Moto X: What is 'mm-qcamera-daemon'?

ethertwist

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I just activated my Moto X today and immediately updated to Kit Kat. I made calls, reinstalled apps, and took a few pictures to test out the camera. Out of curiosity, I checked out the battery statistics and I noticed a running process (app?) called mm-qcamera-daemon. It wasn't using a tremendous amount of the battery, but it seems suspicious. I did an online search and it looks like it's been an issue (namely battery drain) on other devices as well, but no solution to be found. Has anyone else noticed this on their X? Any information as to what it is or what it's attributed to? :confused:
 
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KWKSLVR

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Re: What is 'mm-qcamera-daemon'?

How much battery had drained when you noticed it? As far as I know, that's the process you see when you've used the camera. It would make sense to see it if you unplugged @ 100%, used the camera some, and saw it with your battery @ 90% or something. I mean, there's of so much using the battery. If you took pics then sat the phone down.

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ethertwist

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Re: What is 'mm-qcamera-daemon'?

How much battery had drained when you noticed it? As far as I know, that's the process you see when you've used the camera. It would make sense to see it if you unplugged @ 100%, used the camera some, and saw it with your battery @ 90% or something. I mean, there's of so much using the battery. If you took pics then sat the phone down.

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That would certainly make sense (and it does contain the word camera!). I did take quite a few pictures in rapid succession and experienced maybe a 10% battery drop at most, but I'm not exactly sure because I wasn't monitoring my usage at that point. It's not really an issue as of now, I was just curious to know if it's common and/or harmless.:)

Here's a screen grab (this is where it currently stands, but the percentage was higher early this evening closer to when I was using the camera):

motoxscreengrab.jpg
 

KWKSLVR

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Re: What is 'mm-qcamera-daemon'?

Ok, looking at that, I think Lookout is probably triggering the process. Check out their permissions list. https://www.lookout.com/permissions

Honestly, it's an app you probably don't need at all unless you download random apps from questionable sources. I would freeze or uninstall Lookout and see if that changes things.

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ethertwist

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Re: What is 'mm-qcamera-daemon'?

Ok, looking at that, I think Lookout is probably triggering the process. Check out their permissions list. https://www.lookout.com/permissions

Honestly, it's an app you probably don't need at all unless you download random apps from questionable sources. I would freeze or uninstall Lookout and see if that changes things.

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I actually installed Lookout after I noticed the mm-qcamera-daemon, but you make a good point about it being unnecessary. Thank you!
 

KWKSLVR

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Re: What is 'mm-qcamera-daemon'?

It looks like it's a process that can be triggered by a lot more than just the camera itself. If you don't see it again, I wouldn't worry about it but it's not something you should see after a full days use or anything like that! Hope your device is alright, LOL

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ethertwist

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Re: What is 'mm-qcamera-daemon'?

It looks like it's a process that can be triggered by a lot more than just the camera itself. If you don't see it again, I wouldn't worry about it but it's not something you should see after a full days use or anything like that! Hope your device is alright, LOL

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Eek! I hope so too. :eek:
 

PiggyMiddle

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Re: What is 'mm-qcamera-daemon'?

a running process (app?) called mm-qcamera-daemon

You have almost certainly granted an app a Permission to the camera. No telling what and when it is taking pics or videos.

It is VERY important that when about to Install an app you tap the "Show all" and read and understand what you are giving up in terms of privacy. Screw the battery use, there are bigger things at play here!

Lemme nag a little - Screw the battery use, there are bigger things at play here! Viruses are not the only thing one needs to be wary of with a phone. At least Androids insists on asking for all Permissions, so use them. Try an app called Permissions Dog, run that and it will display all the Permissions for all the apps you have installed. Read them and weep, the start uninstalling the red-triangle ones.
 

Shawn Magm

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Re: What is 'mm-qcamera-daemon'?

That damn thing caused battery drain in my Nexus 5. I suspect it was an app I installed, namely Pinger Free text. There are a bunch of threads online talking about how it resulted in severe battery drain. Do a google search.
 

ethertwist

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Re: What is 'mm-qcamera-daemon'?

You have almost certainly granted an app a Permission to the camera. No telling what and when it is taking pics or videos.

It is VERY important that when about to Install an app you tap the "Show all" and read and understand what you are giving up in terms of privacy. Screw the battery use, there are bigger things at play here!

