[dman2009]

Hey fellow BB users!

After the 10.3.2.840 update, I was having issues with fast battery drain. I also have some friends who experienced the same thing since OS 10.3.1. After poking around and paying a lot of attention to CPU usage in device monitor, I realized that the Android Player seemed to be using a lot of CPU time even when no Android apps were running. I also noticed a lot of Android Apps would show significant CPU usage at times even when they were closed. It seemed like System was using more CPU time than usual when the phone was idle. I found this very strange and decided to look into application behavior of the Android Apps.

So, I went to Settings-Security and Privacy-Application Permissions to get a listing of installed apps.

From there, I checked the permissions on each app. For the Android Apps, I checked to see if they were authorized to "Run when minimized." For most Android Apps, I do not need this behavior. So, for nearly all of them, I toggled that option off to ensure the these apps would not run when minimized. For apps that I do want to run minimized (Strava, eBay, etc) I left that feature turned on.

Within a few hours of doing this, I noticed my CPU usage dropped significantly and battery life has improved more than two fold. For reference, I came off the charger at 9 am this morning and still have 53% at 10:41 pm. Mind you, this is a pretty light use day. But before I'd burn through about 10% per hour with the same level of activity. I also noticed that Android apps now rarely utilize any CPU time unless they're open.

A friend of mine was having terrible issues for months. His phone was always hot, ran sluggish, and would drain the battery super fast. This happened right after the 10.3.1 update. After making these changes, his phone now runs fine with about 6% CPU usage while idle (same as mine).

I'm not sure why toggling this should make a difference for apps that are closed but it did. If you're having battery drain issues, give it a shot!

Oh, just for reference, all phones tested were Verizon Z10s.

[skstrials]

Thanks! I was also surprised with the app permission, and how many of them were running in the back ground.



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[SDTRMG]

I was getting battery issues on my passport aswell, I'm gonna try this and report back about it. Thanks for the info I didn't know the android apps had this option and I have quite a few of them.

Passport  - Tthe Final Destination - Winnipeg Mb Apparel | Headshop | Vapeshop | Tattoos

[Dr J39]

I will try this, on my Z10.

[juvenilejt]

Hey fellow BB users!

After the 10.3.2.840 update, I was having issues with fast battery drain. I also have some friends who experienced the same thing since OS 10.3.1. After poking around and paying a lot of attention to CPU usage in device monitor, I realized that the Android Player seemed to be using a lot of CPU time even when no Android apps were running. I also noticed a lot of Android Apps would show significant CPU usage at times even when they were closed. It seemed like System was using more CPU time than usual when the phone was idle. I found this very strange and decided to look into application behavior of the Android Apps.

So, I went to Settings-Security and Privacy-Application Permissions to get a listing of installed apps.

From there, I checked the permissions on each app. For the Android Apps, I checked to see if they were authorized to "Run when minimized." For most Android Apps, I do not need this behavior. So, for nearly all of them, I toggled that option off to ensure the these apps would not run when minimized. For apps that I do want to run minimized (Strava, eBay, etc) I left that feature turned on.

Within a few hours of doing this, I noticed my CPU usage dropped significantly and battery life has improved more than two fold. For reference, I came off the charger at 9 am this morning and still have 53% at 10:41 pm. Mind you, this is a pretty light use day. But before I'd burn through about 10% per hour with the same level of activity. I also noticed that Android apps now rarely utilize any CPU time unless they're open.

A friend of mine was having terrible issues for months. His phone was always hot, ran sluggish, and would drain the battery super fast. This happened right after the 10.3.1 update. After making these changes, his phone now runs fine with about 6% CPU usage while idle (same as mine).

I'm not sure why toggling this should make a difference for apps that are closed but it did. If you're having battery drain issues, give it a shot!

Oh, just for reference, all phones tested were Verizon Z10s.

Might not be for everyone. The android player battery usage has been 3.4% for me, in the last 12 hours.

Float like a Butterfly, Sting like a Zee|10. STL100-1|OS_10.3.2.2204

[One Brain Cell]

Yes! Thanks Dman, I had exactly the same problem, almost monumental battery drain compared to other smart phones, even with this comparatively little 3.5 inch screen on the Classic.

After switching off the 'run in background' permissions of almost every app I have, battery life has jumped up enormously! I did this at the beginning of the weekend after owning this Blackberry (my first Blackberry) since early May. Finally I have beefy battery life that outshines other smartphones I have used.

When I first got the phone it would drain in about seven hours of light use, as every app was set to run in the background by default. It would be really handy if this was mentioned in the built-in Help section (or maybe I missed it), as I was starting to think I'd bought a dud phone!

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[illwill718]

Great post thanks for the info! I also noticed after the update having Bluetooth and WiFi on while not in use also drains the battery twice as fast. So be sure to turn them off if their not in use.

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[One Brain Cell]

I wonder why Wi-fi drains the Blackberry? With every other brand of smartphone I've had the advice has always been to switch to Wi-fi whenever and wherever you can, because this drains your battery far less than a cellular connection.

Yet on these forums I've seen it mentioned more than a few times by posters who are very experienced to switch off your Wi-fi. At first I thought it was just a typo, but I've seen it written too many times now.

Do Blackberry phones REALLY take a weird battery hit by being on wi-fi rather than cellular? It still makes no sense to me.

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[Fastmarc]

Do Blackberry phones REALLY take a weird battery hit by being on wi-fi rather than cellular? It still makes no sense to me.

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I think he might mean if you are not connected or going to be connecting to WiFi to switch it off. A practice I do whenever I'll be on the road for long periods and won't be connected to any WiFi.
As far as I know when the phone connect to WiFi it does consumes less than cellular data. This is something I have noticed for myself.

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[Fastmarc]

In addition to 'run when minimised' also check for apps that have 'run in background' and disable if not needed.

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[ken X Choi]

thanks man , will have a try onto it,
other than android player issue, the pim services also an issue for 40%+ loading when no apps running, will it be the 'run in background' apps?

[Fastmarc]

thanks man , will have a try onto it,
other than android player issue, the pim services also an issue for 40%+ loading when no apps running, will it be the 'run in background' apps?

PIM is associated with the various accounts (emails, Gmail contacts, Gmail calendar, etc), so based on the amount of accounts you have and sync interval it can be active. It will also be most active after setting up the device and may take a while until all has been synch.

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