Any legitimate battery saver app?

[LeoRex]

Aren't you afraid those will draw more power to execute than they save? Sounds like a case of putting the cart before the horse.

Not all automation apps are created equal. I used to use Llama a ton back before I had my Nexus 5... I played around with a few automation apps (AutomateIt Pro, Tasker) and Llama had a very light step. Sure, it did use SOME power, but the only times I ever saw it show up as a heavy user was if i screwed up and created a logic loop... otherwise it was way down the list with all the other benign background processes. Add to the fact that it is, by far, the easiest automation app to program and use..... it's my go-to if I want to play around with this stuff.

My old Galaxy Stellar had a bad wakelock problem.... So I used to use scripts that toggled Location Services, wifi and data in the background, kick off a sync every 15 minutes when the screen was off.... all manners of stuff. And it worked perfectly.... Left on its own, my Stellar was sucking up 4 to 5% an hour just sitting there doing nothing (nlp wakelocks, constant gmail pings, etc). When I had my profiles ironed out, I got that down to 1% or less an hour. So while it did use a little power, it resulted in an overall idle battery savings of like 80%.

Looking at those 'power saving modes' that HTC and Samsung are including in their phones now, they are all doing pretty much exactly what I was doing. I am not sure how much of those modes have user-effacing configuration choices, but my profiles were completely customizable.

 

[garublador]

How well those battery saver apps work will depend a lot on how you use your phone and what features you want. FWIW, I think people overestimate just how much battery WiFi uses and turning it off is one of the main things these apps do. My guess is that's why many people don't see an improvement, it's because there just isn't much to improve in that area. In some cases it could be that the measures it takes to figure out if your WiFi should be on or off may take as much, if not more, battery than WiFi itself. The other area is syncing and that can be either easily controlled with automation apps or take away useful features.

I followed LeoRex's thread from a few months ago about using automation apps to reduce battery usage and did similar things on my phone using Tasker. It mostly revolves around controlling syncing yourself. I'm not sure it has saved a ton of battery life, but the control is nice. The coolest thing I've done is made my phone only sync with my work email while I'm physically at work. Not having to worry about my phone randomly deciding to sync my contacts while I'm trying to do something is pretty nice, too. I can make it only do stuff like that when I know I won't be using my phone.

Really, you have to figure out what's draining your battery, then decide if you want any advantages it may have (e.g. Google Now) and then see how to fix any drains you don't want. A battery saver app may or may not solve your specific issue. An automation app has a better chance in most cases and has many other advantages.

FWIW, I used Battery Guru for a while and didn't notice a difference...until one day it went haywire and drained my battery in 2 hours (I noticed because my phone was hot to the touch). That probably isn't a normal thing for it to do, but even the chance of that happening again isn't worth no noticeable improvement.

 

[LeoRex]

I followed LeoRex's thread from a few months ago about using automation apps to reduce battery usage and did similar things on my phone using Tasker. It mostly revolves around controlling syncing yourself. I'm not sure it has saved a ton of battery life, but the control is nice.

Wow... someone actually read that thread. I'm kind of getting back to it now.... shortly after I started that thread, I ended up kicking VZW to the curb and got a Nexus 5 from T-Mobile... and it charged so quickly and I kind of stopped worrying myself about battery life. I could make it through a day, so that was good enough. But when I saw HTC bragging about its "Extreme Power Saving Mode" feature..and I LOOKED at what it did.. looked really familiar.

 

[beeray]

How can I know which apps are keeping the phone awake?

 

[garublador]

I use GSam Battery Monitor and Wakelock Detector to monitor what's using my battery. Unfortunately, the way Android reports this stuff isn't always by what app is using the battery. Many times you'll find that "Android OS," "System wakelock" or "Google Services" use the most battery or keeps the processor awake the most, which tells you almost nothing. It's not like it says "Google Now used 10% of your battery by checking for your location." Instead that, and several other things, are rolled into some generic "app" so you have to experiment to figure out what's actually using your battery.

However, if some app you downloaded is holding the processor awake or using a ton of battery then it usually tells you that pretty clearly. Many games will show up at the top of the list or an app that goes "rogue" and uses a bunch of battery for no apparent reason will show up pretty clearly.

 

[LeoRex]

GSam, Wakelock Detector and Better Battery Stats....

Even so, it can take a little bit of research as to the root cause of the wakelook. Like garublador said, some wakelocks show up as kind of generic, like "Google Services" or something... but it turns out that the REAL wakelock is something with NLP (google location services). Sure, if your battery life is BRUTAL, there is usually a single wakelock that screams out at you the instant you start the app (like what I had with that POS Verizon backup turd back in the day)... but sometimes it is more you playing the part of detective.

I've found it kind of fun, but I am kind of messed up like that.

 

[abackholm]

This may come appear as a promo, but we recently came out what we believe to be quite unique approach to saving battery on Android that could be of interest - managing the background traffic in a way that does not block instant messages etc coming through, i.e. much less intrusive than turning the data completely off when the device is not in use. Search for "open channel seven networks" in Google Play.

 

[ianhanson85]

The snapdragon batteryguru doesn't work with android L....

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Uditsh]

I am using 'Easy battery saver'. It is very easy to use and work pretty well.

 

[AndroidHabit]

i noticed nothing out of the qualcomm guru. having tried a bunch of battery saver apps, i've pretty much decided NOT to use any... because i'm always turning on the phone to check my battery level, undermining any nominal savings that the app may have saved me. i need therapy.

There is an app, DS battery saver. it has a slumberer setting that puts my phone into deep sleep whenever the screen is off. that saves me alot

https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...=com.rootuninstaller.batrsaver&token=sIxDeeRH

^^^^^^^^^^^THIS!!!!

But there is more to saving battery than automatically turning things off and on.
Wakelocks and radio receivers are a huge battery drain.

 

[Develop Media]

The only one I would suggest is the official Qualcomm one. Its the only one I saw improvements with. I don't use any saver apps anymore though

 

[AndroidHabit]

The only one I would suggest is the official Qualcomm one. Its the only one I saw improvements with. I don't use any saver apps anymore though

Battery Guru will drain your battery more than if you didn't have it installed.
Trust me I have used it and seen how many times it keeps the phone awake.

 

[SactoKingsFan]

Greenify and Amplify

Sent from my G2 running CM 12