Solution to Google Services and Android System battery drain [UPDATED Nov 23, 2013]

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Galaxo60

Senior Member
May 25, 2012
2,315
872
Google Services Battery Drain
To all of you having Google Services battery drain, I think I found a fix.

With last Google Services update and the last Google Maps update, sometimes it drains almost half of total battery.

I myself have spent the last week trying to see what is happening with this topic, trying to find in every thread or forum across the internet: XDA, HTCMania, AndroidCentral and even Google official forums for this annoying topic. Posted in every forum I could and tried to find an easy way, but for some people, this bug doesn´t exist.

When I write "No Google Services battery drain", I mean that this is not appearing in the battery graph.

I made a clean install of my ROM with no sync from Google, so I could see what´s the source of such battery drain. I started to disabled the "Location Access" at Settings.

I started to install only Google Search and use device a couple of hours with it. Google Search/Google Now ask for the Google Services, so I installed and used it. The Google Settings app(the one with the green icon) had disabled the "Location History" and "Reporting Location". No Google Services battery drain.

I enabled the last two to see if this could be the culprit of the battery drain and used device for a couple of hours more. No Google Services battery drain.

Then I installed Google Maps and just enabled GPS in "Location Access" and used the device again. No Google Services battery drain.

After that, I enabled "Wi-Fi & Mobile Network Location" on "Location Access" and then... Voilà!. Google Services started to appear in the battery graph.

I discovered that the drain come specifically from this option in Location settings: Settings > Location Access > Wi-Fi & Mobile Network Location.

I left GPS Satellites checked and even with that, no more Google Services drain. All the drain come from the other option, and is more noticeable when you are connected to WiFi.

No need to disable other Location services nor other settings about locations, just leave that option unchecked and Google Services won´t even appear in the battery graph.

I have been running my device with all Locations settings enabled except the "Wi-Fi & Mobile Network Location" and Google Services is not even show on battery graph.

Hope it helps.

:highfive:

= = = = = = =

Android System Battery Drain
About Android System battery drains, I have found 2 posts that could help of people who made tests and possibly resolved the issue:
http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=44537106&postcount=7
http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=44541018&postcount=5

= = = = = = =

UPDATES
Aug 01, 2013 - I tried to install new Google Play Store and new Google Services framework and still is the same.

Aug 07, 2013 - Updated Google Services Framework to 3.2.25(Although Play Store says 3.0.25 is the last one) to test if enabling WiFi location has impact on battery. Reporting Location and Location History are disabled for this test.

Aug 08, 2013 - The battery drain has decreased a lot with latest update, it is now just 5% of total battery life until now(22hrs since charged). I ´m going to leave battery discharges and then make a new battery cycle with Reporting Location and Location History enabled to see if the problem is totally gone about location battery drains.

Aug 09, 2013 - It´s been 5 hours since I unplugged phone from charger, I have Google Services at 10% of my battery and my Screen with 30 mins. At first, Google Services drain showed 20% on the battery graph for the first hour I think, and then it seems to decrease and stay normal again. I will post tomorrow the final results. Remember that for this test I´m having enabled all the possibly Location settings on phone(both Google Now settings and Location Access settings).

Aug 10, 2013 - The first battery cycle was ok, with all the Location settings enabled both in Settings and in Google Now, gave me a total of 8% battery drain in a full day, most of the time in 3G and not in WiFi like the other tests I did. It seems that new update of Google Play Services helped a lot with this drains, because the drain of Google Services is still below of the System itself. I will report later when the battery life improve, because first cycles are always bad in terms of battery life.

Aug 12, 2013 - It seems that the battery drain problem is fixed with last update. I made 2-3 battery cycles and the drain at the end is the same, around 7%-10%, something that looks normal and below when comparing to the "Phone Idle" or "Android System" battery drain. Of course you can disable the Location options, specially the WiFi Location option to make the Google Services battery drain be lower, but people is reporting Google Now and other apps not working properly. Maybe is the way that Android 4.3 works now. Still the battery is still improved from Android 4.2.2, so I´m quite happy right now with the tests and the results.

Aug 13, 2013 - Here are the results for the tests. I maybe should call these results the final ones, until something else happens. The screenshots are pretty self explanatory. The first one is about the battery drain over night, and the other two about the battery life at the end of the day.

