Battery drain - Possible solutions and ideas?

yeehawk

I know this issue is touched a lot on this forum, yet I want to open this discussion with the goal in mind to assemble any ideas, future plans or solutions for the average GrapheneOS enjoyer (like myself) because in the end, we all probably enjoy the project, but we cannot do so for long until we have to charge our phones again :(

TLDR: I don't see why the OS doesn't offer a whole lot battery saving features: Its just the main activities on my phone draining my battery. When in idle, it doesn't lose much battery. I'm suggesting that we need battery saving settings that let us more or less underclock / undervolt or just restrict/reduce the allocated resources to certain applications or in general to the hardware components.

I've went through a couple of popular battery-saving methods:

--> Battery + Data saver (disabled Smooth display)
--> LTE only
--> Roaming Data and Bluetooth only when needed active
--> minimized background processes
--> [...]

Yet to my eyes it doesn't really save a whole lot. In the end, I have to charge my phone every day. I'm so frustrated and tired about it, knowing that I bought a brand new - top of the line - phone with such a bad battery efficiency. I don't really want to quit using GrapheneOS, because the reason I bought a Pixel is this project and me thinking I won't need a new phone for many more years. Well, seeing how bad the battery is I fear that this won't be the case.

I've read most of the forum topics addressing this issue. Many are suggestions attempts that I've already linked under battery-saving methods above.
Others are claiming that this is a hardware issue with the CPU (and the network chip).
Now, I'm no hardware / computer expert, but rather an enthusiast: I don't try to step over my lane, just making suggestions. In my free time, I'm toying with hard-/ software, servers and other devices that I have laying around and I'm just asking myself the following question: If this is a hardware related issue, which is caused by the CPU / network chip's efficieny, then why shall we not have general underclocking / undervolting features/settings implemented into the OS? Yes, this wouldn't really fix the real issue, but wouldn't it reduce "the symptoms of this disease"? Meaning: Yes, the CPU (and network chip) would still be unefficent, but you reduce the resources you allocate them so that they don't have much to "dry out". I know of the risks of underclocking / undervolting: This might make your device unstable, but I'm being genuinely honest here: If this becomes a feature, then there shall also be warnings or helping tools. Aside from that, I could be living with my phone rarely / sometimes crashing for way better battery results (if you do underclocking / undervolting right, you can achieve astonishing results with barely no error occurance). This would also come at the cost at performance. I'm just speaking for myself, when I say that I do not really need that much performance that my phone has to offer. I'm not heavily using my phone, just doing basic things like watching videos for some minutes, playing a game that is about 10 years old, hearing music in the background and sometimes just browsing / searching something in the web and you know why I'm posting? Because all of those things, that weren't really an issue before (I had this phone) are draining my battery through the whole day. Its nothing else draining my battery like hell. Just those four: Videos, a 10 year old game, background music (with sometimes bluetooth) and browsing. I have a messenger and something else running in the background: I've checked the RAM usage as well the battery consumption of both: None of them are nearly as much draining my battery as those 4 activities do. Not even the system apps use nearly as much. Those 4 activities do not require masterclass performance in relation to such an intense battery consumption so I don't get why they're given that much performance after all. Coming back to my suggestion: I'm thinking If there were settings to choose how (much) those applications or in generell the device's resources should be used, I'd definitely make a difference in battery reliabilty, since I only see those 4 main activies as the battery killers. (I've managed to set up my phone like that it wouldn't use a lot when idling) I've seen on alternatives devices such settings adressing battery consumption f.e.: "limit CPU usage to 70%" and I don't see no other reasons than the ones I've already covered above to not implement such features.

Let me know what you think about my suggestion or share your own. I'd be happy to get into discussion with you. Thanks in advance.

soul-adrift

You are not alone in your frustrations - but this is, perhaps, best a problem to be tackled at the Google Pixel/AOSP level, not GrapheneOS.

GrapheneOS gives us the extra tools to better control the background tasks (like Google Play Services) by DISABLING apps or putting them in RESTRICTED mode. I think this gives GOS much better battery life than plain Andoid, so I feel sure you are still in the best place.

I have upgraded to a Pixel 8 Pro from a Pixel 5. I too am very disappointed by the 8pro battery life. I reckon the Pixel 5 has about 25% better battery life despite a 20% smaller battery.

I can't be sure, but this seems to be a chip process node issue above all else. I am disappointed that even in screen off/sleep mode the Samsung 4nm seems so poor compared to a comparable TSMC node.

