WiFi killing battery?

[ramsv94]

Hello, i am trying to increase my battery life because it snot all that great right now. I'm only getting about 3 hours of screen on time. I was thinking about doing a factory reset, but wanted to try to fix it before i go through that. Looking at my GSAM battery stats, my WIFI Active is just as high as my screen usage. Both are at over 30%. Having Wifi use that much of my battery doesn't seem right to me. Also Its a sprint GS6, any Ideas?

Thanks

 

[srkmagnus]

Hello, i am trying to increase my battery life because it snot all that great right now. I'm only getting about 3 hours of screen on time. I was thinking about doing a factory reset, but wanted to try to fix it before i go through that. Looking at my GSAM battery stats, my WIFI Active is just as high as my screen usage. Both are at over 30%. Having Wifi use that much of my battery doesn't seem right to me. Also Its a sprint GS6, any Ideas?

Thanks

I don't think WiFi is the actual problem. Can you post a screen shot of the battery usage screen along with the page that gives you more detailed information about the highest app/service?

Hopefully we can find the problem (if there really is a problem) and save you from a reset.

 

[Kalvin Kerns]

Hello, i am trying to increase my battery life because it snot all that great right now. I'm only getting about 3 hours of screen on time. I was thinking about doing a factory reset, but wanted to try to fix it before i go through that. Looking at my GSAM battery stats, my WIFI Active is just as high as my screen usage. Both are at over 30%. Having Wifi use that much of my battery doesn't seem right to me. Also Its a sprint GS6, any Ideas?

Thanks

I believe it's standby time while on wifi that's causing the drain. If I'm not mistaken it's a known bug with Lollipop.

But I agree it doesn't make sense for the battery life to be WORST on Wi-Fi, if anything it should be better.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[ramsv94]

i just happened to charge it.

 

[razza1987]

That is so weird. My Wi-Fi active is around the 13% mark on my phone

 

[almawhite]

my wifi is working perfectly fine. doesn't drain that much.. consistent

 

[tgs3838]

I haven't really tested it. Usually im only on wifi at the house. So im not really using it all that much while at home. But i have also noticed that it seems to die faster when its on wifi than just using regular Data. But maybe im just crazy.

 

[KelseyRo4]

WiFi takes a big chunk of my battery too. I leave it off unless I'm using it at the moment

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[jcp007]

Having great coverage area and unlimited data with AT&T, I use Wifi only when absolutely necessary but I turn it off when not it use. I would think being in a high traffic area or having reception issues within your own home would cause a bit of drain on the battery.

 

[cwise222]

My WiFi usage will range anywhere between 15%-35%. I am pretty sure it's a Lollipop bug, my M8 did the same thing when it got bumped to Lollipop.

 

[atkjhi]

WiFi is the silent killer. My battery life doubled when I stopped using the WiFi connection at work. If you're a heavy data user with data limits you may need to use WiFi but if you don't have to use WiFi don't use it.

 

[jdhooghe]

Sorry, I just got this phone: is this a bug with Android? Should I have my tasker app turn off wifi when I shut off the phone? Thank you

 

[bbtkd]

Sorry, I just got this phone: is this a bug with Android? Should I have my tasker app turn off wifi when I shut off the phone? Thank you

I like the app Wi-fi Matic. When you connect to a new Wifi, it starts scanning which cell towers are in the vicinity. Then after a minute or so, you stop it from scanning. From then on, when you are near one of the cell towers associated with a known Wifi, it turns Wifi on. When you leave the vicinity it tuns Wifi off. This has helped me avoid having to turn Wifi off when at work since we're not allowed to connect our personal devices.

Also be sure you go into settings/wifi/more/advanced and disable "Always allow scanning". This is a feature where the OS can enable wifi periodically to try to use it for location, presumably when GPS and tower location finding is not viable. I've noted significant reduction in battery drain since disabling this.

 

[jdhooghe]

So I disabled WiFi when the phone has its screen off using tasker and I'm no longer getting the cell standbye. Hmm

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G925A using Tapatalk

 

[atkjhi]

It's weird, cell uses a ton of battery when it's standing by, and uses far less battery when it's not standing by. Unless there is some kind of reporting bug with Android and the battery stats are not correct.

Maybe cell standby is actually WiFi radio usage and that's what it should be called?

 

[msavic6]

There is currently a bug with GSAM that mis-represents the actual percentage of battery used by WiFi.

In order to rectify this.
- Open GSAM
- Go into Preferences
- Scroll down to Device Power Profiles
- Enable Custom Profile
- Edit Profile
- Change the value for WiFi Active to 767.
- Save and you're done.

GSAM will now correctly display the battery percentage associated with WiFi Usage.

 

[atkjhi]

What is GSAM? Does your phone have to be rooted to access?

So I was right, cell standby is actually measuring WiFi radio usage.

 

[atkjhi]

Never mind I figured it out, it's a separate app. I'll try it out. Thanks