Aug 21, 2013 - I made a full wipe and clean installation of PA 3.97 to test if drain could be also ROM sided fro any reason, but the news is that with a clean installation and latest updates for every Google product, the drain is the same fro Google Services(around 5%-8%). For all the previous test I was using pure AOSP build.

Sep 09, 2013 - Some users reported that latest updates are making the problem reappear, so I link the post with the latest free drain version of Google Now: http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=45332135&postcount=161.

Sep 13, 2013 - I have installed PSX ROM with PSX GAPPS(based on BaNkS) and the Google Services drain is the same, around 5%-8% after a normal usage day. I don't report any problem.

Sep 20, 2013 - I have flashed Purity ROM and Purified Kernel and the Google Services drain is a little bit higher, around 10%, but still have good battery and performance.

Sep 24, 2013 - The opportunity now is for PSX v7 with default kernel(SiMa). Google Services drain is behaving normally, around 10%. It seems that the last update from September increased a little the Google Services wakelock. Still is performing well and it is a decent drain.

Sep 30, 2013 - Added some useful information and solution from user 511pf: http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=46054200&postcount=227

Oct 24, 2013 - I flashed PSX 8.2 with default kernel, a very battery friendly and balanced kernel. Google Services drain is good, around 8%.

Oct 30, 2013 - I make a clean install of PSX 8.5 with new kernel and Google Services still are around 8%. No major problems with them.

Nov 12, 2013 - I came back to stock to wait for the Android 4.4 update, and the Google Services remain the same: around 7%. No major issues presented and battery drain over night is around 5% for 9 hours.

FINAL UPDATE: Nov 23, 2013 - I flashed stock image for Android 4.4 and Play Services drain reappeared. The problem is, after some researching, that KitKat has "modes" for location settings. There are 3 modes: high precision, battery friendly and device only. The first two drain battery as hell, but the third one makes the Play Services drain completely gone. With this in mind, widgets and Google Now are still fully functional, just Near Places is not available as well as some apps that need location, because it will work with just the GPS. My battery has greatly increased after I made this change.

I won't be continuing with this thread because I already sold my Nexus 4 and I got a Nexus 5, so I'm moving on. I will ask a moderator if it possible to make this thread a sticky thread so it will continue to be available to all the Nexus 4 users.

= = = = = = =

NEW GOOGLE PLAY SERVICES - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.gms

= = = = = = =

Credits
@elpino.rv
@Calebz
@agriff
@511pf
 

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rirozizo

Senior Member
sweet! i'll test and confirm that soon.

i'll leave the GPS on, but the wifi off. (GPS will stay off even if checked because i barely use it)

and yes, you are right, in betterbatterystats, i get alot of location checking, and my country doesn't even support location reporting :p
 

Srikks

Member
Dec 10, 2012
20
2
Bangalore
Is your device running latest 4.3 ? I remember reading that 4.3 has a fix for this issue.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
 

Galaxo60

Senior Member
May 25, 2012
2,315
872
Is your device running latest 4.3 ? I remember reading that 4.3 has a fix for this issue.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app

mine no, I'm waiting for the stable versiob of PAC ROM.

So meanwhile, I'm going for this solution :)

-----------------------------
^this bar means im on phone

Yesterday I did a full wipe of my phone(even sdcard) and restored everything from scratch to stock 4.2.2 image, and then update came to 4.3 few minutes later.

As far as I know, the problem still persists because in the time I was making wizard and setting up all the options for every app I have, I was seeing battery drain with the WiFi Location option enabled and when I finished setting up all, the Google Services drain was about 20% in a time of 2 hours.

I disabled the option, and currently I don´t have this drain again, but it is just the first day, so I will enable it today and will report tonight with results.

It is 9:00AM exactly now, I´m enabling the option now.

:highfive:
 
Last edited:
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Galaxo60

Senior Member
May 25, 2012
2,315
872
Is your device running latest 4.3 ? I remember reading that 4.3 has a fix for this issue.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app

mine no, I'm waiting for the stable versiob of PAC ROM.