Anyway, just letting you know I share your frustrations.

ToughDBlue

soul-adrift GrapheneOS gives us the extra tools to better control the background tasks (like Google Play Services) by DISABLING apps or putting them in RESTRICTED mode.

How do you put an app in Restricted mode?

yeehawk

soul-adrift You are not alone in your frustrations - but this is, perhaps, best a problem to be tackled at the Google Pixel/AOSP level, not GrapheneOS.

Thanks for the mental support. I see that many people blame it on the hardware, I really get it. Since the Devs of GOS know about this, I think even though this isn't something caused by their end, battery saving features that regard underclocking / undervolting (or just settings to reduce allocated resources as I've mentioned) wouldn't be so bad. There are also reports of people that indicent the complete opposite:

DeletedUser218 My battery life is also terrible. This isn't a pixel problem. Stock OS I had double usage time as now that I use grapheneOS

Murcielago

ToughDBlue

By disallowing background usage:

Long press App icon> App info> App battery usage> Disable "Allow background usage".

You can find an overview of the battery settings of all apps under Settings> Battery> App battery usage.

There you can filter by:

All apps
Unrestricted
Optimized
Restricted

Apps for which background use has been disabled are listed under "restricted".

ToughDBlue

Murcielago Thank you for the detailed reply

DeletedUser218

My battery life is also terrible. This isn't a pixel problem. Stock OS I had double usage time as now that I use grapheneOS

GrapheneOS

DeletedUser218 GrapheneOS has far better battery life than the stock OS in the default configuration and it remains better when using sandboxed Google Play. The way you've set up your device with your apps and overall configuration choices is what results in you having poor battery life, not GrapheneOS. For example, if you use Signal's own push notification system that's going to drain a lot of battery because it's inefficient. It's not the fault of GrapheneOS that you've set up your device to drain more battery than the setup you had on the stock OS.

gk7ncklxlts99w1

GrapheneOS

While all of what you said may be true - this does not address OP's concern about possible causes and solutions to solve their battery problem.

yeehawk

GrapheneOS GrapheneOS has far better battery life than the stock OS in the default configuration and it remains better when using sandboxed Google Play. [...] It's not the fault of GrapheneOS that you've set up your device to drain more battery than the setup you had on the stock OS.

I don't think somehow doubted the power of GOS. Everyone here likes this project. Infact, if it weren't for the simplicity of this OS I probably would have just returned my phone, but I sticked to it even though the battery issue really gets on my nerves like everyone else. There IS an issue with no doubt. Blaming the project is not an solution and I get why you defend it, but doing nothing to solve this battery issue doesn't help at all. No average user can affect the battery usage with the current given settings as you can by implementing more battery saving features that I've already talked about.

GrapheneOS The way you've set up your device with your apps and overall configuration choices is what results in you having poor battery life, [...].

Yes, I am running Signal (on their WebSocket) and a VPN, but as I've already mentioned I've unfortunately had to make the discovery that neither Signal nor the VPN do not use the battery as much as the main activities you'd be doing on your phone, I have listed 4 of those that I found, which drain my battery on sight. Just to clarify: I have multiple battery reports that show the following impacts on the battery

--> about 1 hour on my 10 year old game drains ABOUT 20% of my battery
--> listening to locally-stored music in the background for 1 hour consumes 10% of my battery (I wish I was dreaming)
--> Both Signal and the VPN stay under <1% battery consumption IN ALL SCENARIOS, even on idle, where the phone is untouched.

I myself have debloated Stock Android 15 and by that I was able to DOUBLE my battery efficiency. As now said multiple times, we do not think this is the cause of GOS general setup. We just want more battery saving features since no doubt there is an issue that simply cannot be solved by the average user, who is only given a small amout of features to work on this issue, which are just not enough to achieve a noticeable effect.

gk7ncklxlts99w1 While all of what you said may be true - this does not address OP's concern about possible causes and solutions to solve their battery problem.

