Google Search killing the battery

[greatgoogly]

Yikes, sideloaded 4.4.2 last night and Google Search is destroying my battery life. The phone has only been on less than 5 hours (Screen on time was about 20 minutes) and you can see the battery is getting destroyed, primarily by "Google Search". Any ideas?

 

[tippmann15]

Well I suppose I'm happy I haven't received the update yet.

I know a lot of people fdr the phone after updating, it's not something I usually do but it may help.


Wouldn't you know..... I just received an update mid post lol.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk 2

 

[anon(8256055)]

Yikes, sideloaded 4.4.2 last night and Google Search is destroying my battery life. The phone has only been on less than 5 hours (Screen on time was about 20 minutes) and you can see the battery is getting destroyed, primarily by "Google Search". Any ideas?


View attachment 96113

Well, IMO it's not a problem with 4.4.2, but rather with settings on your phone. It may take a bit of digging to find what app or setting is causing this activity. Here's a screen shot of my battery usage, using OS 4.4.2. I've been using my phone a lot today, but still am on track for about over 15 hrs usage (with over 4 hrs screen on time so far.

 

[greatgoogly]

What I see from yours is typical of what I would see on mine, until today. No changes in apps loaded, etc. If this keeps up I may wait until Google posts the 4.4.2 image and then load that clean and see what happens. Not looking forward to setting everything up again. BTW this is indeed stock and not rooted.

Well, IMO it's not a problem with 4.4.2, but rather with settings on your phone. It may take a bit of digging to find what app or setting is causing this activity. Here's a screen shot of my battery usage, using OS 4.4.2. I've been using my phone a lot today, but still am on track for about over 15 hrs usage (with over 4 hrs screen on time so far.http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/12/11/ama4y3a7.jpg

 

[anon(8256055)]

What I see from yours is typical of what I would see on mine, until today. No changes in apps loaded, etc. If this keeps up I may wait until Google posts the 4.4.2 image and then load that clean and see what happens. Not looking forward to setting everything up again. BTW this is indeed stock and not rooted.

The high percentage of Google Search, Android System and Android OS has got me stumped. I'll keep doing some digging, though.

 

[rieuk]

but still am on track for about over 15 hrs usage (with over 4 hrs screen on time so far.

That is really impressive. Though I am still with Android 4.4 and haven't received any updates. Were you getting that kind of battery performance before the 4.2.2 update? Worse? How much? Also do you mind sharing what you've turned off, any optimization you've done to save battery ... Thank you!

[EDIT] in reply to the OP, I also had the google search battery hog issue as well, but it reduced when I went into the settings and turned the location reporting to google search to 'battery saving' mode IIRC

 

[anon(8256055)]

That is really impressive. Though I am still with Android 4.4 and haven't received any updates. Were you getting that kind of battery performance before the 4.2.2 update? Worse? How much? Also do you mind sharing what you've turned off, any optimization you've done to save battery ... Thank you!

[EDIT] in reply to the OP, I also had the google search battery hog issue as well, but it reduced when I went into the settings and turned the location reporting to google search to 'battery saving' mode IIRC

In addition to what you stated above (using battery saving mode), i do the following:

under advanced WiFi I turned off the Scanning Always Available for Google location services.

I keep my screen at 10% brightness (unless outside, when I put it in auto brightness mode.

When I'm not around WiFi, or when I'm not using the phone, I turn WiFi off.

If there's times when i need the accuracy of GPS on, I turn it on, but that's not too often.

 

[rieuk]

Thanks. Well I still haven't received the update - but I have the Google search battery hog problem again. 50% consumption by this "Google search" process alone.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[mrsmumbles]

Thanks. Well I still haven't received the update - but I have the Google search battery hog problem again. 50% consumption by this "Google search" process alone.

Posted via Android Central App

Maybe Google Search is recompiling all your search strings to see what to buy you for Christmas...

On a serious note, hopefully it will get normal after you get the update.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk 2

 

[rieuk]

On a serious note, hopefully it will get normal after you get the update.

Well considering OP has the same issue even with the update, I'm not sure that will fix it

 

[mrsmumbles]

Well considering OP has the same issue even with the update, I'm not sure that will fix it

Maybe though. I dunno if I'll get the update but I'll wait and see (still solely on WiFi).

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk 2

 

[rieuk]

So I went into check the running processes and I saw a process called "EntriesRefreshIntentService". Googling this found references to a wakelock associated with this, although I'm not so sure that's what's happening in my case because of course I can't check as the phone isn't rooted (no wakelock detectors work on KitKat without root).

 

[greatgoogly]

I ended up clearing data on Google Search, and that seemed to fix the problem (of course I had to reset my home screen icons as well as reactivate Google Now).

 

[rieuk]

Okay, I did this as well. And it did work. I turned Google Now back on, but Hot word voice detection is off. But every time I do a google search now that process gets started up again. It when I close google search, it remains, keeping the phone awake indefinitely. I have to go into the running processes in the settings to kill it every time. Is there any solution to this?

[EDIT] ok it didn't work at all, the process just keeps returning. I turned off Google Now and it went away. So Google Now is causing the problem, I think

 

[Seabass7857]

I noticed that exact same process running on my phone. I cleared the data and I'll see what happens.

 

[ohwitty]

I had the same exact problem with Google Search about a week ago on 4.4. Suddenly it was using 50% of my battery and keeping the phone awake 24/7. Clearing data and turning off Google Now didn't work for me. I had to go and hit "uninstall updates" on the Google Search app in settings. Everything immediately went back to normal and it's been fine ever since. I haven't gotten the 4.4.2 update yet.

 

[greatgoogly]

I ended up clearing data on Google Search, and that seemed to fix the problem (of course I had to reset my home screen icons as well as reactivate Google Now).

Now a day later Google Search has once again turned into the Battery muncher. I've also been having problems with my Exchange Account locking into constantly syncing email and it providing a beat down on the battery as well. I'm hoping once the images are out, that a clean flash of the image will fix the issues (hoping but not confident).

 

[rieuk]

that a clean flash of the image will fix the issues (hoping but not confident).

You should probably try to figure out the root cause of the problem rather than re-installing this or flashing that, clearing data etc...

I also uninstalled the Google Search app updates and the problem seems to have gone away. Re-enabled location and Google Now. Let's see how it goes.

 

[Shilohcane]

I just got 4.4.2 OTA about two hours ago and only been streaming music and texting but I don't show any activity with Google Seach. Found this article about new updates to Google Seach


Google updates Search app, enables in-app searches

Also, Appops 4.3 4.4 App Ops is a system settings app which allows you to revoke permissions on a per-app basis on your phone or tablet. This app was included by default on Android 4.3 but hidden, and then completely made unaccessible in Android 4.4.

 

[rieuk]

I got the 4.4.2 update as well. Battery seems to be doing better. However, just now the google search put a wake lock on for absolutely no reason for a couple of hours. Screenshots below. So it's still happening with the google search app, I'm not really sure what setting is causing it. The process itself (associated with google search) is called "EntriesRefreshIntentService". The first two shots show the awake time and the wake lock that caused it. You can see it again in the last shot.

It seems to be discussed at length here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2534637 but they did not seem to find a solution.