Can an app drain a battery when the phone is on but sleeping (locked)?

[Notes_Norton]

I admit, I'm a newbie at smart phones, and a forum search just confused me even more. Some day I'll learn about these tiny computers.

I installed the Gas Buddy app on my LG Optimus M and noticed that when I unlock the phone the battery is showing some drain. After a few hours of being on, a very noticeable amount of drain.

Could it be the Gas Buddy App, or might something else be wrong.

I suppose I could uninstall the app and see if it changes, and if I can't get an answer here, that's what I'll do.

But before doing that, I have another question.

But if it is the app, is there something I can do to prevent this from happening without uninstalling the app?

Thanks,
Bob ♫ Notes ♫ Norton

 

[Colchicine]

Yes it can happen. I just uninstalled Angular Velocity because of this issue.
Go to Menu > Settings > About Phone > Battery > Battery Use
That will tell you what is using your battery. If you find an app as a culprit, then you should report it and uninstall it. Check back on the market for any updates and try those.

 

[AngryHatter]

Short answer - Sure.
Avoid ad ware.

Try Latitude or Places or just google local gas stations in the browser.

 

[danaj]

try turning your gps off when you are not using it, that should help alot.

 

[TheSultan]

You can always exit out of that the Gas Buddy app. I use it daily and have never had a problem. There are plenty of other apps that could be running in the sleep mode (GPS if it's refreshing things), email sync. Do you know how to see what exactly is draining your battery? Go in to settings> About Phone> Battery

AngryHatter--GasBuddy has a TON of features that Latitude nor Places has.

 

[Notes_Norton]

Thank you all for your help.

Colchicine, and The Sultan, that was a tool I didn't know was there.

And I figured out how to turn it off in the settings menu (couldn't figure it out in the Gas Buddy app). I don't need it every day, so there is no sense of it running all the time.

Now I'll charge it and see if it drains again.

Bob

 

[Colchicine]

try turning your gps off when you are not using it, that should help alot.

That's not the entire story. Leaving your GPS on all the time should not have any affect on battery life since the GPS should only be used with an app is calling for it. But if you have a rogue app that isn't shutting down and using GPS, then it certainly could reduce the battery. In this case, the problem is not the GPS being turned on, it's the rogue app.

 

[itsallgood]

Boy can it. I have weatherbug elite as a widget and it was draining my battery. (Even though I had it to update every hour and my task manager had it as only using like 5% battery.) What I found out was, I had it set to folow me and to use GPS to lock my position. So, even though my GPS was not on, it was still being used. Once I changed this setting, I noticed considerable less battery drain.

 

[Scythe]

Yes.

Many developers have problems handling "wake locks". At any point in time a developer can hold a wake lock and prevent your phone from sleeping (usually used while performing some kind of task, like downloading or processing results). A lot of dev's for instance abuse the partial wake lock, which will wake the phone up and do work while it looks like it's off.

Download Spare Parts off the market, and look at partial wake lock usage under the battery history. If you spot a large bar going across the screen, then there's a problem.

 

[Notes_Norton]

I've disabled the GPS on my browser, and only use it when I wake up the maps or another app where I need it.

Notes