So meanwhile, I'm going for this solution :)

-----------------------------
^this bar means im on phone

These are the results, the drain is still there although it is not much in 4.3. I have say to say that battery improvement is huge in this new version, so maybe this could matters directly with the drain.

I think still that is better to uncheck that option is not needed, so 10% of your battery or more won't be affected by this wakelock.

:victory:
 

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Hanny

Senior Member
Feb 5, 2011
719
1,648
Hong Kong
Guys I am facing such extremely annoying Google Services (DownloadManager in BBS) battery drain + mobile/wifi data usage issue and I have been searching for some hours.

First of all I have tried the most answered solution - clearing the data of all those stuffs related to Google Services - well it did not work so well.

Then I don't think freezing download manager / factory reset / restrict background data / disabling google services framework are good solutions as I myself did not make changes related to this recently so a factory reset should not be needed, plus the other mentioned solutions would cause syncing issues with Google and this doesn't suit my lifestyle of heavily depending on various google services.

Many of you have proposed that the massive download / repeated downloads are related to downloading the 4.3 OTA and that might be possible according to the similar file sizes as well as logcats you have found. But on the other hand one of the solution - disabling Network Locations settings has also stopped the "download" triangle from constantly staying there when my wifi is on. Therefore we can conclude that it is partially related to the 4.3 OTA download which cannot be disabled on our custom ROMs, as well as partially about the stock Network Location settings.

Fortunately after many posts that do not provide a feasible answer I have found this xda post which addresses the issue related to the Google Play Store 4.1.6. Some of the users have reported that 4.1.10 has fixed the issue and some even said the newest version 4.2.9 is over the internet since 25/7 together with 4.3 update.

Not sure why such critical update did not roll out to the unluckily bunch of us from Google, but I have found the Android Police source about 4.1.10 fixing the "Network Location bug which hogs the battery" and hopefully this will stop the DownloadManager wakelock as well as the crazy battery drain + data drain by Google Services.

I haven't tested this thoroughly because I will probably need a day to check out whether it stops the crazy behaviour but I would just like to share with you guys my founding as soon as possible so you guys can try it out together with me. The latest Google Play Store 4.2.9 apk can be downloaded from Android Police here.

Hope I have helped! Good luck to you and me! :)

PS sorry for the duplicating post in the same Q&A forum of N4 but I really want to help as many people as possible. :)
 

Galaxo60

Senior Member
May 25, 2012
2,315
872
Guys I am facing such extremely annoying Google Services (DownloadManager in BBS) battery drain + mobile/wifi data usage issue and I have been searching for some hours.

First of all I have tried the most answered solution - clearing the data of all those stuffs related to Google Services - well it did not work so well.

Then I don't think freezing download manager / factory reset / restrict background data / disabling google services framework are good solutions as I myself did not make changes related to this recently so a factory reset should not be needed, plus the other mentioned solutions would cause syncing issues with Google and this doesn't suit my lifestyle of heavily depending on various google services.

Many of you have proposed that the massive download / repeated downloads are related to downloading the 4.3 OTA and that might be possible according to the similar file sizes as well as logcats you have found. But on the other hand one of the solution - disabling Network Locations settings has also stopped the "download" triangle from constantly staying there when my wifi is on. Therefore we can conclude that it is partially related to the 4.3 OTA download which cannot be disabled on our custom ROMs, as well as partially about the stock Network Location settings.

Fortunately after many posts that do not provide a feasible answer I have found this xda post which addresses the issue related to the Google Play Store 4.1.6. Some of the users have reported that 4.1.10 has fixed the issue and some even said the newest version 4.2.9 is over the internet since 25/7 together with 4.3 update.

Not sure why such critical update did not roll out to the unluckily bunch of us from Google, but I have found the Android Police source about 4.1.10 fixing the "Network Location bug which hogs the battery" and hopefully this will stop the DownloadManager wakelock as well as the crazy battery drain + data drain by Google Services.

I haven't tested this thoroughly because I will probably need a day to check out whether it stops the crazy behaviour but I would just like to share with you guys my founding as soon as possible so you guys can try it out together with me. The latest Google Play Store 4.2.9 apk can be downloaded from Android Police here.

