[johnetix]

Since two weleks ago all of a sudden my battery started to drain radically. According to meterberry my battery consumption is in between 1%/hour and 5%/hour depending on how much i use it or talk.
Now the drainage average was about 15-20%/hour, which was impossible to deal with. I tried lots of alternatives, checked cpu usage, reinstalled os, and many others.

Now i got to the point to realize that if i install whatsapp battery drains like , and if i uninstall it, battery lasts good enough, as it used to be before. I have tried this several times to be sure.

Now i can conclude that having whatsapp nstalled causes this. I even updated to the �atest whatsapp version.

Now i am in trouble because i use whatsapp a lot with all my iphone friends.

Can anyway suggest a way to have whatsapp installed and avoid this crazy battery drainage? What if i install an OS not supported by my carrier?

Thanks a lot.


Blackberry bold 9780
App version 6.0.0.534 (2391) - its the latest availiable for my carrier

[jeffrey1027]

Upgrade your OS to at least .706 Search how to do it. You can always install ANY os as long as teh Vendor.xml x2 are deleted from your computer folder.

Consider trying that first and report back with the battery consumption.

[johnetix]

Upgrade your OS to at least .706 Search how to do it. You can always install ANY os as long as teh Vendor.xml x2 are deleted from your computer folder. .

Great i Will check it out and let you know.

Please expand on the vendor.xml x2 thing. Are they files within the blackberry desktop program files?

Thanks!

[Batter Pudding]

Please expand on the vendor.xml x2 thing. Are they files within the blackberry desktop program files?

One is always dumped in the C:\Program Files\Common Files\Research in Motion\apploader\ folder when you install the OS update. Just delete it.

Sometimes a second one can appear in %AppData\Research in Motion\ (sorry, don't remember the location, but start a search from this level). This second one only tends to appear if you are connected to the internet when updating.

Deleting these one or two files means the OS update will install on any 9780 from any carrier.

[Bostein]

Have you try to close the whatsapp application rather than just minimize it? You can check by hold down the menu key few seconds to see the running apps, if whatsapp icon is there than you haven't close it properly. Open the whatsapp application and press menu key, scroll to the bottom most and click close. Try to check your task manager again and you should see whatsapp icon is not there.
Note that by doing this you can still receive message from your whatsapp peers, but everytime you finish the conversation, you will need to repeat the above step.

I find this help to reduce battery consumption with whatsapp usage, though in my case the differences between having whatsapp and without it is not that significant as compared to your case.

[jimmyfallon]

if you exit whatsapp then it doesn't work. you have to keep it on.

try installing an updated OS

my whatsapp doesnt take up THAT much

[Bostein]

if you exit whatsapp then it doesn't work. you have to keep it on.

I always exit whatsapp if I'm not using it, but I still get the message from my colleague whenever they send me, try it for yourself...

[egzbuen]

Just to throw in a monkey wrench, would Kik messenger be better in terms of battery life retention?

[Sir_Wabbit]

I also always exit it and you do receive messages.i Agree with the above post. Update you bb os then try this and you should see an improvment

[johnetix]

Thank You all for your answers.

I am aware that closing Whatsapp consumes less battery than just minimizing. I had tried that. Also I could use Kik Messenger, but none of my friends use it, so i would be chatting all by myself.

I upgraded my os to the latest availiable for my BB 9780. I fooled around a bit with it and the battery was decreasing ok, around 3%/hour, even less.

Then i decided to install whatsapp to chek out with this new OS version.

As soon as i finished installation the activity arrows started to drive crazy even though i wasnt using the phone at all. Also it became very hot., and the battery drain is now in around 12-15%/hour. which means my battery can last only 7 hours from full charge.

I can't see an easy way to work this around. It has proved to be bugging me on any OS and on any whatsapp version

[Bostein]

It is unlikely to happen, but did you turn off the BIS push? To check go to setting -> advanced setting. make sure the BIS push is turned on.

[mindgameshaw]

I've been having the same problem. I installed Whatsapp about 6 weeks ago and since then my battery would be lucky to see out the day. I have also noticed my phone is much less responsive and I have been experiencing the hourglass/clockface all the time. I have just uninstalled Whatsapp and will see if this helps my situation tomorrow.

I am running os 6.0.0.723 on a 9780

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[mindgameshaw]

Ok, so I have been running my phone without whatsapp now for about 24 hours and the battery life has improved by almost 100% and I am no longer getting the hourglass/clockface. I am convinced whatsapp was causing my problems.

I have also sent an email to [email protected] outlining my problem but have not yet received a response.

Again, if anyone can help with this problem, I would be forever grateful

[Decile]

Whatsapp has this ''Always On Mode'' on BB's and on Droids, where it checks every few seconds so see what's new. It's much like setting Twitter to ''refresh every 5 seconds'', it doesnt make sense and it's useless.

