Pixel 2 XL Battery: Is Android System and/or Google Play Services Draining Me?

[slaskwroclaw18]

What if I turned off mobile data when I was on Wi Fi and turned on Wi Fi calling? Would that help the battery without losing any functionality?

 

[B. Diddy]

It's not just mobile data -- you'd have to turn off your cell radio as well (i.e., turn on Airplane Mode, and then turn wi-fi back on). I'm not sure if wi-fi calling works with wi-fi only, but it's worth a try.

 

[slaskwroclaw18]

So I did another day of battery tracking and I am skeptical if the poor cell reception is the only culprit of my battery drain. I would imagine battery drain would fall under "Phone Idle" in the screenshots? I still get a lot of drain from Google Play Services & Android System.

 

[slaskwroclaw18]

Update:
So after determining my apartment was indeed a blackhole for cell reception, I decided when I am at home to put my Pixel on airplane mode but kept Wi-FI turned on and turned on WI-FI calling and this is my results after half a charge discharged. Quite happy to get the SOT I wanted and I knew the root of the battery issue.

 

[markabele]

I'm having a similar issue with "Android System" and "Google Play Services" eating my battery. What's really strange is some days I have stellar battery life and some days it's really poor. Super frustrating as I don't feel I'm doing anything different on those days.

 

[B. Diddy]

Update:
So after determining my apartment was indeed a blackhole for cell reception, I decided when I am at home to put my Pixel on airplane mode but kept Wi-FI turned on and turned on WI-FI calling and this is my results after half a charge discharged. Quite happy to get the SOT I wanted and I knew the root of the battery issue.

Glad you were able to find a workaround! Poor cell reception where you live can always be a big pain. Hopefully Airplane Mode and wi-fi calling will work fine for you, but if not, a signal booster would still be the best way to go.

Regarding Phone Idle vs Android System, I can't say for sure why Phone Idle reports relatively low battery usage. It makes me wonder if the battery-consuming process that results from poor signal might be folded into the Android System category rather than Phone Idle (but I'm not technical enough to know for sure).

 

[B. Diddy]

I'm having a similar issue with "Android System" and "Google Play Services" eating my battery. What's really strange is some days I have stellar battery life and some days it's really poor. Super frustrating as I don't feel I'm doing anything different on those days.

This is always a tough thing to figure out, since Google Play Services can be utilized by lots of different apps, and there's no easy way to figure out which app is therefore responsible. Sometimes you just have to do a little trial and error, and temporarily uninstall an app at a time to see if it makes a difference.