The "Video On" Battery Leak

[KPMcClave]

Has anyone who monitors their battery use experienced an unusually high battery drain that when looking deeper (I use GSAM Battery Monitor Pro) appears to be due to the Video On usage line?

I didn't have this issue on my Pixel 3 XL. I have seen mention of it here and there in a Google search, but nobody has given any sort of fix for it.

Right now, it's my Twitter app that's the culprit. I've already uninstalled and reinstalled Twitter and the issue persists. I've toggled any app setting having to do with video.

Instagram had been a problem in the same way. I uninstalled and reinstalled and that seemed to correct the issue in Instagram.

My S20 FE has been off the charger for 2.5 hours and Twitter's Video On usage has been running for exactly as long. The app has eaten 61.6% of the overall apps' usage, with Android System a distant second at only 6.4%:







I really don't want to have to use the Twitter mobile site in Chrome.

Anyone aware of this issue (some say is a known one in Android 10) and have a fix?

 

[B. Diddy]

Does this also happen with the stable Twitter version? Do you customarily join beta programs wherever possible, and if so, are you also on the beta of Instagram?

 

[KPMcClave]

Does this also happen with the stable Twitter version? Do you customarily join beta programs wherever possible, and if so, are you also on the beta of Instagram?

I just rolled back to stable Twitter, so we'll see.

I am on the beta of Instagram, but I reinstalled the beta and that seemed to fix the issue.

Yes, I do tend to use betas when possible.

However, all that said, this issue didn't exist on my Pixel 3 XL, either with Andorid 10 (I saw this drain may be an issue in 10) or after I updated to 11 via betas and now stable release. That with all the same software, betas included, otherwise.

 

[B. Diddy]

However, all that said, this issue didn't exist on my Pixel 3 XL, either with Andorid 10 (I saw this drain may be an issue in 10) or after I updated to 11 via betas and now stable release. That with all the same software, betas included, otherwise.

Right, but it's a different device with different firmware, so I wouldn't be surprised if a beta caused problems on one device but not another.

 

[KPMcClave]

Right, but it's a different device with different firmware, so I wouldn't be surprised if a beta caused problems on one device but not another.

Sure, generally speaking, of course.

That doesn't mean there might not be a fix out there. One of the search results I found last night was a Google forum, I believe. Meaning someone had the same issue on a Pixel of some sort, I'd guess. I didn't.

 

[KPMcClave]

I just rolled back to stable Twitter, so we'll see.

The Video On line has started to rise again now with the stable version of the Twitter app. I did watch about 2 minutes of video or so between 2 vids, but the time for Video On is currently 10 minutes and 9 seconds.

I'm going to charge back up to 100% and see what it all looks like.

 

[B. Diddy]

Hmm. Does this only happen after you've watched at least one video on Twitter? Or does it happen even without that?

 

[KPMcClave]

Hmm. Does this only happen after you've watched at least one video on Twitter? Or does it happen even without that?

Even without.

 

[B. Diddy]

Try temporarily uninstalling all updates to Android System Webview -- the latest update seems to be causing other glitchiness with printing (at least on Samsung devices), so maybe it's causing this as well.

 

[KPMcClave]

Try temporarily uninstalling all updates to Android System Webview -- the latest update seems to be causing other glitchiness with printing (at least on Samsung devices), so maybe it's causing this as well.

Thanks. I'll give that a go. I think in one of the mentions of this issue I saw in the Google search Webview was mentioned.

 

[Zolee10]

Has anyone who monitors their battery use experienced an unusually high battery drain that when looking deeper (I use GSAM Battery Monitor Pro) appears to be due to the Video On usage line?

I have same exact problem. With two other apps. It happens only when I watch a video inside of them. Hibernating, disabling nothing helps to stop "Video on" value and Power percentage they use from growing. Really weird.
Nothing helps just restart

Tried disabling android web view, doesnt help stoping this runaway train and it comes back on its own after restart.

Samsung S20+, Android 10, OneUI 2.5

 

[KPMcClave]

I have same exact problem. With two other apps. It happens only when I watch a video inside of them. Hibernating, disabling nothing helps to stop "Video on" value and Power percentage they use from growing. Really weird.
Nothing helps just restart

Tried disabling android web view, doesnt help stoping this runaway train and it comes back on its own after restart.

Samsung S20+, Android 10, OneUI 2.5

Funny that you're posting this now, because I just went looking for this thread to circle back myself.

I just noticed my Ring doorbell is the culprit of the day with this. Currently says Video On use is well over 3 hours. Ring has used over 30% of my apps' battery consumption. Ring is not a beta app.

I had mentioned previously that I'd uninstalled and reinstalled the Instagram beta and it seemed to fix the issue...but not permanently. I reverted back to stable Instagram yesterday when I saw the beta was showing this battery issue again. We'll see if the stable version fixes the issue, but as Ring isn't a beta we can't blame the issue solely on beta software.

I'm also on Android 10 with OneUI 2.5 on the Verizon S20 FE. I think this is an Android 10 issue.

 

[Zolee10]

Re: The "Video On" Battery Leak

It is affecting only the apps that are not video players but have in app video playback and obly when in app video playback was used. Like insta, facebook, news apps etc.

 

[KPMcClave]

Re: The "Video On" Battery Leak

It is affecting only the apps that are not video players but have in app video playback and obly when in app video playback was used.

I wasn't sure if I'd played video every time I saw the issue in various apps (I've seen it in Twitter, Instagram and Ring off the top of my head). However, I did wonder if having auto-play set (which it is by default in some apps) might also trigger the leak. Even if someone doesn't overtly press play on a vid.

 

[Zolee10]

I dont know about that. But I am just dissvovering that it is not just one app but any app that has in app videe playback. If I press play its done. Video on and Power used keeps growing.
Nothing helps but restart.

 

[KPMcClave]

I dont know about that. But I am just dissvovering that it is not just one app but any app that has in app videe playback. If I press play its done. Video on and Power used keeps growing.
Nothing helps but restart.

Yup.

 

[KPMcClave]

Yup.

...actually, I just checked on Twitter. I'd watched a few short videos this morning, and it's at only 8 minutes + Video On, which is roughly what I watched. It definitely hasn't continued to suck battery.

So far today I don't have any apps with the Video On glitch.

 

[Zolee10]

Make sure that you manualy refresh gsam. You have to exit to the gsam main screen in order to do it. Then go back to application details.
For one up disabling picture in picture permissio helped. For others didnt. I uninstaled android web view and chrome updates, same thing. Helped for some didnt for others.
I wonder is this gsam (false report) or real android bug.

 

[KPMcClave]

Make sure that you manualy refresh gsam. You have to exit to the gsam main screen in order to do it. Then go back to application details.
For one up disabling picture in picture permissio helped. For others didnt. I uninstaled android web view and chrome updates, same thing. Helped for some didnt for others.
I wonder is this gsam (false report) or real android bug.

I did refresh. Still no continued Viedo On drain for Twitter (this time) beyond video I actually viewed.

I didn't have this issue at all on Android 10 (or after I upgraded to the betas and then stable Android 11) on my Pixel 3 XL. On the one hand you could say it didn't happen with Android 10 on the Pixel, but on the other it also didn't happen when viewing via Gsam on the Pixel.

 

[mustang7757]

Force stop Twitter , then check next charge cycle of its still high