Strange battery drop?

[dougdraws]

Hey guys, I got this really odd problem. Just recently I've noticed that when my phone is like around 36 to 45% it suddenly plummets down to 4%.

This has been happening on and off for the past 2 weeks now. I've went through all my apps and even uninstalled FB Messenger, which I heard can be a battery drain, but this continues to happen.

Like tonight, I'm at work and my phone is around 50%, then as I get home suddenly the red light is blinking and I look and it's down to 4% again. I worked seven hours so I know it doesn't go from 50% (even 36%) down to 4% in just a short amount of time.

Something odd is happening and I can't figure it out. If anyone can offer some help or advice on this I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks

 

[B. Diddy]

It sounds like the battery is starting to fail -- that's a common symptom. Make sure all of your important data is backed up or synced, in case the battery completely fails.

 

[dougdraws]

I've had the phone less than a year so I doubt the battery is dying. Since I uninstalled FB Messenger I haven't had any issues so I'm pretty sure that was the culprit.

 

[B. Diddy]

I'm glad the issue seems to be resolved, but keep an eye out for it returning. Batteries can be defective and fail early, so it's not entirely out of the question. In addition, battery lifespan can also depend on habitual usage -- if it's being deeply discharged frequently (i.e., letting it drain to zero or near zero), that can reduce the lifespan significantly.

 

[dougdraws]

I'm posting an update to my situation just in case someone else encounters this bizarre behavior on their phone. So last night at work I was charging my Note 5 in my truck with a Anker PowerCore (the one with the quick charge port). On my break I saw the phone was fully charged and so unplugged it, but as soon as I unplugged it from the powerbrick and the home screen appeared it dropped instantly from 100% to 4%.

I called the AT&T tech support and after describing the problem they suggested i boot my phone into safe mode and uninstall any apps that I felt might be the culprit (or culprits). As soon as I got my phone into safe mode the battery returned to 100% so I knew right then it was something else causing the problem and not my phone. I uninstalled a few apps that I felt may be the ones (GasBuddy and a Timer app I use, both of which had recently starting throwing up ads and crap) and some other ones.

Once I did this I restarted the phone into regular mode and so far there hasn't been any problems. If I encounter anything else or learn which app or apps were causing this I will post here again.