Lemme nag a little - Screw the battery use, there are bigger things at play here! Viruses are not the only thing one needs to be wary of with a phone. At least Androids insists on asking for all Permissions, so use them. Try an app called Permissions Dog, run that and it will display all the Permissions for all the apps you have installed. Read them and weep, the start uninstalling the red-triangle ones.

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond. I will definitely be downloading that app! I'm curious to know what the culprit might be....
 

PiggyMiddle

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Happy to try and help, please report back as I am sure others will be surprised and shocked when you find out what added it to your phone.

Far too few people take any notice of the Permissions they give up when the "I want that app," turns into "I neeeeed that app." :D
 

CarlGalgano

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I want to add my 2 cents to this thread. Last Thursday I noticed my battery was dead after my morning workout when usually its at about 90% when Im done. Ive been fighting with the camera daemon issue sucking all my battery. Most of the threads about this issue on various web sites point to snapchat or other similar programs. I however dont have snapchat and really hardly ever use my camera. After looking through my app list, I noticed that Skype was updated last Wed or Thurs and this is the day I noticed the problem. Yesterday I removed Skype, and the problem has disappeared. Im hoping an app update with fix the issue in the future, but Im pretty sure Skype was the culprit in my case.
 

PiggyMiddle

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"Pretty sure," is not a solution.

One needs to check what is actually running and what is using the power. Objective testing is the only way and the first step to that is with something like Permissions Dog (PD). See where the dangers are then selectively uninstall one app at a time.

I have nothing to do with the PD app nor it's developer, I am just a very grateful user. I am new to Android but not to programming, been doing that for 35+ years. I am still amazed at the whimsical approach that people have to these issues and their totally insecure approach to just clicking, "Install" and allowing any Permissions. It is like a pack-rat grabbing bling for the nest just to impress the girlfriend.

You ALL SHOULD carefully weigh up the cost of Permissions you are giving away BEFORE installing an app for the "benefits" or "just want it," mindset.

Why do you suppose Google displays the Permissions demanded by an app BEFORE it is installed? Google can't make you be smart about the decision, but they do give you every opportunity to asses the value of the app and the risks.
 

swebb

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"Pretty sure," is not a solution.

OK, Im sure.

I recently ran into this same issue and did the same cause/effect analysis as CarlGalgano. The issue started for me about a couple weeks ago. I installed no new apps during this time, and I also noticed that Skype was updated Feb 18. No other apps that I saw with camera permissions had updated in that time frame. So Skype is now uninstalled and I'll post back whether that is my culprit.

Don't knock the guy for going after the first obvious cause. He did say "pretty sure", so it's not like he said this solved the problem after 5 minutes. I do understand the issue with permissions and this problem really brought it to light. I'll certainly look deeper before I install an app.
 

DCSholtis

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You have almost certainly granted an app a Permission to the camera. No telling what and when it is taking pics or videos.

It is VERY important that when about to Install an app you tap the "Show all" and read and understand what you are giving up in terms of privacy. Screw the battery use, there are bigger things at play here!

Lemme nag a little - Screw the battery use, there are bigger things at play here! Viruses are not the only thing one needs to be wary of with a phone. At least Androids insists on asking for all Permissions, so use them. Try an app called Permissions Dog, run that and it will display all the Permissions for all the apps you have installed. Read them and weep, the start uninstalling the red-triangle ones.

Found the app and Uninstalled the red triangle apps. Never realized there were that much! Although I did keep Lookout.

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swebb

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I recently ran into this same issue and did the same cause/effect analysis as CarlGalgano. The issue started for me about a couple weeks ago. I installed no new apps during this time, and I also noticed that Skype was updated Feb 18. No other apps that I saw with camera permissions had updated in that time frame. So Skype is now uninstalled and I'll post back whether that is my culprit.

Don't knock the guy for going after the first obvious cause. He did say "pretty sure", so it's not like he said this solved the problem after 5 minutes. I do understand the issue with permissions and this problem really brought it to light. I'll certainly look deeper before I install an app.

Now at three days with Skype uninstalled. Battery life is back to normal and mm-qcamera-daemon does not show up in battery usage stats. Based on Googles acknowledgement that this is a problem, I don't blame Skype app. It was merely the third party app installed on my device that killed the battery. So you can uninstall all apps with camera permissions, then selectively re-install until the issue appears again. Or wait for Google to push the update.