Mystery App drains Pixel 2 battery way too quickly

bardiferous

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Pixel Mystery App.jpg

This UNNAMED app is draining my battery. I haven't used my phone since I had a new battery installed, yet it is halfway empty halfway thru the day. I charge it fully, then it sits. I've put the SIM card in a different phone and put the Pixel 2 in Airplane Mode.

What is this Mystery App and why is this new battery draining like I'm watching video or using Waze GPS all day?

Here's the full screenshot:
Pixel Screenshot_20210110.jpg

Help please!
 

gebco

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When I upgraded to Android 11 I had the same thing happen. It ended up being the TuneIn radio app. If you have that installed try uninstalling and see if it makes a difference.
 

bardiferous

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It started after the battery replacement.

RE: Tunein, I was having a problem with that as well after Android 11 and I simply removed it. My original battery was not holding a full charge thru a day anymore and sometimes I would have to charge it twice in a day. So, I did a replacement battery - a new screen, too.

Yesterday, when I went to power it up, the LED in the upper right hand corner was red. It wouldn't power up, but the LED would show red when I pressed Power. I then attached the charging cable; the LED began blinking red. If I pressed Power, I would expect to at least see the Battery Charging image on the display, but the LED simply continued to flash red.

After an hour and a half on the charging cable, I disconnected it.

I am beginning to think there is a short. I left it turned off all day yesterday and when I turned it on today, it had 8% and quickly went down to 2% (less than 5 minutes) where it sat for at least 5 more minutes. I turned off WiFi, mobile data was already off, I put it in Airplane mode and only after all of that, about a minute later, Words with Friends 2 popped up with two notifications. What? How?

It's currently recharging but it certainly isn't acting right.

I'm using a different phone for now but I'd like to see this working again. I'm considering another factory reset. Can I do that and have all the apps automatically be restored/reinstalled?
 

bardiferous

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It took hours to fully charge. When I started it at 100% battery today, after less than an hour it was at 61%.

The Battery Setting again shows this Mystery App as the one that is using most of my battery. Ugh. It's fallen to 49% and, by now, might be out of juice.

See:
Phone at 49 pct.png
 

B. Diddy

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That is pretty weird. Go to Settings>Apps, then tap Menu>Show System. Do you see that nameless app anywhere?
 

bardiferous

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It took hours to fully charge. When I started it at 100% battery again, after less than an hour it was at 61%.

The Battery Setting again shows this Mystery App as the one that is using most of my battery. Ugh. It's fallen to 49% and, by now, might be out of juice.

I tried it again and, again, same thing... nothing running, battery just drains.

B. Diddy, not found.
See:
View attachment 330740
 

B. Diddy

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Something sure seems screwy. When you reset the phone the first time, did you automatically restore it from a previous backup? If so, I'd try another factory reset, and this time don't restore the backup.
 

bardiferous

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I did another factory reset and this time did no restore. I actually disabled the backup during Setup. So, pretty vanilla. And...

No better. In fact, while it is plugged in, the phone went from fully charged when I started the reset, to 86% when I took a screenshot at 2:25 PM, to 47% at 5:06 PM (yes, still plugged in).

Also, I have been getting the message (before the reset and after) that "Google keeps stopping" and I am now at 44% at 5:13 pm.

And going into the Settings\Battery, it shows "Phone used more than usual" and opening that, the same Mystery App is the only "Top apps by battery usage" listed, as shown in prior screenshots.

FWIW, I replaced the battery when the battery wasn't holding a charge all day and, some days, I had to recharge 2x. But this drain is rediculous, as I'm not using it at all, it's draining when on & the screen is dark and it's "charging (plugged in)."

Is it worth trying a different battery? This means opening it up again, of course.
 
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B. Diddy

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It's possible the replacement battery was also old and deteriorated, since replacement batteries for the phone may be as old as the phone itself. But maybe the firmware is corrupt (which wouldn't be fixed by a factory reset, since it'd still be using that same corrupt firmware). You could try manually reinstalling the latest firmware: https://www.androidcentral.com/how-update-software-your-google-pixel
 

bardiferous

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I did another factory reset and this time did no restore. I actually disabled the backup during Setup. So, pretty vanilla. And...

No better. In fact, while it is plugged in, the phone went from fully charged when I started the reset, to 86% when I took a screenshot at 2:25 PM, to 47% at 5:06 PM (yes, still plugged in).

Also, I have been getting the message (before the reset and after) that "Google keeps stopping" and I am now at 44% at 5:13 pm.

FWIW, I replaced the battery when the battery wasn't holding a charge all day and, some days, I had to recharge 2x. But this drain is rediculous, as I'm not using it at all, it's draining when on & the screen is dark and it's "charging (plugged in)."

Is it worth trying a different battery? This means opening it up again, of course. (and it would help to be sure I've actually hit 'POST')

B Diddy: is there a way to see what the latest firmware is and see what firmware I've got in this pixel 2 first?
 

B. Diddy

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Go to the System Updates menu and tap Update. If it tells you you're up to date, then you have the latest for that phone. That last official update it ever got was in Dec 2020, I believe.

But what I'm suggesting is reinstalling the latest firmware, in case the current copy on the phone is corrupt.
 

bardiferous

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BD, I hear ya. But I don't know how to reinstall it. I'll take another look this afternoon.

I do appreciate your directions.

I think there's a problem with the new battery, though. But before I open it up again... I'd rather try what you're suggesting.
 

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