Note 5 Wifi Battery Drain

[dhavill]

Curious if anyone else has noticed this. I'm on Verizon and when I have wifi on I lose about 4% of battery an hour as opposed to 1% or less when on LTE. What would cause this? Hoping Marshmallow and doze improves stand-by time as I would rather leave the wifi setting on.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! Do you have any apps set to sync or backup only on wi-fi, like Google Photos?

Also, does the phone have wi-fi calling turned on? Some people have noted some increased battery drain with wi-fi calling, but it's hard to say it it was due to other factors. (Theoretically, wi-fi calling should save battery if the cell signal is poor, but things don't always work out as they're supposed to.)

 

[JanShim]

Curious if anyone else has noticed this. I'm on Verizon and when I have wifi on I lose about 4% of battery an hour as opposed to 1% or less when on LTE. What would cause this? Hoping Marshmallow and doze improves stand-by time as I would rather leave the wifi setting on.

Posted via the Android Central App

Yup, I'm seeing a very high battery drain with Wi-Fi vs LTE but I know why so I'm not complaining. The Note 5 has a special "Background Data" menu that other Samsung Galaxy models do not. When phone is using LTE you can stop all those apps from running and accessing the web when they are not in use (active screen). When the phone is using Wi-Fi all apps (depending on how many you have) are actively in use regardless of whether they're active or in the background. The way I use my phone I have everything turned off except messaging apps that require internet connectivity. I like the Note 5 very much for this unique feature alone. My wife's Galaxy A8 doesn't have this and neither does my friend's Sony Xperia even though they're running the same Android version.

Oh, I have about 170 apps disabled using Package Disabler Pro and still don't like how much quicker the phone drains when it's using Wi-Fi. It's usually in LTE except when I tether to the PC for photo and music transfers using AirMore app.