Wifi is killing Droid Turbo 2 Battery

[Lucy Davies]

WiFi is still using my battery even after turning off the scanning option. Can still get through a while day with it though but don't want WiFi there.

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[revtech]

I think he's saying there's a setting to restrict background data for the play store? . . .

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[BlackHawkA4]

(How does a mobile site made for Android have problems in chrome)

Anyways, I accidentally deleted the last post. I am having this problem too. But upon further investigation it seems to be a marshmallows glitch and it's reporting falsely and not actually using battery. Which makes sense since I'm at about the same amount of battery I always am at the end of the night yet it says it used over 500mah extra than whenbit says it doesn't.

I tried what the article said... Clear my network settings and cache.

 

[Lucy Davies]

After a few days of turning the always scanning bit off WiFi is now not in my battery stats at all. Happy with this but now Google services is using 12% or more. How can I lower this?

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[Moo Cow]

I am bumping this because I have WiFi turned off and yet my battery stats have a solid green line showing it is on and there IS noticeable battery drain. I want to try a couple of things stated in here. I do not believe the green line is a "false positive" as essentially addressed by someone in here.

I also have an app that does the auto turn on/turn off of WiFi when cell phone tower triangulation shows I'm near a known WiFi source I use (such as home). But being new to the Droid Turbo 2 after the original DT died on me (two weeks?) and now on Marshmallow, I wonder if the app (WiFi Matic produced by GZ Systems, last updated Jan. 2016) just isn't set up for Marshmallow yet. I've faithfully used this app for years and never had issues until the DT2 upgrade so I'll probably have to contact the app maker and advise it basically doesn't work anymore.

Anyway... I use the DT2 the same way as my DT1, nothing has changed. But that app saved battery power for me on the DT1 and doesn't work for the DT2 so I have to manually turn WiFi off. And I'm the type that I come home and forget to turn WiFi on and waste data on my plan. (I have a low data plan because with WiFi, I don't need high data.)

If WiFi isn't killing my battery, something unique to the DT2 and/or Marshmallow is. No factory reset needed on this new phone; everything was fresh before I customized my phone to replicate my DT1 which had Lollipop.

Either way, WiFi has been noticed as a serious contender for being the problem. Whatever it ultimately is, I want it fixed.

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[Moo Cow]

It's not in the Wi-Fi area. You have to go to Settings>Location then hit the 3 dots in the upper right. That will reveal "Scanning" and then the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth scanning.

In the short time since my last post and doing this, yes, my WiFi option was on but not Bluetooth. Turned WiFi off. The green bar has halted.

Battery power still draining quite a bit but im using the phone a bit more today fixing this issue, so I can't give an improvement status. Once I resume work and put the phone down, I will see how the battery power reflects. Hopefully this is a simple fix.

Still looking for a good WiFi auto on app. Disappointed the other one no longer wants to work. I might just email the maker as I intended. I loved how it turned on and off automatically and now it doesn't. Because again, I turn stuff off I am not using and turn it on when I am, and WiFi is one such thing. Sounds silly to some that I'm worried about this when I have a large battery, but just throw me a bone and overlook it. (I'm the pickles McDonald's threw on your hamburger when you specifically requested it plain, lol.)

Otherwise, as long as the aforementioned fix does solve my WiFi issue, the DT2 is like the DT1 for me and I'm satisfied.

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[Moo Cow]

Wi-Fi Matic is "broken" for DT2 Marshmallow and I sent an email to the maker to explain. Wi-Fi is not turning off, and believe it or not, it is a HUGE battery drainer to have Wi-Fi on where I don't need it. I've tweaked every setting in the phone properly (e.g. In Android itself, Settings -> Location -> three dots at upper right -> Scanning -> Wi-Fi scanning is OFF.) I just want it to shut off or turn on based on cell phone tower triangulation, and Wi-Fi Matic is not playing nice with DT2 Marshmallow like it did my other phones.

I may need another Wi-Fi on/off app. You would think with a huge battery that Wi-Fi on all day isn't an issue, but it is. Let us not argue this base point of how the battery drain works. Fact is, there is battery drain and if I dig into my screen shots enough, I'd show you, but I am lazy. Just go with my track record of trying to be honest and helpful and trust me on this one, Wi-Fi is a drain.

I just think the DT2 can be a clone of my DT1 with updated software and keep me happy. All I want is a good Wi-Fi on/off app, and I am perfectly happy. I love the phone. I have had no adjustment period at all. If we as a forum can fix my Wi-Fi issue with a good app, I will not do cartwheels as I do not want to end up in the ER, but, I will be very happy.

 

[Zorro1]

I'm a bit puzzled by the WiFi drain, too. WiFi should be the least draining compared to 4G. When I looked at my battery stats the other day on my three week old phone, I was shocked to see the steep drain just sitting around on WiFi!! I do figure a software update will fix it since they usually do...

 

[Moo Cow]

I'm a bit puzzled by the WiFi drain, too. WiFi should be the least draining compared to 4G. When I looked at my battery stats the other day on my three week old phone, I was shocked to see the steep drain just sitting around on WiFi!! I do figure a software update will fix it since they usually do...

Doogald in PM told me to try a different app, but, he said what you did, essentially: a software update may be needed.

 

[Moo Cow]

WiFi is manually turned off by me. The green bar in battery settings is going straight through with no stoppage and that just shouldn't be. There is something wrong. I know they can't do anything but for laughs and giggles I may stop in at the VZW store and see what they say. I want to buy something anyway so it isn't a wasted trip.

