Samsung Galaxy S6 Google Play Services - Battery Drain

[kcguy76]

Hello --- fairly new to Android and have been somewhat disappointed with battery life on my S6. Surprisingly, I notice the most battery drain from "Google Play Services". All I have syncing with my Google account right now is my Contacts, and Google Play Music. Any other ideas what could be driving this number high? As you can see, I'm at 22% and only 1 hour 38 Min of SOT. I do have "Google Now" turned on, but wouldn't think that would be causing the issue? Any help would be appreciated.

 

[clevin]

Re: Google Play Services - Battery Drain

There are many thread already discussing how to improve battery life, take a read first and see if they helps.

 

[cohoman]

Re: Google Play Services - Battery Drain

Google Now will use location services for the "Now Cards" and that can drain your battery through Google Play Services. For Google Now, try turning off the Now Cards or any reference to location and see if that stops the battery drain.

 

[crea78]

Re: Google Play Services - Battery Drain

Had the Google Play Services "issue" with my Nexus 5 on Lollipop. Now since I downgraded to Kit Kat, no more problems. Could be a Lollipop issue but not 100% sure.

 

[kcguy76]

Re: Google Play Services - Battery Drain

There are many thread already discussing how to improve battery life, take a read first and see if they helps.

Thanks, and I've been going through them trying to figure out the culprit. I've disabled all bloat and really trimmed down quite a few things. Hoping it will help.

 

[kcguy76]

Re: Google Play Services - Battery Drain

Google Now will use location services for the "Now Cards" and that can drain your battery through Google Play Services. For Google Now, try turning off the Now Cards or any reference to location and see if that stops the battery drain.

Thanks....I'm going to do that as a last resort, as I really enjoy Google Now and the cards (use them frequently). I turned off location history and such hoping that might be a big problem area. Going to drain the battery below 10% and then give it a recharge and see what happens tomorrow.

 

[cwise222]

Re: Google Play Services - Battery Drain

I've been doing some looking today and it seems that this is a Lollipop bug as opposed to just a S6 thing. From what I've found people have had luck with clearing the Play services cache and then rebooting and some have had success with restricting background data for play services. I'm going to try both over the next couple days and see if it helps any.

 

[cohoman]

Re: Google Play Services - Battery Drain

I've had this issue with Google Play Services draining the battery while running KitKat on my HTC One. So, I don't think it's a new issue with Lollipop. You can do a Google search on "google play services battery drain" and read up on the possible solutions.

 

[kcguy76]

Re: Google Play Services - Battery Drain

I've been doing some looking today and it seems that this is a Lollipop bug as opposed to just a S6 thing. From what I've found people have had luck with clearing the Play services cache and then rebooting and some have had success with restricting background data for play services. I'm going to try both over the next couple days and see if it helps any.

Thanks cwise.....how do you restrict background data to Google Play Svcs ? I've already cleared the cache and done some other things such as turned off location services history, etc. Hoping that helps today.

 

[cwise222]

Re: Google Play Services - Battery Drain

Thanks cwise.....how do you restrict background data to Google Play Svcs ? I've already cleared the cache and done some other things such as turned off location services history, etc. Hoping that helps today.

If you go into Data Usage under the settings and select Google Play Services then you should see an option to restrict background data at the bottom. Google Play Services may not appear in the data usage screen when you look, sometimes you have to check every once in awhile until it pops up.

I don't know how or if restricting background data effects syncing with any of the Google Apps. I would think it does by not letting Google apps ping play services to sync, tap into the GPS chip or load stuff up for Google Now when they are in the background or when the phone is locked. Sadly it seems until Google fixes Play Services v7.X we're stuck with high battery drain.

 

[kcguy76]

Re: Google Play Services - Battery Drain

If you go into Data Usage under the settings and select Google Play Services then you should see an option to restrict background data at the bottom. Google Play Services may not appear in the data usage screen when you look, sometimes you have to check every once in awhile until it pops up.

I don't know how or if restricting background data effects syncing with any of the Google Apps. I would think it does by not letting Google apps ping play services to sync, tap into the GPS chip or load stuff up for Google Now when they are in the background or when the phone is locked. Sadly it seems until Google fixes Play Services v7.X we're stuck with high battery drain.

Thanks, I see what you're saying. I'm going to leave it alone for now and see how today goes; I made several changes last night that I'm hoping will cut down on this battery drain. Frankly I don't want to restrict things on the phone I enjoy using just to get acceptable battery life. So to your point, gotta wait until Google sends out a fix. Thanks for your help!

 

[cwise222]

Re: Google Play Services - Battery Drain

Thanks, I see what you're saying. I'm going to leave it alone for now and see how today goes; I made several changes last night that I'm hoping will cut down on this battery drain. Frankly I don't want to restrict things on the phone I enjoy using just to get acceptable battery life. So to your point, gotta wait until Google sends out a fix. Thanks for your help!

I can definitely understand that. So far I'm not seeing any changes in terms of how it all works, Google Now still seems to work like it did before but it looks like it only updates when I pull it up, and I'm not seeing anything else change really. Unfortunately that includes battery life, it's still draining the same it was before. Which isn't to say that it's a huge drain, I'm still on track for 15 to 17 hours on the battery with about 3 hours SoT, but hopefully Google gets moving on fixing some of this stuff.

 

[Zendroid1]

Re: Google Play Services - Battery Drain

If you go into Data Usage under the settings and select Google Play Services then you should see an option to restrict background data at the bottom. Google Play Services may not appear in the data usage screen when you look, sometimes you have to check every once in awhile until it pops up.

I tried this just now but the warning said some of my apps will not function at all unless hooked up to wifi. So I turned it back on.

 

[kcguy76]

Re: Google Play Services - Battery Drain

I tried this just now but the warning said some of my apps will not function at all unless hooked up to wifi. So I turned it back on.

I turned off location services history last night, disabled all google apps I don't use and removed sync from any google app I didn't use. Thanks everyone for the tips. Today is a night/day difference so far:

 

[Zendroid1]

Re: Google Play Services - Battery Drain

I turned off location services history last night, disabled all google apps I don't use and removed sync from any google app I didn't use. Thanks everyone for the tips. Today is a night/day difference so far:

Sorry to be a pain but can you share where each of these options is located?

 

[kcguy76]

Re: Google Play Services - Battery Drain

Sorry to be a pain but can you share where each of these options is located?

Sure - go into settings, Personal, Accounts. Go through each account and turn off sync you don't need. Specifically, Google likes to try to sync EVERYTHING. I turned it all off except contacts, music, and chrome.

Next go to the application called "Google Settings" in your app drawer. Scroll down to "Location" and on "Google Location History" turn it OFF. I think that might have been my main culprit.

Hope this helps!!

 

[ph0nedawg]

Re: Google Play Services - Battery Drain

wow, surprising that is needed more battery than the screen

 

[Zendroid1]

Re: Google Play Services - Battery Drain

Sure - go into settings, Personal, Accounts. Go through each account and turn off sync you don't need. Specifically, Google likes to try to sync EVERYTHING. I turned it all off except contacts, music, and chrome.

Next go to the application called "Google Settings" in your app drawer. Scroll down to "Location" and on "Google Location History" turn it OFF. I think that might have been my main culprit.

Hope this helps!!

Thanks, the sync thing helps a ton. I would have never found that on my own.

 

[kcguy76]

Re: Google Play Services - Battery Drain

Thanks, the sync thing helps a ton. I would have never found that on my own.

No problem!

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[PFD664]

Re: Google Play Services - Battery Drain



I've been on the phone regularly today doing stuff and I'm pleased with battery performance
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