Hope I have helped! Good luck to you and me! :)

PS sorry for the duplicating post in the same Q&A forum of N4 but I really want to help as many people as possible. :)

downloading latest playstore... will test... and btw, greenifying google services won't break sync ;)

-----------------------------
^this bar means im on phone

Don't lose your time with that article. Drain happened to me with Google Play Store 4.1.10 and also with Google Play Store 4.2.9. I was a completely week trying to install every Play Store I could and never worked.

Indeed most of test were made with 4.2.9, and the only way I could stop Google Services to appear in the battery graph was unchecking the option I mentioned before. At least for me, this is the only thing it worked to stop this.

:good:
 

zero26800

Senior Member
Oct 3, 2010
133
22
Don't lose your time with that article. Drain happened to me with Google Play Store 4.1.10 and also with Google Play Store 4.2.9. I was a completely week trying to install every Play Store I could and never worked.

Indeed most of test were made with 4.2.9, and the only way I could stop Google Services to appear in the battery graph was unchecking the option I mentioned before. At least for me, this is the only thing it worked to stop this.

:good:

Same here. Only way was to disable the WiFi location. No fix in sight until Google decides to fix it themselves

Sent from my SCH-I545 using xda app-developers app
 

aeoveu

Senior Member
Nov 8, 2010
635
144
Turning this off means Google Now will stop working.

It is useful sometimes though...so if anyone knows of an alternative way...

sent from my mini tractor
 
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Galaxo60

Senior Member
May 25, 2012
2,315
872
Turning this off means Google Now will stop working.

It is useful sometimes though...so if anyone knows of an alternative way...

sent from my mini tractor

Google Now won´t stop working, because it still has access to location, but not being pushing and receiving data all the time, what makes the wakelock and the battery drain.

I have only that option unchecked and still having functional Google Now, but just to note that there will be a warning saying that locations settings are not optimized or something like that. Also in Google Maps happens the same, but still we have the GPS if app uses any location.

:p
 
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aeoveu

Senior Member
Nov 8, 2010
635
144
Google Now won´t stop working, because it still has access to location, but not being pushing and receiving data all the time, what makes the wakelock and the battery drain.

I have only that option unchecked and still having functional Google Now, but just to note that there will be a warning saying that locations settings are not optimized or something like that. Also in Google Maps happens the same, but still we have the GPS if app uses any location.

:p

Well, for me, it asked me to enable location settings in order to use maps and Google now (I don't use GPS cause it doesn't work indoors here...we have houses and buildings made of concrete).

Did you enable WiFi location scanning after disabling Google apps location access? I can't get a location in Google now.

sent from my mini tractor
 

aeoveu

Senior Member
Nov 8, 2010
635
144
Here's what I get.

sent from my mini tractor
 

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aeoveu

Senior Member
Nov 8, 2010
635
144
But for that, GPS needs to work indoors, right?

My GPS chip was fired up. :s

sent from my mini tractor
 

Galaxo60

Senior Member
May 25, 2012
2,315
872
Well, for me, it asked me to enable location settings in order to use maps and Google now (I don't use GPS cause it doesn't work indoors here...we have houses and buildings made of concrete).

Did you enable WiFi location scanning after disabling Google apps location access? I can't get a location in Google now.

sent from my mini tractor

Here's what I get.

sent from my mini tractor

This is correct:

put access to my location on, the untick wifi and keep gps on.

swipe this away :)

-----------------------------
^this bar means im on phone



But for that, GPS needs to work indoors, right?

My GPS chip was fired up. :s

sent from my mini tractor

About the GPS, you are right in the part that GPS won't easily lock indoors, but this is maybe the price we have to pay to have a really good battery. Remember that this is just a work-around to this bug, not a fix. Google is the one who should make a fix in future releases for this insane battery drain.

With 4.3, I'm able to obtain a full day without a charge leaving all the location settings enabled, but although Google Services drain is around 15%, it constantly keeps the device active and consume battery .

You should consider enabling the Wifi Location option just when you need it, because is what I do. I barely use the location settings for anything, but when I need it for any app, I just enable the option, make what I have to do, and then disabled it to keep battery.

Below I share my battery stats with the tip I just wrote.

:good:
 

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Galaxo60

Senior Member
May 25, 2012
2,315
872
Anyone tried the latest version. It doesn't show on updates so you have to go to direct link. Touch wood it has improved things for me so far.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.gms

Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium

I´m testing right now the new version and see if there is any change about the drain to make the feedback.

