Why is my battery acting crazy?

[AC Question]

For the past few weeks, my phone battery has been having some big issues. It loses charge very quickly, about 10% in 15 minutes. Then, when it gets down to about 70%-60%, it drops dramatically then complete goes wild. For example, it will reach 60% then instantly drop straight to 30% and steadily go down from there (about 1% a minute), then when it gets to 20% it will go straight to 1% and die. Then when I remove the battery and restart it, it will turn on and be back up to 20% then jump to 1% and die again. I have to keep my phone on ultra power saving mode to even make it through my 9 hour work day. Strangely enough, my battery doesn't have these problems when I'm at home. It's acts completely normal. It goes out of whack and experience those big jumps when I take if off of power saving mode to get an Uber. Now my questions, I know my battery is probably a lost cause and I'll need a new one, does anyone know what could have caused this? Could it be the Uber app that killed my battery? Or maybe using data instead of wifi? Any tips on how I can keep my next battery healthy in the future?

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! How's the cell signal in your area outside of your home? Poor signal can cause increased battery drain.

As you surmise, the battery might be defective or failing. Something called a dendrite can form in the battery cell, which can lead to sudden dropoffs like you're describing. A battery with a dendrite is a lost cause, and needs to be replaced. Can you test out a different battery to see if it behaves more normally?