[CobaltClassic007]

I recently came across a battery drain issue on my Classic and was able to find a solution. This has probably been discussed before, but I thought I would post here anyways in case anyone has a similar situation that may be resolved easily.

TL : DR - Android apps don't appear to close properly, even if you choose to exit out of them. They seem to keep running in the background, and show in resource monitor as "System". Restarting the device seems to resolve the issue until you open one of them again.

My issue started after I recently downloaded a wave of Android apps via Snap. The apps all work great and made me much much happier with my classic, but then on Tuesday morning this week I noticed something.

So for my battery life, I was getting roughly 2 days off a charge. I would take the classic off the charger at about 0630 in the morning when I would wake up. When I got to work about 0730, the battery still showed 100%. It would then eventually start dropping at a rate of 2-3 % an hour, with light usage throughout the day. At 2230 when I'd go to bed, the phone would be at roughly 70% charge and placed in bedside mode which I have set to turn off everything including all radios. The next morning I'd wake it up at 0630 again, it'd be at about 67% charge, and then place it on the charger that night at 1030, at which point the battery would be at roughly 37%. I could potentially stretch the battery out a 3rd day, but not worth draining the phone that much.

Anyhoots so the day after I installed a bunch of Android apps, I went through the same routine, however this time when I got to work at 0730 the phone was at 95% battery, after just an hour off the charger. It was also warm to the touch. I looked at resource monitor and saw nothing really going on except System repeatedly jumping up to the 20's or low 30's for a few seconds, than dropping back down.

I did some research and found that System is just the general OS and kernel operations on the phone. I figured something got stuck, like a hung service or something, so I rebooted the phone. The problem went away.

The next night I charged the phone again to test. I got to work at 0730, the phone was not warm, but the battery was at 95% and falling fast again. System was again spiking a bit. I gave it a reboot, and the problem went away. I thought about it and figured maybe these Android apps don't properly turn off after use like native BB apps do, so I did a test. After restarting the phone, I never opened one of the Android apps again that day.

Day 3 the phone's at 100% CPU when I get to work, and was again at roughly 70% when I went to bed. Just for kicks I opened a couple Android apps, closed them completely (but did not reboot the phone) and put it on the charger.

Day 4 the phone dropped to 95% again by the time I got to work.

So it would seem that Android apps don't properly close on the phone until you do a restart of the device. I've tested a few apps and they all seem to do it.

So if any of you have symptoms similar to mine, such as nothing running hot in resource monitor except System, and you have any SNAP installed Android apps, try restarting your phone and see if it goes away. Hopefully a future update resolves this and allows the apps to properly close.

Obviously I don't want to stop using Android apps so I figure I'll just get in the habit of restarting the phone each night before I go to bed.

Sorry that was so long but hopefully it helps somebody. I've seen alot of battery drain topics on the board

P.S. Anybody else have chrome go bananas on them while typing up long posts like this? Looks like crackberry doesn't properly let go of chrome's resources either

[BCITMike]

Please add a TL;DR or say what the solution was in the first paragraph.

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[CobaltClassic007]

Please add a TL;DR or say what the solution was in the first paragraph.

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Sure thing, added.

[kgbbz10]

Settings - App manager - app permissions - turn off every app running while minimized. Running while minimized means running in the background, draining your battery. Also many Android apps have a permission to run when the system starts so restarting your phone will just turn them back on.

BBClassic10.3.2.2639-799Radio

[CobaltClassic007]

Settings - App manager - app permissions - turn off every app running while minimized. Running while minimized means running in the background, draining your battery. Also many Android apps have a permission to run when the system starts so restarting your phone will just turn them back on.

BBClassic10.3.2.2639-799Radio

I checked there, and the only app with permission to run in the background or while minimized is BeBuzz, and it's been that way since day 1. I specifically made sure all the 3rd party Android apps I had installed had that turned off, but it definitely still happens.

Restarting has definitely fixed the issue for me each time, so whatever apps is causing it, they aren't starting automatically after reboot. I suspect the NEST thermostat, Dropcam security camera, and American Express apps are the main culprits, or really any app that tells me it needs google play services, but then works regardless are the main culprits. All of those apps have run in background/minimize turned off, but the issue becomes present after using each one until a reboot.

[kgbbz10]

You can also go to the device manager and select the app and close it. That will also show you which apps are running when they shouldn't be, because they should already be closed.

BBClassic10.3.2.2639-799Radio

[wojt7]

Just close the app with device monitor. That's all that's needed. No need rebooting the phone every day.

[CobaltClassic007]

You can also go to the device manager and select the app and close it. That will also show you which apps are running when they shouldn't be, because they should already be closed.

BBClassic10.3.2.2639-799Radio

Just close the app with device monitor. That's all that's needed. No need rebooting the phone every day.

If you read my whole post you'll see why I can't do that. Some of these Android Apps downloaded through SNAP appear to run as "System" in device monitor, which can't be closed.