One weird thing I noticed is this link is showing 3.0.25 as the latest, but I have on my phone 3.2.25 installed.

:silly:
 

Galaxo60

Senior Member
May 25, 2012
2,315
872
@stuart0001

It seems that new Google Services update helped a lot with the drain. Right now, the drain is only 5% with 22 hours of battery life.

:p
 

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  • 96
    Google Services Battery Drain
    To all of you having Google Services battery drain, I think I found a fix.

    With last Google Services update and the last Google Maps update, sometimes it drains almost half of total battery.

    I myself have spent the last week trying to see what is happening with this topic, trying to find in every thread or forum across the internet: XDA, HTCMania, AndroidCentral and even Google official forums for this annoying topic. Posted in every forum I could and tried to find an easy way, but for some people, this bug doesn´t exist.

    When I write "No Google Services battery drain", I mean that this is not appearing in the battery graph.

    I made a clean install of my ROM with no sync from Google, so I could see what´s the source of such battery drain. I started to disabled the "Location Access" at Settings.

    I started to install only Google Search and use device a couple of hours with it. Google Search/Google Now ask for the Google Services, so I installed and used it. The Google Settings app(the one with the green icon) had disabled the "Location History" and "Reporting Location". No Google Services battery drain.

    I enabled the last two to see if this could be the culprit of the battery drain and used device for a couple of hours more. No Google Services battery drain.

    Then I installed Google Maps and just enabled GPS in "Location Access" and used the device again. No Google Services battery drain.

    After that, I enabled "Wi-Fi & Mobile Network Location" on "Location Access" and then... Voilà!. Google Services started to appear in the battery graph.

    I discovered that the drain come specifically from this option in Location settings: Settings > Location Access > Wi-Fi & Mobile Network Location.

    I left GPS Satellites checked and even with that, no more Google Services drain. All the drain come from the other option, and is more noticeable when you are connected to WiFi.

    No need to disable other Location services nor other settings about locations, just leave that option unchecked and Google Services won´t even appear in the battery graph.

    I have been running my device with all Locations settings enabled except the "Wi-Fi & Mobile Network Location" and Google Services is not even show on battery graph.

    Hope it helps.

    :highfive:

    = = = = = = =

    Android System Battery Drain
    About Android System battery drains, I have found 2 posts that could help of people who made tests and possibly resolved the issue:
    http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=44537106&postcount=7
    http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=44541018&postcount=5

    = = = = = = =

    UPDATES
    Aug 01, 2013 - I tried to install new Google Play Store and new Google Services framework and still is the same.

    Aug 07, 2013 - Updated Google Services Framework to 3.2.25(Although Play Store says 3.0.25 is the last one) to test if enabling WiFi location has impact on battery. Reporting Location and Location History are disabled for this test.

    Aug 08, 2013 - The battery drain has decreased a lot with latest update, it is now just 5% of total battery life until now(22hrs since charged). I ´m going to leave battery discharges and then make a new battery cycle with Reporting Location and Location History enabled to see if the problem is totally gone about location battery drains.

    Aug 09, 2013 - It´s been 5 hours since I unplugged phone from charger, I have Google Services at 10% of my battery and my Screen with 30 mins. At first, Google Services drain showed 20% on the battery graph for the first hour I think, and then it seems to decrease and stay normal again. I will post tomorrow the final results. Remember that for this test I´m having enabled all the possibly Location settings on phone(both Google Now settings and Location Access settings).

    Aug 10, 2013 - The first battery cycle was ok, with all the Location settings enabled both in Settings and in Google Now, gave me a total of 8% battery drain in a full day, most of the time in 3G and not in WiFi like the other tests I did. It seems that new update of Google Play Services helped a lot with this drains, because the drain of Google Services is still below of the System itself. I will report later when the battery life improve, because first cycles are always bad in terms of battery life.