I am uninstalling the WiFi on/off app as a precaution, as well as a cache wipe (which will be fruitless). But, I doubt it does anything. At the end of my work day I bet the green bar stays strong.

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[Moo Cow]

WiFi is manually turned off by me. The green bar in battery settings is going straight through with no stoppage and that just shouldn't be. There is something wrong. I know they can't do anything but for laughs and giggles I may stop in at the VZW store and see what they say. I want to buy something anyway so it isn't a wasted trip.

I am uninstalling the WiFi on/off app as a precaution, as well as a cache wipe (which will be fruitless). But, I doubt it does anything. At the end of my work day I bet the green bar stays strong.

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The green bar has stopped growing after uninstalling the app and wiping the cache -- and given a cache wipe took all of three seconds, there was no cache to wipe.

One must now ponder if the WiFi Matic app caused the issue, or of any such app would. But i do want an app that uses cell tower triangulation to turn wifi on and off. It is a convenience for me.

More research is needed on my part. I will follow up. I will first turn on WiFi at home tonight and turn it off before going to work tomorrow and see what happens. If the green bar doesn't exist, I can make a case the app was the issue. If it does, I will do a cache wipe again and see what happens. After all that I may try a new app.

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[doogald]

One must now ponder if the WiFi Matic app caused the issue, or of any such app would. But i do want an app that uses cell tower triangulation to turn wifi on and off. It is a convenience for me.

I just read the FAQ for WiFi Matic - it's only been tested on Samsung phones through Jellybean 4.2, so it's maybe not surprising that it doesn't work right on Marshmallow.

Again, I'd try Llama. It may have the same issue, but it was made for cell tower location based rules, for more than just WiFi, so it *may* work. It's an old app as well, though, so it may have the same issue on Marshmallow.

 

[Moo Cow]

I just read the FAQ for WiFi Matic - it's only been tested on Samsung phones through Jellybean 4.2, so it's maybe not surprising that it doesn't work right on Marshmallow.

Again, I'd try Llama. It may have the same issue, but it was made for cell tower location based rules, for more than just WiFi, so it *may* work. It's an old app as well, though, so it may have the same issue on Marshmallow.

Yeah apps seem to be early 2016 which is an issue. Marshmallow really came out later than those apps.

First things first, what happens when I turn on WiFi at home to connect, then turn it off tomorrow morning to go to work? If it turns off, I can peg it to the app and try other apps.

If the green bar doesn't stop, then we have a software issue. Then I will clear the cache and see what happens. Although clearing the cache every day would be an inconvenience.

We will see. We here will come up with something once I get more research accomplished.

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[THEPRFCT10]

I've posted about this a while back with no luck or help from anyone or anywhere. Extremely frustrating and I have no doubt it's draining my battery. For a 48 hour advertised battery, I'm lucky if I get 12!!!!!! Unacceptable.

 

[Moo Cow]

I've posted about this a while back with no luck or help from anyone or anywhere. Extremely frustrating and I have no doubt it's draining my battery. For a 48 hour advertised battery, I'm lucky if I get 12!!!!!! Unacceptable.

Well hopefully my research will help you. Not sure how much, as every situation can be unique, but, it may help you try something and experiment.

Just keep checking the thread. At some point Friday I will have an update. At worst, during my noon ET lunch hour.

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[Moo Cow]

And for proof... the vertical white line busting up the downhill green mountain (as I call it, sounds better than battery drain) is where I uninstalled the app and did a cache wipe and you can see after that, no WiFi solid green.

Some of the downhill slope is legit usage but it leveled off even when not in use, whereas earlier when not in use it kept going down.

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[doogald]

I seem to recall with the Turbo that somebody (maybe it was you, THEPRFCT10) learned that once WiFi was toggled off and then on, the battery status always showed it on even it was toggled off again until the phone was restarted. This was why I wondered if it was a Motorola bug (or something with Android.) I also wonder if it's something with the Moto app (for Assist purposes) - if it has WiFi permission, it holds the radio on even if you toggle off.

 

[THEPRFCT10]

I seem to recall with the Turbo that somebody (maybe it was you, THEPRFCT10) learned that once WiFi was toggled off and then on, the battery status always showed it on even it was toggled off again until the phone was restarted. This was why I wondered if it was a Motorola bug (or something with Android.) I also wonder if it's something with the Moto app (for Assist purposes) - if it has WiFi permission, it holds the radio on even if you toggle off.

I think so!

 

[Moo Cow]

Small sample size, I know. I am also convinced Facebook is a battery killer but I will be at a charger way before then anyway.

But, with no WiFi on/off app installed, and WiFi turned off in every conceivable way in settings except having it on overnight from the pulldown menu on the home screen... When I woke up I turned WiFi off, drove 30 minutes to work, and waited another solid 30+ minutes, and the solid green bar of yesterday is gone and I have a projected 19 hours unless work is boring and I go crazy surfing.

So I am convinced *my* issue was the app I had. Now, do I try another app and see what happens? I probably will. I am always up for experimenting.

But basically, if WiFi is on, the battery will drain badly. If an OS would have auto on/off built in, that would be sweet. Until then, I will have to remember to turn it on/off manually.

Not sure how much this helps anyone, but maybe it is a start.

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[Zorro1]

System update today. Now we see.