What to do if App Starts Sucking Battery Life?

[PowrDroid]

Went to bed last night with battery life showing 60% remaining after starting fully charged. This was a typical day of use and I usually get to bedtime on battery day #2 before I need to recharge. Imagine my surprise when I looked at my phone today and I had only 30% battery remaining! Looked at the battery monitor and WeatherBug had used 18% of the battery. Seems it was awake for hours. I hadn't changed any settings and I had previously not noticed any battery drain from WeatherBug. (Settings are on update every 30 minutes, and I have location services off.)

So I uninstalled WeatherBug and am charging my phone to 100%, whereupon I will reinstall WeatherBug, adjust the settings and see what happens with battery life.

Is this the proper procedure when an app suddenly starts using a lot of battery--uninstall and reinstall, then monitor battery use?

 

[B. Diddy]

Usually, the first thing I do is to force stop the app, and see if the battery drain recurs. Or I might do a simple reboot of the phone.

 

[Toes Up]

I force stop the app as well. Sometimes it helps, sometimes it isn't a long term fix. For example, awhile back I had the 1 Weather widget installed, but for some reason it started to eat a lot of battery. Nothing seemed to work so I permanently uninstalled it. Perhaps it is better now, but I haven't tried it recently.

 

[UnlockedOnly]

weatherbug does not even show up on my battery monitor and its the first app i installed when i bought my turbo. i use it at least 10 times a day.

 

[mobrules]

In developer options I changed the background process limit from standard to 4. From what I've read it stops apps from running in the background. I use a task killer app and I've had that sometimes shows 10+ apps running without being used. Amazon is usually the worst. Unfortunately I use the apps regularly, but run the task killer app and that combined with the background processes it seems to help

 

[DatabaseMX]

"I use a task killer app and I've had that sometimes shows 10+ apps running without being used. Amazon is usually the worst."
Ditto on Amazon apps suite. Seems to start up even though I Force Stop it ... and ... I have never used it. So, question:
If I actually Disable the Amazon apps (until I really intend to use them) ... does that remove the app(s) from the master App list ?
(Seems I did Disable some app a while back ... and it was no longer in the app list at all).
And if so ... then I assume you can always install it again from the Store ?

thx

 

[Rukbat]

Task killer apps kill the battery. If Android needs a task running and the task killer kills it, Android will reload it. The task killer will kill it, and Android will reload it. Over and over, until the battery does or you uninstall the app written by someone who thinks that all operating systems are windows.

As far as the OP, first check to see if Weatherbug is running in the background. If it is, it shouldn't be. Use Wakelock Detector to see what's keeping the phone awake. (See Wakelock detector with non-rooted phone if the phone isn't rooted.)

30% isn't catastrophic, but 40% should be the minimum regular charging point.

 

[PowrDroid]

As far as the OP, first check to see if Weatherbug is running in the background. If it is, it shouldn't be. Use Wakelock Detector to see what's keeping the phone awake. (See Wakelock detector with non-rooted phone if the phone isn't rooted.)

WeatherBug is not running in the background. So far today it is responsible for 3% of battery usage.

I downloaded Wakelock Detector but it won't run on my phone since I have a Turbo, it obviously is not-rooted. I did not want to monkey with the alternative directions, esp. when they stated that MotoX needs special instructions, so I uninstalled it. Are there any other apps that would monitor wake times? What will GSam battery do for me?

 

[mobrules]

"I use a task killer app and I've had that sometimes shows 10+ apps running without being used. Amazon is usually the worst."
Ditto on Amazon apps suite. Seems to start up even though I Force Stop it ... and ... I have never used it. So, question:
If I actually Disable the Amazon apps (until I really intend to use them) ... does that remove the app(s) from the master App list ?
(Seems I did Disable some app a while back ... and it was no longer in the app list at all).
And if so ... then I assume you can always install it again from the Store ?

thx

The Amazon master app list stays the same. I found apps and games in there bought years ago. I don't think disabling it causes any harm. Mine runs in the background but I do watch prime movies and shows usually weekly. I disabled the app store on my Nexus 10 and Amazon popped up saying some apps wouldn't run without it. However it did not say which ones. I imagine the video player is one of them.

 

[mobrules]

WeatherBug is not running in the background. So far today it is responsible for 3% of battery usage.

I downloaded Wakelock Detector but it won't run on my phone since I have a Turbo, it obviously is not-rooted. I did not want to monkey with the alternative directions, esp. when they stated that MotoX needs special instructions, so I uninstalled it. Are there any other apps that would monitor wake times? What will GSam battery do for me?

Gsam will. Under the app sucker screen there's a drop down menu to view wake locks. I use it regularly.

 

[B. Diddy]

I believe GSam still requires root in order to view wakelock data.

 

[mobrules]

I don't believe so. I use the paid version so I don't know if that makes a difference.

 

[B. Diddy]

Hmm, maybe they found out a way to overcome the restrictions that were implemented in KitKat--it's why I had uninstalled GSam from my phone. I'll reinstall it and check it out.

 

[Javier P]

I have Gsam free version and the wakelock feature is there under "app sucker". No root required. Very cryptic though. It's got a built-in button to help you searching in the Web about it.

 

[Javier P]

This is what it looks.