    Aug 12, 2013 - It seems that the battery drain problem is fixed with last update. I made 2-3 battery cycles and the drain at the end is the same, around 7%-10%, something that looks normal and below when comparing to the "Phone Idle" or "Android System" battery drain. Of course you can disable the Location options, specially the WiFi Location option to make the Google Services battery drain be lower, but people is reporting Google Now and other apps not working properly. Maybe is the way that Android 4.3 works now. Still the battery is still improved from Android 4.2.2, so I´m quite happy right now with the tests and the results.

    Aug 13, 2013 - Here are the results for the tests. I maybe should call these results the final ones, until something else happens. The screenshots are pretty self explanatory. The first one is about the battery drain over night, and the other two about the battery life at the end of the day.

    Aug 21, 2013 - I made a full wipe and clean installation of PA 3.97 to test if drain could be also ROM sided fro any reason, but the news is that with a clean installation and latest updates for every Google product, the drain is the same fro Google Services(around 5%-8%). For all the previous test I was using pure AOSP build.

    Sep 09, 2013 - Some users reported that latest updates are making the problem reappear, so I link the post with the latest free drain version of Google Now: http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=45332135&postcount=161.

    Sep 13, 2013 - I have installed PSX ROM with PSX GAPPS(based on BaNkS) and the Google Services drain is the same, around 5%-8% after a normal usage day. I don't report any problem.

    Sep 20, 2013 - I have flashed Purity ROM and Purified Kernel and the Google Services drain is a little bit higher, around 10%, but still have good battery and performance.

    Sep 24, 2013 - The opportunity now is for PSX v7 with default kernel(SiMa). Google Services drain is behaving normally, around 10%. It seems that the last update from September increased a little the Google Services wakelock. Still is performing well and it is a decent drain.

    Sep 30, 2013 - Added some useful information and solution from user 511pf: http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=46054200&postcount=227

    Oct 24, 2013 - I flashed PSX 8.2 with default kernel, a very battery friendly and balanced kernel. Google Services drain is good, around 8%.

    Oct 30, 2013 - I make a clean install of PSX 8.5 with new kernel and Google Services still are around 8%. No major problems with them.

    Nov 12, 2013 - I came back to stock to wait for the Android 4.4 update, and the Google Services remain the same: around 7%. No major issues presented and battery drain over night is around 5% for 9 hours.

    FINAL UPDATE: Nov 23, 2013 - I flashed stock image for Android 4.4 and Play Services drain reappeared. The problem is, after some researching, that KitKat has "modes" for location settings. There are 3 modes: high precision, battery friendly and device only. The first two drain battery as hell, but the third one makes the Play Services drain completely gone. With this in mind, widgets and Google Now are still fully functional, just Near Places is not available as well as some apps that need location, because it will work with just the GPS. My battery has greatly increased after I made this change.

    I won't be continuing with this thread because I already sold my Nexus 4 and I got a Nexus 5, so I'm moving on. I will ask a moderator if it possible to make this thread a sticky thread so it will continue to be available to all the Nexus 4 users.

    = = = = = = =

    NEW GOOGLE PLAY SERVICES - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.gms

    = = = = = = =

    Credits
    @elpino.rv
    @Calebz
    @agriff
    @511pf
    6
    All,

    Just wanted to chime in with some additional results. I have an HTC First with Facebook Home turned off, making it a mostly stock Android 4.1.2 device. I have the same Wakelock issue that's been described here, where my phone was awake approximately 30% of the time while on Wifi and not touching it. I would lose 3% to 4% per hour while using the phone semi-regularly. I used BBS and Wakelock detector and the biggest hit was from the NLPDataCollector or NLP Collector (I forget the actual name).

    I am not signed in to Google+. I disabled the option to Notify When an Open network is Available and Automatically connect to AT&T Wifi, but this made no difference.

    Disabling Wifi and Location Access absolutely fixed the issue. However, this broke some Google Now functionality, so I was looking for another way. My next test was re-enable Wifi and Location Access and disable Location Reporting only, which let the phone deep sleep approximately 95% of the time on Wifi (from 70% prior to that). Google Now works fine. I'm still testing the battery life change, but so far it looks like I'm in the 1% to 2% per hour range, which would probably double my battery life.

    Summary: Wifi and Location = On. Location Reporting = Off. Location History = On. Battery life (so far) in the 1% to 2% per hour range.

    I will update this post with further results as I have them.

