Widgets Equal Major Battery Drain

[Smokeaire01]

My Pixel 6 Pro on 12L Beta 3/QPR3 Beta 1 was experiencing severe battery drain. I would wake up in the morning and the battery level would be down to around 20% or less from the normal average workday 40-50%. I work from home so I do get a lot of phone calls during the day. I always make sure to start my work day with 100%. So what changed?
I would check the battery and noticed the System UI was using more than 50% in 24 hours. That seemed to be the culprit but why?
After thinking about it for a few days I wondered if it was because of all of the widgets I was using. After doing some searching I realized that sure enough any widget that needs to update data in the background can be the cause. So last night the great widget purge began. I removed all suspected widgets.
The result? I woke up this morning with over 60% battery and System UI battery usage down to a sipping 2%! Now 60% is unusual as well but yesterday I was late in charging my phone to 100%. It will be interesting to see what the levels are in the coming more normal days without the removed widgets. Then I'll add those widgets back one at a time and try to narrow down the specific offending culprit(s).

 

[Kizzy Catwoman]

My Pixel 6 Pro on 12L Beta 3/QPR3 Beta 1 was experiencing severe battery drain. I would wake up in the morning and the battery level would be down to around 20% or less from the normal average workday 40-50%. I work from home so I do get a lot of phone calls during the day. I always make sure to start my work day with 100%. So what changed?
I would check the battery and noticed the System UI was using more than 50% in 24 hours. That seemed to be the culprit but why?
After thinking about it for a few days I wondered if it was because of all of the widgets I was using. After doing some searching I realized that sure enough any widget that needs to update data in the background can be the cause. So last night the great widget purge began. I removed all suspected widgets.
The result? I woke up this morning with over 60% battery and System UI battery usage down to a sipping 2%! Now 60% is unusual as well but yesterday I was late in charging my phone to 100%. It will be interesting to see what the levels are in the coming more normal days without the removed widgets. Then I'll add those widgets back one at a time and try to narrow down the specific offending culprit(s).

Good investigation. Let us know how it goes.

 

[Smokeaire01]

Good investigation. Let us know how it goes.

Thanks. I will.
As my favorite literary character often said "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."
I left two widgets on the screen, Google Fi widget which only updates when I open it, and the widgets that control my Wiz wifi connected lights, simple on/off control. Neither need to be updated in the background.

 

[B. Diddy]

I think I've seen that behavior before on older versions of Android as well. I suspect that the drain you experienced was due to some glitchy coding for one of those widgets (possibly related to the beta version of Android you're using). It'd be interesting to see if the drain still happened if you were to revert back to the stable Android 12.

 

[Javier P]

Similar thing happened when Android 12 started, even making custom launchers crash. The culprits were widgets that hadn't been optimised to the new version and got kind of stuck in the background. In most cases removing all widgets and adding them back was enough to stop the crashes and battery drain. It's possible that the same thing is happening with the 12L Beta build.

 

[Smokeaire01]

It didn't take long to find the battery sucking widget, Google Calendar.
It was the first widget I put back on and my System UI battery went from below 1-2% without it to over 55% and my morning battery percentage went from 55-60% to the 20s and 30s.
I think I figured why. My wife and I have our calendars connected so we can keep track of each other's schedules. The widget must run continuously updating in the background. This is just a guess but it is a guess that makes sense.

 

[B. Diddy]

That's odd, because I use the Google Calendar month widget on my 6 Pro, and have never had battery drain because of it (and my wife also shares her calendar with me). Maybe try clearing the app cache/data for Calendar, force stop it, then open again and let it resync, and see if the drain persists.

I'll test my widget with it actively showing both my calendar and my wife's (hers is usually hidden), and see if I have any problem.

 

[Scott337]

I was just getting ready to type what B Diddy typed and he beat me to it. I have used the Google Calendar widget on every phone I have owned for the past 5 - 6 years, with my personal calendar & a shared family calendar (4 of us) and have never seen it use more than a sliver of battery. Sounds like a one-time glitch with the app/widget on your phone. Hopefully the clear cache/data will help.

 

[Smokeaire01]

That's odd, because I use the Google Calendar month widget on my 6 Pro, and have never had battery drain because of it (and my wife also shares her calendar with me). Maybe try clearing the app cache/data for Calendar, force stop it, then open again and let it resync, and see if the drain persists.

I'll test my widget with it actively showing both my calendar and my wife's (hers is usually hidden), and see if I have any problem.

I'll give your suggestion a try in a day or so as I want to go through a full 24 hours since I updated to Android 23 Developer Preview 2 and want to see how that affects the battery. Then I'll do the Widget again to see if the System UI battery draining starts up again. If so I'll do what you suggested.
Trouble shooting steps.

 

[B. Diddy]

I'll give your suggestion a try in a day or so as I want to go through a full 24 hours since I updated to Android 23 Developer Preview 2 and want to see how that affects the battery. Then I'll do the Widget again to see if the System UI battery draining starts up again. If so I'll do what you suggested.
Trouble shooting steps.

Ah, then it might also be an issue with the DP firmware.

 

[Smokeaire01]

Ah, then it might also be an issue with the DP firmware.

It happened with 12L Beta, not A13 DP B2. Now I'll be seeing if it happens with it.

 

[Smokeaire01]

Right now System UI battery use is so low it doesn't even show on the list.

 

[fuzzylumpkin]

Yeah, I've also noticed very bad battery life on beta 3, gone from needing a charge every 4 or 5 days to every 2 or 3.

Haven't really investigated, just put it down to beta software acting like beta software.

 

[Smokeaire01]

The battery is at 100%. Now to add back the Calendar widget and find out if this is the culprit. If so on to the next step as suggested above.
Attached is a screenshot shot of the very low System UI battery usage on my Pixel 4a on A13DP2. I don't have the Calendar widget on it. Maybe I should add it and see what the effect it will have on it as well.

 

[B. Diddy]

I've had my full-month calendar widget set to display my calendar and my wife's shared calendar for a few days now, and have not seen any adverse battery drain, so at least it's not reproducible on a different device ...

 

[Smokeaire01]

I've had my full-month calendar widget set to display my calendar and my wife's shared calendar for a few days now, and have not seen any adverse battery drain, so at least it's not reproducible on a different device ...

B. Biddy, thanks for doing this. I appreciate the help.
I agree, I'm seeing the same. I think we may have eliminated the calendar widget as the culprit. I think I'll go another 24 hours before adding another widget. Now to remember which ones I had.

 

[Smokeaire01]

After 23 hours all is good. So the next widget I'm adding is the new system battery usage widget. Keep in mind my P6P is running on Android 13 Developer Preview 2.