Google Wear zapping phone battery: SOLVED

[crxssi]

Re: Google Wear zapping phone battery

UPDATE: This was NOT a solution- see my next postings below

Original post:
Day after day of my phone battery being sucked away by Wear and I decided to try something more aggressive. I had already uninstalled all Wear apps, reset the watch to factory, uninstalled Wear on the phone, rebooted both many times, etc. But this time I force stopped Wear on the phone, cleared the cache, cleared the data, uninstalled it and any Wear apps, rebooted phone, reset the watch to factory, booted it, installed Wear again, and reloaded the few Wear apps I had before (calculator, calendar, and mini launcher).

Lo and behold- today, Wear wasn't even LISTED AT ALL in my battery usage! Now, will this last? I have no idea. I will certainly report back. There must be some major order in which I performed the above that might have fixed the problem.... one that others have had too. I think maybe some settings were left behind with my previous uninstalled/reinstall of the Wear app on the phone and clearing it all BEFORE reinstalling it was the key.

If you are having similar problems, try this and let us know. I am crossing my fingers.

 

[Flashfox]

Re: Google Wear zapping phone battery

Create a "disposable account"... create a new profile not tied to you main one. This is what I did and I have a few that I use so that E-mail gets sent to trash.

 

[crxssi]

Re: Google Wear zapping phone battery

....... I am crossing my fingers.

Well, so much for that. After two days of 0% battery and 0% CPU usage, today it was the worst it as EVER been. Now my phone was even warm, used 68% of my battery which was down to only 31% remaining in 9 hours (normally I would be at 96% or so), and consumed FOUR AND A HALF HOURS OF CPU TIME. I had ONE notification today and used ONE search, a fraction of what I used over the weekend. I am extremely frustrated. I used the "report" option to send a comment to Google. The only difference between this weekend and today was I was connected to a different (and more restricted) WiFi. I will test again tomorrow with WiFi off and see if anything changes.

 

[Impulses]

Re: Google Wear zapping phone battery

Pretty bizarre issue, I didn't notice this at all during my first week with the 360 but I wasn't looking for it either... I think I would've noticed battery life taking that big a nosedive on my Nexus 5 tho. I returned my first 360 due in part to a minor charging issue and in part to a Moto order snafu tho, been a few weeks without one.

New one just arrived and I'll definitely keep an eye on this tho. I usually leave BT turned on 24/7 on my Nexus 5 (all my phones back to feature phone days), never noticed it being a drain but I mostly only use Bluetooth during the occasional 10-20 min drive, maybe 30 min when I hit traffic (possibly an hour at most per day).

I've pretty much never seen BT at the top of my battery use list. The only anomalies I noticed in my week with the 360 was occasional connection issue with the 360 itself (once or twice) and the occasional Play Services crash (same). This was all on the second Wear build, I think the 360 is now on it's third? I'll report what I observe thru my first few cycles.

 

[mr_nobody]

Re: Google Wear zapping phone battery

I just looked at your first post and notice you say you have google now disabled. I wonder if that has anything to do with it? I'm guessing very few people using android wear have disabled google now.

 

[crxssi]

Re: Google Wear zapping phone battery

I just looked at your first post and notice you say you have google now disabled. I wonder if that has anything to do with it? I'm guessing very few people using android wear have disabled google now.

That is possible, but I just don't know... next post will be interesting...

 

[crxssi]

Re: Google Wear zapping phone battery

The only difference between this weekend and today was I was connected to a different (and more restricted) WiFi. I will test again tomorrow with WiFi off and see if anything changes.

BINGO- we are getting closer to an answer now.

Today at work, with WiFi off, Android Wear wasn't even in the list of power consuming processes AT ALL. After four hours of monitoring that, I turned on WiFi, and INSTANTLY Wear starting consuming battery at the same rates I had reported in the past. After an hour of it consuming 25% of real time as CPU time, I turned off WiFi and it CONTINUED to consume battery at the same rate. Rebooted the phone (WiFi remained off) and it returned to using 0%. Got home, turned on WiFi and it remained using 0%.

What is the difference, you might ask? At work and home, we use the exact identical routers- WRT54GL running Toastman Tomato. It is even the same ISP. But at home all outgoing ports are open. At work, most outgoing ports are BLOCKED (open are things like 80, 443, and a dozen other things). My conclusion is that Wear is doing something it probably should not be doing, and when it can't do what it wants to do, it enters into a very tight loop of retrying or rechecking or SOMETHING that consumes CPU and never stops. What exactly is it doing? I have no idea. But this is certainly not good. At the LEAST it is very suspicious and absolutely buggy. At most it is a very, very bad design flaw. This might be why most people aren't experiencing this issue- they never connect to restrictive WiFi networks; or it could be a combination of that and that I have Google Now or some other Google thing turned off.

So now if I want to continue to use my watch without losing most of my battery, I have to turn off WiFi every time I am at work? Thoughts?

 

[dungoyle]

Re: Google Wear zapping phone battery

BINGO- we are getting closer to an answer now.

Today at work, with WiFi off, Android Wear wasn't even in the list of power consuming processes AT ALL. After four hours of monitoring that, I turned on WiFi, and INSTANTLY Wear starting consuming battery at the same rates I had reported in the past. After an hour of it consuming 25% of real time as CPU time, I turned off WiFi and it CONTINUED to consume battery at the same rate. Rebooted the phone (WiFi remained off) and it returned to using 0%. Got home, turned on WiFi and it remained using 0%.