Unless there is some other way in Device Monitor to drill down and view individual apps that are using resources, but I haven't been able to find it.

[rococo_rockfowl]

I have the Same problem.

Only thing is, that I have no Android apps installed.

Any idea?

 BlackBerry � Classic --- ClassicSQC100-1/10.3.2.2639

[wojt7]

If you read my whole post you'll see why I can't do that. Some of these Android Apps downloaded through SNAP appear to run as "System" in device monitor, which can't be closed.

Unless there is some other way in Device Monitor to drill down and view individual apps that are using resources, but I haven't been able to find it.

Which apps were u using. I'll try to replicate the issue on my phone.

[CobaltClassic007]

Which apps were u using. I'll try to replicate the issue on my phone.

Apologies on the delay in response. Been one of those weeks.

So I did some testing over the weekend to try and narrow down the app(s) responsible. Oddly enough sometimes I can't get it to replicate, but than other times it replicates with no problem.

It seems to revolve around the following apps, but doesn't happen every time I use them. There must be something occurring in the app at times that causes it to not close properly.

Playstation App
American Express
NEST Thermostat App
Dropcam Security Camera App
Netflix

[Emaderton3]

I am having a similar issue. The Android apps don't appear in Device Manager or are listed in the Run In The Background permissions. They don't even show up in Task Manager app which is for this very thing. Using Ghost Commander, I found a bunch of Android apps still running and force closed all of them. I will be interested to see how my battery does now.

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[jonyip]

Yup same issue. After deleting all the android stuff I'm seeing 8% drop every 5 hours. On 3G network. Only switch to 4G when I need to watch video online or download a large attachment.

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[Emaderton3]

Yup same issue. After deleting all the android stuff I'm seeing 8% drop every 5 hours. On 3G network. Only switch to 4G when I need to watch video online or download a large attachment.

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Yeah, it is really inconvenient. I think my interest in Venice is increasing.

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[jonyip]

I am having a similar issue. The Android apps don't appear in Device Manager or are listed in the Run In The Background permissions. They don't even show up in Task Manager app which is for this very thing. Using Ghost Commander, I found a bunch of Android apps still running and force closed all of them. I will be interested to see how my battery does now.

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Is Ghost Commander available in BlackBerry World?

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[Fastmarc]

Interesting. I never did try Ghost Commander before and it gave me the option to force stop a whole bunch of android apps that were supposed to be closed. They were not showing up on Device Monitor or TaskManager.
I'll see if it has any positive impact on my battery tomorrow.

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[jonyip]

Interesting. I never did try Ghost Commander before and it gave me the option to force stop a whole bunch of android apps that were supposed to be closed. They were not showing up on Device Monitor or TaskManager.
I'll see if it has any positive impact on my battery tomorrow.

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If you restart or turn off your phone, they,ll be switched back on again when next power up again.

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[Emaderton3]

Any improvement anyone? I feel like mine might be a bit better. Those Amazon apps just don't want to stop running do they! They need to deal with this issue in the OS.

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[Fastmarc]

Any improvement anyone? I feel like mine might be a bit better. Those Amazon apps just don't want to stop running do they! They need to deal with this issue in the OS.

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It's not the BlackBerry OS. It's the nature of Android apps. I've heard it from Android user that apps are constantly running, draining their battery and they have to get apps to shut them down.

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[Fastmarc]

None of the apps I shut down with Ghost Commander last night started back up, but today was an unusual day for usage, so I can't use it to gauge if there were any gains with battery life.
Tonight I will do a restart then force stop any apps and see if there are any improvement tomorrow with the battery life.


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[Fastmarc]

If you restart or turn off your phone, they,ll be switched back on again when next power up again.

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I just did a restart and interestingly none of the apps I forced stop with Ghost Commander were back on. They were all still closed. If I open one of them, they will continue to run in the background until forced stopped though.

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[jonyip]

Strange. Mine did restarted.

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[Mr4aces]

1) Use native Apps whenever possible;
2) Close all Apps running the background or when minimized;
3) Resart your phone "at least" once a day;
4) If possible avoid having Google Play and the other Google Apps required to run some apps;

The Classic only has 2gb of RAM if you clean your phone up you should be able to easily have 1gb of working memory. I have 1.2gb after start up.

[CobaltClassic007]

If you restart or turn off your phone, they,ll be switched back on again when next power up again.

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Haven't had this happen yet. Every time I have restart the phone the issue has gone away until the next time I start using some of the Android apps.

The difference in battery is amazing. From 48 hours of battery life down to less than 12 with light use because of these background running apps.

[CobaltClassic007]

Any improvement anyone? I feel like mine might be a bit better. Those Amazon apps just don't want to stop running do they! They need to deal with this issue in the OS.

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Yea definitely an improvement here. I haven't tried ghost commander yet, but instead just restart my phone after using one of the android apps, or nightly before I go to bed. I might have to get ghost commander though to see which apps it is doing it.