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Re: Google Play services massive battery drain
vzw_customer_support
Customer Service Rep
‎07-01-2016 11:00 AM

bennor3814,


We appreciate all the details and everything that you have tried thus far. If a hard reset has not resolved the issue then there may be a hardware issue. In that case we would then want to look into replacement options. If the device is within warranty it can be replaced at no charge. Give us a call at 800-922-0204 to discuss replacement options while within warranty.


AdamG_VZW
Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport
If my response answered your question please click the �Correct Answer� button under my response. This ensures others can benefit from our conversation. Thanks in advance for your help with this!!

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Re: Google Play services massive battery drain
bennor3814
Contributor - Level 1
‎07-01-2016 01:12 PM

The issue is the hard reset fixes the problem until the Google Services app gets updated, from then on the battery drain is intermittent. some days it happens other days it doesn't. Probably not a hardware failure unless a bad battery would cause the Google Services app to fluctuate around. What appears to be happening is the Google Services app gets stuck running and doesn't release or go into low use/low power mode.

The phone is beyond the Motorola 1 year warrantee being that the phone was purchased on 2/9/2014.

What I may have to do is do another hard reset and simply prevent the Google Services app from updating and deal with any apps that won't run without an updated Google Services app and wait to see if Google will get around to fixing this issue (high battery usage) is affecting others after seeing the various complains in the apps's comment section in the Google App Store.

I have another five screen captures from today that I'll post to a separate reply.

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Re: Google Play services massive battery drain
bennor3814
Contributor - Level 1
‎07-01-2016 03:43 PM

There are at least three other recent complaints about battery drain with the Droid Mini that were reported on the Google Play services app page on the Google Apps on Google Play (in addition to my own).

See this link, and this one, and this one.

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Re: Google Play services massive battery drain
bennor3814
Contributor - Level 1
‎07-02-2016 03:30 AM

A tentative update for now. It appears the Google Services app was updated on June 30 (see this link), previous update was either June 22 or June 13 (from what I remember). Performed another "uninstall updates" on the Google Services app late yesterday. Don't know what "update" version was install on the Mini however during the heavy battery drain, forgot to write that information down. The directions below came from this link.

  1. Go to Settings / Apps / All.
  2. Swipe down until you find Google Play services. Tap on it. Tap on "Uninstall updates".
  3. Go to https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.gms and update Google Play services.
  4. Reboot.

When the "update" was uninstalled the Google Play services version was: 6.1.11 (1474901-036).

After updating the Google Play services the version was: 9.2.56 (036-124593566).

Its been over 9 hours since phone was fully charged and the battery usage is at 84% with Google Services not shown in the battery usage app list. And the "awake" history shows the device is no longer remaining awake for long periods of time.

Keeping fingers crossed.

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Re: Re: Google Play services massive battery drain
bennor3814
Contributor - Level 1
‎07-02-2016 03:53 PM

Quick update. Going on 22 hours now with the battery at 49% and the Google Services app running around 3% the entire time. So far light years better than the past two weeks where I experienced quick battery drain. Keeping my fingers crossed that this continues and the Google Play doesn't start causing problems and keeping the phone awake in the background.

Screenshot_49_1_zpsq4zztqp3.jpgScreenshot_49_2_zps4ekl5zpw.jpg

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Re: Google Play services massive battery drain
bennor3814
Contributor - Level 1
‎07-04-2016 05:36 AM

Another update. Some good news, some bad.

Phone ran 1 day and 20 hours before it shut off and needed to be recharged. The bad news, once recharged (and power charger removed) the phone was turned on and Google Services once again returned to draining the battery with 50% or more usage and keeping the phone awake even though the screen was off. Obviously there is something that is causing the Google Services to keep the phone awake in the background leading to the quick battery drain.

Tried the steps mentioned above again while on battery and it didn't work. After reboot Google Services still remained high, again over 50%, and kept the phone awake quickly draining the battery. Next I connected the power adapter to charge the phone, but this time before uninstalling Google Play services via the directions above I first cleared the cache via the "Clear cache" button, then selected the "Manage space" button and selected "CLEAR ALL DATA". After clearing all the data I then uninstalled the Google Play Services and proceeded with the directions above while keeping the power adapter plugged into the phone. After rebooting the phone Google Services use was at 5%. Removed the power adapter and left the phone alone over night. This morning Google Services was still at 5% and it didn't appear to have drained the battery like previously. The phone doesn't appear to have been kept awake over night. After 7 hours and 15 minutes on battery the battery charge was 94%. Will continue to monitor and experiment.

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Re: Google Play services massive battery drain
ABELISAPPRAISALS
Newbie
‎07-05-2016 09:01 AM

I've been having the same issue.  I also did a hard reset.  I got to the point where I actually bought a new droid mini only to find the same issue continue. 

Something in the OS changed with a recent update that has caused significant battery drain.  I went into the Google account settings and disabled many of the Google Services that were set to update.  Go to Settings, under accounts, select the google account, then touch the account logo and it will list all of the services set to update.  It includes things like Google Books, Google Newstand, etc.

We'll see if that helps....

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Re: Google Play services massive battery drain
scp1
Newbie
‎07-06-2016 02:30 PM

I am also having the same issue.  Google Services always running in the 50% range, this is draining my battery.  I have been fine with my battery life until this started happening in the last few days.  Then when I try  to do anything to disable it or uninstall updates it says it could cause problems if I do it.  So annoying.

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Re: Google Play services massive battery drain
bennor3814
Contributor - Level 1
‎07-06-2016 03:40 PM

ABELISAPPRAISALS wrote:

Something in the OS changed with a recent update that has caused significant battery drain.  I went into the Google account settings and disabled many of the Google Services that were set to update.  Go to Settings, under accounts, select the google account, then touch the account logo and it will list all of the services set to update.  It includes things like Google Books, Google Newstand, etc.

We'll see if that helps....

Unfortunately form me disabling the account sync settings didn't work. Google Services still drained the battery quickly at times.

There is definitely something wrong with Google Play services/Google Services app. There are numerous complaints about battery drain on the app page on Google Play Store that cover not only the Droid Mini but other phones. There are also complaints about continually being asked to update the app and the app taking up a large amount of space (several hundred megabytes of storage space).

Right now. after performing the actions previously mentioned in an earlier post, so long as I don't reboot the phone the Google Services usage is around 4% to 5%.

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