[GUIDE][PSA] Google Play Services battery drain fix

Heisenberg · Jul 30, 2014

If you're running a recent CM based or aosp ROM you've most likely encountered some pretty severe battery drain from Google Play Services (or Android OS as it sometimes shows up as). Below is a procedure that will halt the battery drain, but will not affect the running of your device.

Enter Privacy Guard through Settings/Security or Settings/Privacy, then click Advanced or Show Built-In Apps (depending on which ROM you're running). From here you can select Google Play Services and deny the Wake Up, Keep Awake, and Auto-Start options. Reboot phone. This should drastically reduce the amount of battery that Google Play Services and Android OS consume.

If you're on a ROM that doesn't include Privacy Guard or App Ops as standard you need to take a slightly different approach. Download this:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sika524.android.quickshortcut

Open the app and it should already be in the Activities tab, scroll down to Settings and click on it, that will open up a whole list of different options, scroll down to the App Ops option and click on that, hit the create button at the bottom of the screen.

This is going to add a Settings icon/shortcut to your home screen, click on that and you'll be taken into the secret App Ops section of the settings menu, from there just find Google Play Services and click on it, then disable the Wake Up and Keep Awake options. Reboot phone, no more Google Play Services battery drain.

Please note: If you rely on your location being updated frequently then this method might not be right for you. This method disallows Google Play Services from waking your device every minute to obtain your location and Google Now cards are affected as a result. All other Google services should function normally.

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Lennydk87 · Jul 30, 2014

I can vote for this, I did have massive battery drain from google services, but now, none.

Heisenberg · Jul 30, 2014

Glad to help.

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EddyOS · Jul 30, 2014

Do you need root access for this?

Heisenberg · Jul 30, 2014

Yes. I'll add that information to the OP.

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Calkulin · Jul 30, 2014

This guide is a little excessive, the biggest battery killer for that app, especially if you use Google Now, is the wake ups permission, so denying just that will fix most of the battery drain. If you want to go the extra mile, denying the keep awake permission also which fix the other minor part and none of these fixes require root

EDIT: Just noticed you said AOSP, which doesn't have the wake up or keep awake permissions to deny IIRC, so what I said only applies to the CM ROMs

Heisenberg · Jul 30, 2014

Calkulin said:
This guide is a little excessive, the biggest battery killer for that app, especially if you use Google Now, is the wake ups permission, so denying just that will fix most of the battery drain. If you want to go the extra mile, denying the keep awake permission also which fix the other minor part and none of these fixes require root

EDIT: Just noticed you said AOSP, which doesn't have the wake up or keep awake permissions to deny IIRC, so what I said only applies to the CM ROMs

While this may seem excessive, the fact is it works. My personal experience was that after changing the things mentioned that don't require root I still had Google Play Services draining my battery. As with anything though, mileage may vary. I'll add a note that the root section may or may not be required.

Forgive me for using a term (AOSP) that most XDA users associate with anything that's CM based. While it may not technically be 100% correct, it seemed to be in keeping with the vernacular used by your average XDA member.

Thanks for your input, I appreciate it.

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the Doctor · Jul 30, 2014

A much simple process (that doesn't require root) worked for me:

1. I used Privacy Guard to deny Google Services "Wake up," "Keep awake" and "Auto start."

2. Under Settings > Apps > Running I stopped all instances of Google Play services.

They still come back but aren't killing my battery with wakelocks. It seems to accord with what Calkulin said above.

savahu · Jul 30, 2014

Thanks a lot, I have done everything in the OP, will report back

Heisenberg · Jul 30, 2014

CafeKampuchia said:
A much simple process (that doesn't require root) worked for me:

1. I used Privacy Guard to deny Google Services "Wake up," "Keep awake" and "Auto start."

2. Under Settings > Apps > Running I stopped all instances of Google Play services.

They still come back but aren't killing my battery with wakelocks. It seems to accord with what Calkulin said above.

Like I said just above, mileage may vary. It's awesome if doing just that worked for you, but for others it isn't enough for some reason.

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sharp2G · Aug 6, 2014

timmaaa said:
If you're running a recent CM based ROM you've most likely encountered some pretty severe battery drain from Google Play Services (or Android OS as it sometimes shows up as). Below is a series of procedures that will halt the battery drain, but will not affect the running of your device.

The first thing you need to do is to enter Privacy Guard through Settings/Security or Settings/Privacy, then click Advanced or Show Built-In Apps (depending on which ROM you're running). From here you can select Google Play Services and turn off everything except for location. This may or may not be enough, if you still suffer battery drain please move on to the next step.

Please note: everything below this point requires root!

Next you need to download Android Tuner. Open it and pull out the side menu, scroll down to the Apps Manager section and select Application Startups. Open the box at the top and change it to All, click the button in the bottom-right until it says System, scroll to Google Play Services and select it, a huge list will open, scroll to very near the bottom and find the Wakeup option, uncheck the box.

Go back to the main menu of Android Tuner and pull out the side menu on the left, scroll down to the Apps Manager section and select Application Manager. Click the centre box at the bottom until it says System, scroll to find Google Play Services and highlight it, press the Manage button in the bottom-right and select Permissions. This should bring you to the Perms tab, swipe across to the Services tab. In this list you want to uncheck anything that starts with Ads or Analytics, you also want to uncheck anything that starts with com.Google.android.location.reporting as well.

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Do these changes revert back to how they were before when cyanogenmod releases the next update to their ROM?

zephiK · Aug 6, 2014

sharp2G said:
Do these changes revert back to how they were before when cyanogenmod releases the next update to their ROM?

Its already confirmed to be fixed in the next OTA. So you won't need this.

mbudden · Aug 6, 2014

zephiK said:
Its already confirmed to be fixed in the next OTA. So you won't need this.

It's nice to have now instead of waiting.

armand09265 · Aug 6, 2014

Thanks a lot for this guide, it makes more help to maximise my battery life witch drains too much on aosp roms, i'll see how it changes.

zephiK · Aug 6, 2014

mbudden said:
It's nice to have now instead of waiting.

I didn't mean it like that, read carefully. He was asking if the fix from. This would be saved over for the next Ota when the next Ota will contain the fix so therefore it doesn't matter if this "fix" stays.

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knzzz · Aug 7, 2014

So what does it really affect? Is it to stop reporting data to Google for their analytic stuffs, e.g. ads personalization?

Heisenberg · Aug 7, 2014

knzzz said:
So what does it really affect? Is it to stop reporting data to Google for their analytic stuffs, e.g. ads personalization?

Yeah that's pretty much it. It arrests reporting for targeted advertising.

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Blurkiler · Aug 9, 2014

Just got my phone and saw this thread, haven't experienced any battery drain but I'll just apply this fix first just in case, thanks :good:

amjad_2020 · Aug 9, 2014

Thank you so much

Quinnaay · Aug 9, 2014

I did what you said on the other thread doing "system tuner" first, and on the Android tuner i dont have the option to check/uncheck any ads etc?

[GUIDE][PSA] Google Play Services battery drain fix

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