Anyway I HATE whatsapp and I can't figuire out why this piece of blah got so popular! Anyway I still use it, the beta has a much better UI and doesn't drain battery as much.

When using Lots of whatsapp, my battery is down to 30% after a schoolday (note this is from 9 o clock to 3(!)), however, this is a rare occurance.

[johnetix]

Ok, so I have been running my phone without whatsapp now for about 24 hours and the battery life has improved by almost 100% and I am no longer getting the hourglass/clockface. I am convinced whatsapp was causing my problems.

I have also sent an email to [email protected] outlining my problem but have not yet received a response.

Again, if anyone can help with this problem, I would be forever grateful

Hey mindgameshaw keep me posted as well if you have any news. Thks

[johnetix]

Whatsapp has this ''Always On Mode'' on BB's and on Droids, where it checks every few seconds so see what's new. It's much like setting Twitter to ''refresh every 5 seconds'', it doesnt make sense and it's useless.

Anyway I HATE whatsapp and I can't figuire out why this piece of blah got so popular! Anyway I still use it, the beta has a much better UI and doesn't drain battery as much.

When using Lots of whatsapp, my battery is down to 30% after a schoolday (note this is from 9 o clock to 3(!)), however, this is a rare occurance.

I guess i ll try the beta version then do you know where to get it from?

[Decile]

I guess i ll try the beta version then do you know where to get it from?

Go to Beta.Whatsapp.com on your mobile browser and download it from there. If you have paid for it, it won't ask for another payment.

The UI is boss and the option screens are much cleaner and more accesablebklblrebl(it's sunday allright?)



This is a pic from it I found on google (it looks more polished on my device, but this was the best i could find), I was stunned when I had it up and running.


EDIT : Screen must be taken from a Bold 9900.. Cause his battery is about to die LOL

[johnetix]

Ok beta version tried out, but same results.

Maybe is useless to point out but the whatsapp application itself once installed doesn't drain the battery until finished the after-install setup.

[antikorr]

Been trying to befriend my Bold 9900 with WhatsApp many times. Always ended up deleting it in favor of having longer battery life. The percents of a charge were just melting right in front of me. It was devastating.

Everytime a new version of the app appeared on horizon my hopes flew high to the sky, but shortly after installing it they fell down with a crackling noise.

The app itself looks very good, but - gosh! - it just eats the freaking battery like a hungry Godzilla.

Had to switch over to Touch...

[dkonigsberg_wa]

If you have BIS service, then WhatsApp will use push and it shouldn't be having these battery life problems.
If you don't have BIS service (e.g. normal data plan, not a BlackBerry plan), then WhatsApp has to keep a long-lived connection to the servers open. In this case, battery life will not be as good.

We test on a wide variety of BlackBerry devices, and can see a noticeable battery life difference between BIS and non-BIS phones.

However, the 9900 seems to have all-around bad battery life. (Yes, several of us are using this model.) Its possible that network activity on the 9900 uses a lot more power than older phones, or there's some strange OS issue (just check all the here-say on OS builds in the 9900 forum) since we get significantly longer battery life (running the exact same code) on pretty much every other BlackBerry out there.

[johnetix]

If you have BIS service, then WhatsApp will use push and it shouldn't be having these battery life problems.

Well i have BIS, i have push enabled, and i DO have this problems.

However, the 9900 seems to have all-around bad battery life. (Yes, several of us are using this model.) Its possible that network activity on the 9900 uses a lot more power than older phones, or there's some strange OS issue (just check all the here-say on OS builds in the 9900 forum) since we get significantly longer battery life (running the exact same code) on pretty much every other BlackBerry out there.

This is a bold 9780 forum. If you want to talk about 9900 go to the correspondent place

[maara]

Any workaround for the battery drain on 9780?

[raino]

This is a bold 9780 forum. If you want to talk about 9900 go to the correspondent place

He seems to be a member of the WhatsApp team reporting his observation.

Any workaround for the battery drain on 9780?

That's what we're trying to work at in this thread. Stay tuned in.

[auditman]

Same here I have 9780. Tried whatsapp, I like the apps. But man it sucks battery juice so fast. Deleted it the next day. Too bad.

[johnetix]

Well i found something that might help identify the problem.

In whatsapp options/advanced settings theres an item that says BIS Push. Underneath it there is a message that says that setting push to OFF can drain the battery. Of course i set it to ON, but now when i do that it says "error" between brackets.

So, maybe this error doesnt allow me to put push on, and it is draining my battery as if it was set to OFF?

Even if what i am saying is correct, i wouldnt know how to fix this. Any suggestions?