Samsung Galaxy S4 Battery Drain after Update

[missa986]

Hi all, I hope this is the right place to put this.

I bought a Sprint Samsung Galaxy S4 about a month ago. The first few weeks were awesome, but ever since I downloaded the newest update, my battery drains like crazy. Before the update, I was getting 20-25 hours on a single charge. Now, I'm getting 6-7 hours. My usage habits haven't changed, but I've noticed that all the sudden "Android Core Apps" is using a crazy amount of battery. I have a screenshot, but I'm not sure how to upload it. It goes something like this:

15% battery left

Usage:
Android Core Apps: 66%
Screen: 8%
Device Idle: 8%
Google Services: 8%
Android OS: 3%
Android System: 3%
Cell Standby: 3%

I've been trying to be patient and wait for a new system update that will hopefully fix the issue, but I'm getting tired of my phone dying multiple times per day.

Help?
TIA

 

[samgamgee84]

I had a similar thing happen to me and I asked a Sprint technician about it. Apparently they are working on converting the old Nextel bandwidth into what our phones will use for voice while the Sprint network will be used mainly for data. The result will be the ability to surf and talk on 3G like GSM networks can. While all of that reworking is going on, the lack of coverage and roaming has been draining my phone like crazy, maybe this is the same for your area?

 

[missa986]

If it were roaming eating up my battery, what would it show as the usage? Android OS, Google Services?

 

[unixpsycho]

I had a similar thing happen to me and I asked a Sprint technician about it. Apparently they are working on converting the old Nextel bandwidth into what our phones will use for voice while the Sprint network will be used mainly for data. The result will be the ability to surf and talk on 3G like GSM networks can. While all of that reworking is going on, the lack of coverage and roaming has been draining my phone like crazy, maybe this is the same for your area?

Somewhat true.

The Nextel 800MHz band is being turned on for CDMA 1x voice but the phones are programmed, through the PRL, to pick 800MHz 1st, then 1900MHz. So the phone will latch on to a weaker 800MHz signal even if there is a strong 1900MHz signal. Anyone with an Airrave will find this annoying.

This isnt just with the S4, the S3 does this as well, along with most current model phones like the Optimus G.

The S4 can not surf and talk without LTE. Only the S3 had that feature over CDMA/3G.

 

[twolastnames]

Try turning off wifi and mobile network location in the location services settings. There is a bug in one of the google apps that is constantly looking for your location over wifi. I had massive drain when my wifi was off, and as soon as I turned that off, the google services does not even show up on the battery stats list. I do leave gps on for google now to work, no problem with that draining battery.

 

[missa986]

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll try that and see what happens. I've been told in the past though that having Wi Fi enabled actually helps save your battery... I'm willing to do whatever will give me my battery life back.

 

[vferrari]

Missa see my suggestion to you in the 4.3 thread if the WiFi suggestion doesn't work.

Sent from my GT-P6210 using Android Central Forums

 

[Leah Bassett]

I had this same problem. I took the phone to sprint and had them reset it to factory settings. I know this is a pain but I had them backup my contacts and pictures first. Doing this solved the problem of battery drain.

 

[vferrari]

Does that mean you were no longer on the MF9 firmware?

Sent from my GT-N5110 using AC Forums mobile app

 

[missa986]

Nothing I did worked, so I finally have in and did a factory reset. Currently at 33% battery after 28 hours. Thanks for all the suggestions!

 

[NellieRose]

Nothing I did worked, so I finally have in and did a factory reset. Currently at 33% battery after 28 hours. Thanks for all the suggestions!

I had major battery drain & taking between 6-8 hrs charge time only one 1of 2 S4s we bought on the same day it was Google Play Music causing all my problems kept running in backgriund but only on the one device. Went in to Sprint & they had no idea what was happening . After trying everything I could on my own, I found uninstalling the Google Play Music update and disabling it from auto-updating by battery & charge issues have been solved.

 

[raamcres]

Yeah this is the same problem i am facing with. Android 4.3 has got battery drain issues hope to solve this problem soon.

 

[rrsittlow]

Re: Samsung Galaxy S4 Battery Drain after Upgrade to KitKat 4.4.2

I think I've found the battery drain issue, heating up and signal issues with the Galaxy S4 after the KitKat upgrade to 4.4.2. My daughter and I both have the S4 and totally loved the phone prior to the KitKat upgrade. After the upgrade the battery drained extremely fast, sometimes only lasting until noon on a full charge. The signal would drop between her house and my house. No 4G coverage at her house when there was before the upgrade.

I started snooping around on all the reported issues in all the forums and took pieces of what I read and seem to have fixed all the issues with our phones. First, I did a factory reset. I know this is a pain, but it gave the phone a fresh install. It actually was surprising but all the Playstore Apps reinstalled automatically and all contacts and all pictures and data on my phone were still there. I just needed to setup my preferences in each app - an hour or so to complete. Second - I turned off GPS as I don't need it all the time. I only turn it on when I need it. Third - I uninstalled the Google Plus App. It uses location settings. Fourth - And I think this is what actually fixed everything - I turned the phone off, took out the SD card, rebooted the phone. Then turned the phone off again, put the SD card back in, took out the battery and left it out for about 10 minutes. Put the battery back in and rebooted the phone. All our problems seem to have disappeared. I've been watching the battery usage and the Screen is really the only thing that is using about 15-20% battery. The Android OS and Android System are now in reasonable range usually less than 10-15% usually less than 10%. Before doing above, Android OS was using 70-75% of the battery.....way out of wack. I now have 30% or more battery life left by the time I got to bed and using the phone for a full 2 hours with the screen on in the evening. It's been a couple weeks now and everything appears like it was before. We are happy campers again.