Galaxy S5 battery drain temporary workarounds

craigcrawford1988 · May 9, 2014

My Galaxy S5 was experiencing extreme battery drain, even while not in use and in my pocket.

After a bit of searching, it turns out I'm not alone. So I thought I'd share my potential fixes to this problem. Your solution may be different to others, so try each one until you find your battery works as good as it should, like mine now does.

Attached is what my battery drain looks like after these 3 tips, even during heavy use.

If you have any extra possible solution, then please post them.

Problem: Android 4.4.2 bug: When location is enabled it causes extreme battery drain. Because it doesn't let the phone sleep.
Solution: Turn off location services until a patch is released.

Problem: Quick Connect not allowing the phone to sleep.
Solution: Root your phone, and either delete or move the APK files: QuickConnect.apk & QuickConnectInteraction.apk from /system/app to somewhere else, such as a disabled folder.

Problem: Skype bug causing battery drain.
Solution: Uninstall Skype until a patch is released.

p0tent · May 9, 2014

Hmmm that's strange, my S5 has the best battery life i've ever had on a phone.

nudawa · May 9, 2014

I'm pretty sure you turn on the Always ready to connect in Quick Connect that causes thw device unable to sleep.

Sent from my SM-G900H using Tapatalk

craigcrawford1988 · May 9, 2014

nudawa said:
I'm pretty sure you turn on the Always ready to connect in Quick Connect that causes thw device unable to sleep.

Sent from my SM-G900H using Tapatalk

That wasn't working for me. No matter what I did, my battery was being demolished so that I had 50% 3 hours off-charge. Now I get so much more.

nubsgohard · May 9, 2014

craigcrawford1988 said:
My Galaxy S5 was experiencing extreme battery drain, even while not in use and in my pocket.

After a bit of searching, it turns out I'm not alone. So I thought I'd share my potential fixes to this problem. Your solution may be different to others, so try each one until you find your battery works as good as it should, like mine now does.

Attached is what my battery drain looks like after these 3 tips, even during heavy use.

If you have any extra possible solution, then please post them.

Problem: Android 4.4.2 bug: When location is enabled it causes extreme battery drain. Because it doesn't let the phone sleep.
Solution: Turn off location services until a patch is released.

Problem: Quick Connect not allowing the phone to sleep.
Solution: Root your phone, and either delete or move the APK files: QuickConnect.apk & QuickConnectInteraction.apk from /system/app to somewhere else, such as a disabled folder.

Problem: Skype bug causing battery drain.
Solution: Uninstall Skype until a patch is released.

Problem: Backlight of the touch keys uses some battery
Solution: Go to settings under Display and turn the backlights off

Problem: Screen uses more power lighting up brighter displays
Solution: Use a BLACK Lockscreen and homescreen

Problem: Air Gestures use valuable battery
Solution: Turn off all un-needed gestures and motions under settings of motions and gestures.

Credit: http://phandroid.com/2014/04/25/samsung-galaxy-s5-first-14-things-to-do/

aft_lizard01 · May 10, 2014

I was getting the battery drain and slow charging. Removed and reinstalled Google Search and that fixed the battery charging. I couldn't figure out the battery drain so I simply factory resetted it and it has been great since. I am at 30 hours since my last charge and still have 50% to go, with light use.

DirkStorck · May 20, 2014

aft_lizard01 said:
I was getting the battery drain and slow charging. Removed and reinstalled Google Search and that fixed the battery charging. I couldn't figure out the battery drain so I simply factory resetted it and it has been great since. I am at 30 hours since my last charge and still have 50% to go, with light use.

You say removing the Google Search fixed you problem with the slow charging of your device ?!? I have noticed that my device charges very slow connected to an USB3.0 port...it only charges with 450mA.

spirodave · Aug 8, 2014

p0tent said:
Hmmm that's strange, my S5 has the best battery life i've ever had on a phone.

I agree. Almost 90% of the time battery drain is user error

---------- Post added at 07:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:08 PM ----------

nubsgohard said:
Problem: Backlight of the touch keys uses some battery
Solution: Go to settings under Display and turn the backlights off

Problem: Screen uses more power lighting up brighter displays
Solution: Use a BLACK Lockscreen and homescreen

Problem: Air Gestures use valuable battery
Solution: Turn off all un-needed gestures and motions under settings of motions and gestures.

Credit: http://phandroid.com/2014/04/25/samsung-galaxy-s5-first-14-things-to-do/

Backlight keys use very little power
I also use a lockscreen that changes backgrounds (Travel Wallpaper) and have gestures on at all times and my last charge lasted 48 hours and still had juice left . Although what you mentioned above might impact battery drain but only a little and wouldnt cause you to seek answers for poor battery life .Best solution is see whats keeping your phone awake (wakelock)

UTH01 · Aug 8, 2014

DirkStorck said:
You say removing the Google Search fixed you problem with the slow charging of your device ?!? I have noticed that my device charges very slow connected to an USB3.0 port...it only charges with 450mA.

That can be right, most USB 3.0 ports on laptops and computers do not provide more than 500mA.

For fast charging always use the wall charger. When using the original charger that came with your phone and the original cable (USB 3.0 compatible) your device can pull the full 1800 mA from the charger, since it can sense that the charger is able to handle this safely. When you use a USB 2.0 compatible cable it will only pull 1200 mA from the charger, even if it's an original Samsung wall charger.

UTH01 · Aug 8, 2014

I had serious battery problems with my S5 too, battery drained within 8-16 hours. After I removed Skype problems seemed to be solved.

Yauie · Aug 8, 2014

I've had the same problem battery drain only 15 hours I have turned few wifi settings off

Smart network - off

Keep wifi on during sleep - changed to only when plugged in (would have thought this would be default)

Always allow scanning - off

network notifications - off

Hope this helps someone last 2 hours only lost 1-2%

DirkStorck · Aug 8, 2014

UTH01 said:
That can be right, most USB 3.0 ports on laptops and computers do not provide more than 500mA.

For fast charging always use the wall charger. When using the original charger that came with your phone and the original cable (USB 3.0 compatible) your device can pull the full 1800 mA from the charger, since it can sense that the charger is able to handle this safely. When you use a USB 2.0 compatible cable it will only pull 1200 mA from the charger, even if it's an original Samsung wall charger.

Ok. I am using now this kernel ktoonsez KT-SGS5 and with a normal USB2.0 cable I get 1000mA from my USB3.0 port and get 1800mA from my wall charger.

UTH01 · Aug 9, 2014

DirkStorck said:
Ok. I am using now this kernel ktoonsez KT-SGS5 and with a normal USB2.0 cable I get 1000mA from my USB3.0 port and get 1800mA from my wall charger.

Cool, that means in this kernel some of the original power management restrictions have been removed. It would be interesting to see if the limit on charging via the contact points on the back of the phone (used for Qi wireless charging and by car mounts like Mountr that use inductive charging) now als can accept more than 750 mA...

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Galaxy S5 battery drain temporary workarounds

craigcrawford1988

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