    Edited: My phone has no 4.3 update or ROMs and probably never will, so I've got to work with the platform I've got.

    -----

    Just following up here. I'm losing less than 1% per hour after turning off Location Reporting, as noted above. The phone is deep sleeping 90% of the time, but this is during the workday, where it's picking up mail/calendars up from multiple accounts.

    10 1/2 hours of fairly light use today and I've lost about 1.7% per hour total. Deep sleep time = 87% and awake time = 13%. This is a major improvement over the previous results.
    3
    So where can we find thoese 2 things: Location Reporting = Off. Location History = On on the nexus?

    There two places where locations can be configured

    ANDROID SETTINGS > ACCESS TO MY POSITION: this controls location from 3rd party apps, leave always on
    If this is on you have two options:
    1) GPS
    2)wifi and location

    1) is controlled also by the GPS switch on the power control widget
    2) can be left on as suggested

    MAPS > SETTINGS > Google geolocalisatio: this controls location from google apps, leave always on
    If this is on you have two options:
    1) location reporting: leave this off as it seems the one causing battery drain, this reports your location to google at give time intervals
    2) location history: up to you if you wnat to leave this on
    3
    Man, you can't be normal quoting the topic-initial message long as hell, just to give your 1 sentence credit.. :D can't believe my eyes..
    Just saw this thread today and had exactly the same reaction when I saw that post. I was just about to reply that it's not necessary to quote the ENTIRE OP post....then I saw your message. Cracked me right up.

    ---------- Post added at 07:08 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:50 PM ----------

    For anyone who's still having massive battery drain problems due to your phone not sleeping when the screen is off, here is what I did to almost eliminate the problem:

    1. Disable the Wi-Fi & Mobile Network Location (as per OP)
    2. Download the app called "Disable Service" from Google Play and in the system apps under Google Play Services AND Google Services Framework, tick the checkbox for SystemUpdateService (REQUIRES ROOT)
    3. In Settings>Wi-Fi use the menu button (hard key or 3 dots) to access the Advanced options. Then UNCHECK the option which reads Scanning Always Available
    4. Freeze (REQUIRES ROOT) or Disable the apps called Google and Google Search with the obvious consequence that you won't be able to use Google Search (which I never use...I simply fire up my browser if I ever need to search)

    the ideas are not my own. I simply used a combination of solutions that I found after days of scouring the internet and XDA. I three apps to see how the battery was performing in terms of app utilization and wakelocks:

    1. Better Battery Stats (it's a paid app but well worth the price) as it shows the source of wakeslocks and other great info
    2. CPU Spy (tells how long the phone is in various states of CPU mode including sleep)
    3. GSAM Battery Monitor (which offers much deeper insight into app use of the battery than the Settings>Battery tool)

    Hope this helps someone.
    2
    I now have everything enabled in 'Location access' (both GPS and Wi-Fi & mobile network location) but completely disabled 'Access location' in Google Settings (it 's under 'Location'). I have always had 'Location reporting' turned off, so that 's not enough.

    With the above configuration, all apps can access my location except Google apps but the drain of Google Services is gone. Of course there 's no way to use Maps with this configuration but that isn't really an issue for me as I barely use it. At least my weather widgets are now displaying the correct location again.

    are u saying that having google location on but location reporting and location history off is not enough and that we have to have the whole google location off?

    I can only speak for myself, but yes that is my experience.
    Will do more testing in the next couple of days.

    Interesting finding, under Google settings it clearly states that the location is used by "Google Apps", so is pretty logical that the location just affect those apps. For every app, I think we would have to disable the location settings on general phone settings.

    So where can we find thoese 2 things: Location Reporting = Off. Location History = On on the nexus?

    This:

    There two places where locations can be configured

    ANDROID SETTINGS > ACCESS TO MY POSITION: this controls location from 3rd party apps, leave always on
    If this is on you have two options:
    1) GPS
    2)wifi and location

    1) is controlled also by the GPS switch on the power control widget
    2) can be left on as suggested

    MAPS > SETTINGS > Google geolocalisatio: this controls location from google apps, leave always on
    If this is on you have two options:
    1) location reporting: leave this off as it seems the one causing battery drain, this reports your location to google at give time intervals
    2) location history: up to you if you wnat to leave this on