google as it prepares a fix | ZDNet

Took Skype off my phone. Re-booted and BINGO! Solved the problem immediately. Phone is cool as a cucumber and completely back to normal battery usage (I'm not using a Desire but an HTC One Mini btw but I saw this thread and wanted to help). I can live without Skype on my phone as I primarily use WhatsApp in any event and have Skype on my laptop. Might put it back on at a later date once they patch this and see what happens but for now removing Skype definitely proved to be my knight in shining armour.

I don't have Skype and I have this issue. It sounds like the only thing that will fix it is an OTA update from HTC. Hopefully they dont forget about us.

 

[groo79]

Does anyone know a way to manage permissions without root?

 

[mikeca]

Also, no skype on mine and it definitely has the issue from time to time.

 

[groo79]

Tried this last night and saw an improvement in the drain overnight.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.playfulgeeks.gservicefix
Let's hope it works.

 

[groo79]

Tried this last night and saw an improvement in the drain overnight.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.playfulgeeks.gservicefix
Let's hope it works.

Can someone else try this too? Seems to have improved my issue. Phone doesn't get so hot and I haven't had the battery drain today.

 

[groo79]

Never mind... I've been looking around and this is a widespread issue across many phones. Google's play services trips the wakelock and never lets the phone go to sleep, they also will NOT let you manage permissions. This seems to be a serious error on their part. Tomorrow I'm going to be out of town for 7-8 hours and I'm concerned about my battery draining to the point that my phone is useless.

 

[groo79]

Trying something new. I uninstalled the update to play services. Also had to uninstall the updates to gmail and G+ (they require the most recent update to plyay services). We'll see if that fixes the issue.

 

[mikeca]

Get yourself a portable charger, they are great. When I am traveling I do a lot of photo and video uploading for the store where I work's facebook page and no matter what phone you are using these portable chargers are the way to go. For under $20.00 you can pick one up at Walgreens that will basically give you one full recharge or for around $40.00 you can pick up one at like office depot or radio shack that's about the size of a phone and can get you 3-4 full charges! Totally a lifesaver.

 

[groo79]

Ok I think the solution is removing all the updates to play services, G+, gmail, and Google search. I know this kills some functionality, but my battery life has improved dramatically and my phone has been sleeping like it should since I did it.

 

[groo79]

And yes, I am confirming that my phone has not been kept awake since I removed those updates. Play Services update needs uninstalled and the apps that utilize it (gmail, G+, Google search and Google maps). They all work just fine with the older versions, just may loose a few features that I'm not sure what they are.

 

[hardwave]

And yes, I am confirming that my phone has not been kept awake since I removed those updates. Play Services update needs uninstalled and the apps that utilize it (gmail, G+, Google search and Google maps). They all work just fine with the older versions, just may loose a few features that I'm not sure what they are.

I can't remove those updates. They are greyed-out. Which version of Google Play-Services are you using? Mine is 5.0.89 (1307510-034).

 

[groo79]

 

[lytesson]

Hi all, I am also having the same issue with my phone. I took several screen shots to show how my phone is acting up. Seems to be "Google Play Services" and "Android System" eating up my battery. I also received this issue after the 4.4.2 Kit Kat update. Virgin Mobile actually replaced my phone for me since they apparently didn't know what the issue was. Now, with a new phone, my issue just came back.

Tried this last night and saw an improvement in the drain overnight.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.playfulgeeks.gservicefix
Let's hope it works.

I am going to try this once my battery EVENTUALLY gets back up to 100%. I actually found this fix from somewhere else. Good to see that someone tried it with success.

Ok I think the solution is removing all the updates to play services, G+, gmail, and Google search. I know this kills some functionality, but my battery life has improved dramatically and my phone has been sleeping like it should since I did it.

I tried doing this, but it forces some apps which I need to not work properly.

 

[lytesson]

 

[groo79]

I tried doing this, but it forces some apps which I need to not work properly.

I didn't run into any issues with mine, but I could see some issues if an app requires the new play services. The only ones I found that I use that do are Google apps and I just took them back to stock and they work fine.

Also, you want to kill your connections optimizer.

 

[groo79]

I'm still having battery issues. It's getting hot when charging and draining faster than it should despite not being kept awake. I think I'm going to try to revert back to JB and see if that fixes the issues.

 

[mikeca]

WOW! Good luck! Mine still goes whacko occasionally but normally works pretty well. Just all of a sudden goes crazy. Reboot normally gets things back to normal though.

 

[groo79]

Went with flashing Insert Coin and denying play services keep awake permissions. We'll see how it works, but I'm liking IC so far.

 

[lytesson]

Just did a factory reset and added my apps back. Battery life is now >1day with normal use.

Guess I'll wait and see if my problem comes back. My phone still always appears as 'awake' in the battery settings graph.

 

[groo79]

Insert Coin rocks! I'm still having a little bit of battery issues... But not from the play services wake lock issue. The Rom is badass. Sense 6 ported from the M7. Only a few minor annoyances that are easily overlooked in the porting (3D globe in world clocks isn't centered, the music player notification cuts off the bottom of the buttons and mms doesn't work in stock texting app but hangouts works for sms and mms). All in all, I would recommend it.

 

[groo79]

Can anyone tell me if this is still an issue for the stock Rom? I was thinking about going back, but wanted to check if this issue has been rectified.

 

[groo79]

Ok, back on stock today (rooted with Xposed framework and Greenify) and seems to be fixed. here's crossing my fingers.

 

[Wakabayashi]

YES

 

[mikeca]

Oddly I did a battery pull just for the heck of it after it acted up repeatedly yesterday and it's been way good so far. Kind of a WTF! Hope I didn't just jinx it by typing this! knocking on wood. It really was going into drain mode every couple hours. I pulled the battery and then plugged in for a recharge and it's been very stable ever since ?