Rapid battery drain -- NOT just after recent update

[garyfritz]

We have 4 G3's in our family.  Three of them work fine.  But my son's G3 eats batteries.  He says he can fully charge it, put it in his pocket and never touch it, and 4 hours later it's at 10%.

We've replaced the battery.  3 times.

Verizon even swapped it out for a brand new phone.

He checked his app battery usage.  (See below.)  It's basically identical to mine, and I typically get 30-35 hrs per charge.

He checked the drain.  The image below shows less than 2 hours of use.  During the flat portion the phone was plugged into his PC (USB3.0), which he says will keep it from draining but it doesn't charge it up.  So in an hour it drained 12%, and it's projecting only 4 hours left.

 

So:  It's not the phone.  It's not the battery.  It's not the charger, since he's swapped that too.  It doesn't seem to be the apps he's running, since Chrome (at 3%) is the top non-system battery user.  It doesn't seem to be my son's usage patterns, since he says it will drain in his pocket.

Which leaves him.  I've suggested maybe he has a mutant energy-draining property, and maybe he should change his name to Discharge-O.

Any suggestions??  He is REALLY sick of this, and wants a new phone.  But he's not eligible for another year....

[Heretic1989]

Try this, go to settings>battery>battery usage>battery optimization.

[garyfritz]

That reduces the battery drain from specific apps, right?  But the battery-usage screen shows that there AREN'T any apps eating power.  What would I do in the Battery Optimization settings?

[garyfritz]

Hello?  Anyone?  Verizon ??

[vzw_customer_support]

garyfritz,

Sorry to hear about that rapid battery drain. I know that can be frustrating. I'm sure we can get to the bottom of this. The first things I would have him try doing is see what happens if the phone is out of his pocket. Have him take it where he normally does, but have it outside of his pocket everywhere he can unless its simply not an option. As "screen" is showing up as the major drain in the image you sent, this could be happening by his screen getting turned on in his pocket. As I'm sure you're aware since you have several of these, LG G Series phones all have a screen that can be turned on by two touches on the front. It's possible that if the phones screen is facing his leg in his pocket that it's responding to what it thinks are touches and turning on. I've had this happen a coule times on my G4. I would also ask him where he's taking the phone. If he frequently goes into a room or location that has no service, he'll want to start putting the phone in airplane mode while there, as a phone searching for signal uses about 600% the normal power consumption and causes a quick drain. Let us know about these things when you can.

EricW_VZW
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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!!

[garyfritz]

Hm.  I will have him check.  But his screen battery usage (and others) almost exactly matched mine at the time he sent me that screenshot, and I typically get 24 hours or more.

I haven't been using my screen a lot for the last few days, and right now I've been running 52 hours and I still have 15% battery left!  My screen battery usage is 15% right now.  Usually it's more like the 50%+ range that he showed above.

Also, it seems very suspicious to me that his phone isn't charging AT ALL when it's plugged into a USB3 port.

[vzw_customer_support]

Having his phone work at it's best is key garyfritz. Not working with the USB is concerning as well. Did he notice this started after any new apps or updates had been added to his phone? Has he tried charging and running the phone in Safe Mode for a few hours to see if he notices any improvement? Click here for steps on Safe Mode: http://spr.ly/6589BctND. Have him test it for a few hours to see if he sees any improvement.

NicoleB_VZW
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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!!

[garyfritz]

He says this started happening shortly after he got the phone over a year ago -- and it has happened on two separate phones.  I assumed it was some app he was running, but the battery-drain list doesn't show any apps using a lot of power.

I will have him try Safe Mode.