What is the difference, you might ask? At work and home, we use the exact identical routers- WRT54GL running Toastman Tomato. It is even the same ISP. But at home all outgoing ports are open. At work, most outgoing ports are BLOCKED (open are things like 80, 443, and a dozen other things). My conclusion is that Wear is doing something it probably should not be doing, and when it can't do what it wants to do, it enters into a very tight loop of retrying or rechecking or SOMETHING that consumes CPU and never stops. What exactly is it doing? I have no idea. But this is certainly not good. At the LEAST it is very suspicious and absolutely buggy. At most it is a very, very bad design flaw. This might be why most people aren't experiencing this issue- they never connect to restrictive WiFi networks; or it could be a combination of that and that I have Google Now or some other Google thing turned off.

So now if I want to continue to use my watch without losing most of my battery, I have to turn off WiFi every time I am at work? Thoughts?

It will be interesting to see if this pattern persists after the wear 2.0 update. If you're on the right track, a more mature OS may recognize the scenario properly and react in a non-cyclic manner. With some luck, you might find out as early as tomorrow. (Assuming that the 10/15 update rumor is actually "a thing" that is also "correct").

 

[crxssi]

Re: Google Wear zapping phone battery

The last update: http://forums.androidcentral.com/moto-360/451873-late-oct-2014-moto-360-update.html has made no improvement in my situation with Wear destroying my phone battery when I am connected to a restricted WiFi network. I am having to continue to turn off WiFi every day while at work.

 

[chezm]

Re: Google Wear zapping phone battery

Been in the market for a smart watch (or more so a device that can tell me notifications, read heart rate and other fitness utilities), very interested in the moto 360. Glad I came across this thread, I use WiFi constantly (home/work) and would not be satisfied to require turning it off for the sake of the watch (if be the case). Looks like there are still bugs with the platform, good luck to you guys hopefully a resolution comes soon... I'll be waiting for Android Wear 2.0.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[crxssi]

Re: Google Wear zapping phone battery

Been in the market for a smart watch (or more so a device that can tell me notifications, read heart rate and other fitness utilities), very interested in the moto 360. Glad I came across this thread, I use WiFi constantly (home/work) and would not be satisfied to require turning it off for the sake of the watch (if be the case). Looks like there are still bugs with the platform, good luck to you guys hopefully a resolution comes soon... I'll be waiting for Android Wear 2.0.

Based on my research, my problems with the phone battery drain on Wear are unusual and that most people are never going to have such a problem. So don't let my own issue discourage you from the 360.

 

[RussST24]

Re: Google Wear zapping phone battery

Just so you know. Your wifi network must have UDP port 53 open for outgoing to 8.8.8.8 (Google dns) otherwise wear will go 25 to 35% cpu.
Russ

 

[crxssi]

Re: Google Wear zapping phone battery

Just so you know. Your wifi network must have UDP port 53 open for outgoing to 8.8.8.8 (Google dns) otherwise wear will go 25 to 35% cpu.
Russ

Um, that is EXACTLY the information I have been seeking. I will test that on Monday and see what happens. SERIOUS DESIGN FLAW, GOOGLE!! What dork would code such a thing???

 

[RussST24]

Re: Google Wear zapping phone battery

Check the thread here.
https://productforums.google.com/forum/m/#!category-topic/android-wear/-1Crx26hm6k

I think it might have been this post I saw in between researching this issue that made me check the acl lost for denied ports. Only just found this thread again to update you all.

Russ

 

[chezm]

Re: Google Wear zapping phone battery

Based on my research, my problems with the phone battery drain on Wear are unusual and that most people are never going to have such a problem. So don't let my own issue discourage you from the 360.

I appreciate the input and clarification. Im still considering a smartwatch but having a tough time finding out that fits my needs at an affordable price. My problem is I want a Moto 360 but want to spend $150 max lol. I have looked at the Pebble reviews and I just dont like the design/UI, something like a Fitbit fits my needs from a health monitoring standpoint but if im going with a Ftibit...why not spend the extra money and get a real smart watch?...Choices!

 

[crxssi]

Re: Google Wear zapping phone battery

Um, that is EXACTLY the information I have been seeking. I will test that on Monday and see what happens. SERIOUS DESIGN FLAW, GOOGLE!! What dork would code such a thing???

I'll be derned. Yep, as soon as I unblocked port 53, the problems disappeared. I hope they fix this ultra-stupidity in Wear 2.0. Thanks again for solving the mystery!

 

[Green_Laser]

Re: Google Wear zapping phone battery

Check the thread here.
https://productforums.google.com/forum/m/#!category-topic/android-wear/-1Crx26hm6k

I think it might have been this post I saw in between researching this issue that made me check the acl lost for denied ports. Only just found this thread again to update you all.

Russ

I say this on behalf of many here who also appreciate your efforts...

Wow Russ! Great find and awesome job!
I don't and didn't have this problem but I just wanted to thank you for sharing that, it's stuff like that which help everyone, Google the developer of Android Wear and the end users, helps makes it better from all sides! The Google team looked very happy reading your posts in the link you shared.
Keep up the great work!

 

[RussST24]

Thanks , I was just lucky enough to have the tools available to track down the denies when on my company wifi. Always try and post helpful information when I have not found it elsewhere on the Internet.

Russ

 

[parypv17]

I've had this issue since getting my SWR50 and my Nexus 5 has to be charged up to 3 times a day. With Bluetooth/pairing turned off there's no issue with my battery.

I've tried everything and nothing has worked. I just saw your suggestion about opening port 53 but that hasn't done the trick for me either so I'm out of ideas! Maybe I should reboot my router too and/or see if this occurs on 4G it could be a WiFi issue.

If the problem is with Bluetooth I'll happily welcome AW5.1 where they hopefully switch the connection to the watch to WiFi.

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