FYI "Weather Bug" is a battery killer

I'm just guessing, but it COULD be that WB needs to run just so that it can 'watch the clock' to know when 6 hours has gone by and it's time to get you your next update. SOMETHING has to be awake to do that...

 

Howdy, WeatherBug uses the system's AlarmManager to wake up when it's time to get new weather data. It does nothing in between the update interval you have set.

With OSes 1.6 and later, you can check the amount of battery drain a component of your phone uses and WeatherBug uses anywhere from 2% and below, out of the box. You unfortunately can't run this to see what the culprit is in the Eris' 1.5...yet.

And My Location does not update your location in the background, only when you run the app. Follow Me mode does locate in the background but is off by default.

Cheers

-Alex

 

LOL!!! Messing around with the phone's features, and downloading apps could be another reason why your battery was being drained.

When I first got my G1 I would wonder why my battery died so quickly. Granted the battery on the G1 is horrible in the first place, but the fact that I would never put it down was part of that problem.

 

I was running Weatherbug in my Motorola Droid, and the battery monitor said it was responsible for 93% of my battery usage. 4 hour updates and Follow Me were selected.

 

Turn off Follow Me and instead set your specific location. You can add more locations and switch between them manually if you need to. But follow me IS a battery suck -- not just for weather programs, but in any program that tries to track your location. I find it best to turn this sort of GPS feature on only when, and for so long as, I am actually using it.

 

Hey....so would using the Weatherbug widget and/or keeping the temp in the notification bar drain battery?

assuming I have switched off 'follow me' and just have a zip code instead of my location?

Thanks

 

In my experience, at least, it is the"follow me" setting that is the real battery suck. I keep that off and instead set a specific location. If I am traveling, I may add a new location(s) for the duration of the trip. In the preferences, I set it to update once per hour -- because I find having a reasonably current outdoor temperature reading helpful to me. But you can set longer or shorter update periods to suit your needs.

To make the basic info easily accessible, I also use the "Weatherbug Elite Widget." That one fills up the space of four icons across the top of my home screen and gives the current temp and conditions, as well as very basic forcast info for the next several days without having to open the program. It seems to update regularly based on the intervals set in the program. If I am traveling in a different location for an extended period, I will drag that widget to the trash and then recreate a new one using the temporary location for the duration of the trip. (When you activitate the widget, it will ask you to set a location and will let you pick from any locations you have set up within the actual program. It will also let you select "follow me" -- which would be awfully convenient it it did not suck so much power.)

This set up works well for me. While I am sure that the widget does use some small amount of power when configured this way, the power usage seems minor and tolerable. I am happy with the program, especially the ability to view animated weather radar when I need to.

 

i also have weatherbug elite and I have disable all of the location and follow me settings. My battery use has gone up about 20% with the app installed. If I keep killing it the battery use goes back to normal. I haven't found anything yet in the way of settings to stabilize problem of constantly keeping the phone awake.

I almost wish I didn't pay this for app now and just gotten another one, but I had WB on my Storm and that never gave me a problem with battery with 30min updates. Hopefully future updates will iron out some of these problems.

 

I am having the exact same issue as I noted in a thread I made yesterday. I hope it gets fixed because I purchased elite as well and I like it, but not that part. I uninstalled it last night and normally with weatherbug (on a 6 hour cycle with no location functions on, i even disabled locations in options so they dont even turn on). With weatherbug i would be down to about 50% battery by 4-5pm. Today after uninstalling it last night and changing nothing else, in fact ive texted a loy more today i think then usual, im only down to 80% and its 4:30pm.

I hope it gets fixed.

 

FYI, I just noticed that Weatherbug has an update available today (check "My downloads" in the Marketplace app). The fixes, according to the file, include "faster data, bug fixes, including a fix to save battery life." May be worth a try.

 

Yeah you beat me to it. I noticed it a little while ago and the update has made a huge difference in not keeping the phone constantly busy.

I checked this with spare parts and this has shown a major reduction in the use of the application.

 

Awesome, im doing the same thing, gonna wait a bit to see how it performs

 

It does appear that this update has made a huge difference in battery usage by weatherbug. Great update!

 

How are the severe notifications with Weatherbug? I just switched from The Weather Channel. TWC had great notifications, but their widget was awkward.

I have everything turned on for the Weatherbug except GPS. It appears the awake time for my phone is staying below 15%. Hopefully the new fix helped.

Just curious about notifications. Thanks!

 

I actually keep all of the locations turned on, except for GPS. GPS is the only setting not checked. My awake time is staying below 16% and my battery is fine!

This is good news.

 

The app starts back up because you have it set to update at an update interval. It has to run if it is going to update. It would be nice if it would just open up when the time comes to update, but may I ask, how does the app know it is time to update if it isn't running?

Anyway, just running isn't going to severely drain your battery. I have been using weatherbug for the last month and have experienced 2 times where it was the culprit for draining my battery. I checked my partial wake usage (tells you what apps are waking your phone up and how long they keep it awake for) and saw that weatherbug was going nuts and keeping my phone from sleeping. A simple stop using the built-in running services in settings took care of that each time.

As long as an app is not keeping your phone from sleeping, it really isn't going to drain your battery in a noticeable way.

I have my weatherbug now set to update every 6 hours, allow it to use my location, and allow it to use cell towers. I do not allow it to follow me in the background and I do not allow it to use GPS since I don't leave GPS on. My network location is good enough for my weather. I used to have weatherbug update every 30 mins since it was my primary weather app. Now that it is not and I just use it for detailed weather info (i have a different widget that I allow to follow me), I only update every 6 hours.

Do yourself a favor and download spare parts or some other app that links you to your phones battery history and usage and see for yourself that allowing weatherbug to update more or less frequently isn't keeping your phone awake for long enough to severely affect battery life unless you are letting it track you in the background and/or with GPS. Excluding of course when/if it gets in the wacked out state i described.

What you want is to be able to see your partial wake usage, and like I said, Spare Parts will link you to it. The Battery Status battery widget also has a link. Last, BetterCut will provide an activity shortcut to this usage screen I'm talking about.

 

I have had WB for probably the last few months now, and I have never had a problem with it draining my battery. I have the G1, and while the battery sucks as is, I am always looking to see which app is using my battery most. I never see WB on the list of culprits. I am getting the Cliq next week, so hopefully I won't have to charge my phone every night, and part of every day, lol.