Thanks to @gk7ncklxlts99w1 for understanding my point here. I don't want to get rude: You cannot tell me listening to locally-stored music for 1 hour in the background justifies consuming 10% of my battery. This is simply not normal. Might it be that GOS is very well debloated and probably the closest you can get to a debloated version of Stock Android. Still this doesn't change my point that the hardware might be causing this, but you could give us tools to reduce the consumption: I don't get why playing locally-stored music has to get so many resources allocated. In no world I'd need that much power to run a simple music player. Just to make one thing clear as well: It's not the system apps, so your theoretically right about the GOS setup being more battery efficient than Stock Android, but then why giving the music player so much power to waste it all?
I can only speak for myself when I say I don't need that much performance my phone has to offer. Even though this performance might be powerful, I as a user would rather want to reduce that power to save more energy. I don't need that much power and neither do those main activies. My point being: I like there to be features in the future that let the user take more control over the battery consumption, since this issue comes from how much resources the OS allocates to certain activities.

I'd be happy to keep this discussion ongoing and hear from your thoughts. Thanks in advance.

DeletedUser218

GrapheneOS Don't get me wrong, I Love GOS and will never switch but my system is currently stock configuration + Whatsapp, Newpipe, Organic maps, GCAM&Google Photos and when I was on stock I had the same apps plus bloat?

Maybe its something specific to my phone? I'm on the newest update...

DeletedUser218

yeehawk Exactly this. The project is awesome but there is definitely a battery drain problem. Thanks GrapheneOS regardless of the issue for the effort your putting in to this project

vincente213

yeehawk I have also noticed an power consumption issue with my local music playing for 2 hours in the background consuming 20% of my battery. When I view battery usage by systems, the audio system also shows 20%, so it's probably not just the app itself. I'm not sure if this is something GrapheneOS can solve (I'd imagine that the audio system power inefficiency is either a hardware issue or some issue with android itself), but I thought I'd share this extra info in case it can be solved by GrapheneOS.

GrapheneOS

vincente213 Use a more efficient music playing app and codec which doesn't require using as much power. Avoid it having to decode something with a software codec and resample it. If you do something demanding that's not hardware accelerated, it's going to drain more power. Playing high sample rate FLAC is going to drain more power. It is not an OS or hardware issue draining power on your device, it's what you're doing that's draining power.

de0u

vincente213 I have also noticed an power consumption issue with my local music playing for 2 hours in the background consuming 20% of my battery. When I view battery usage by systems, the audio system also shows 20%, so it's probably not just the app itself.

I wonder if maybe some music players and/or the audio subsystem allocate and free memory very frequently. If so, that might cost more power on GrapheneOS due to the hardened memory allocation in the kernel and in user space. There was a report a few months ago that OsmAnd got much faster when the hardened allocator was disabled.

That hardening catches bugs including possible exploit vectors, so turning it off may not be a good idea, but it might make for an interesting experiment. And apps might be able to reuse memory more often rather than allocating and deallocating so often.

GrapheneOS

DeletedUser218 DeletedUser218 You've configured your device in a way that it has poor battery life such as using non-FCM push in apps without an efficient implementing. It is not caused by GrapheneOS. You're wrongly blaming the OS for it. You need to figure out which apps you have running foreground services (shown as active apps) or running in the background a lot. It's up to you to determine what's draining battery and fix it. It's not an OS or hardware problem.

GrapheneOS

I don't think somehow doubted the power of GOS. Everyone here likes this project. Infact, if it weren't for the simplicity of this OS I probably would have just returned my phone, but I sticked to it even though the battery issue really gets on my nerves like everyone else. There IS an issue with no doubt. Blaming the project is not an solution and I get why you defend it, but doing nothing to solve this battery issue doesn't help at all. No average user can affect the battery usage with the current given settings as you can by implementing more battery saving features that I've already talked about.

There is no battery issue with GrapheneOS or Pixels. You have set up your phone in a way that drains the battery.

Yes, I am running Signal (on their WebSocket) and a VPN, but as I've already mentioned I've unfortunately had to make the discovery that neither Signal nor the VPN do not use the battery as much as the main activities you'd be doing on your phone, I have listed 4 of those that I found, which drain my battery on sight. Just to clarify: I have multiple battery reports that show the following impacts on the battery

You're using Signal without FCM. That's enough for battery life to be poor without anything else on the device. Step one, replace Signal with Molly with WebSocket push and your battery life will be far better. Replace Molly's WebSocket push with Unified Push via MollySocket and you'll actually have an efficient setup for it.

Battery stats are a very rough estimate and it sounds like you have a very inefficient setup draining a lot of battery as a whole including using an inefficient music player and perhaps Bluetooth headphones with it instead of a wired connection, etc.

don't get why playing locally-stored music has to get so many resources allocated

You're doing it inefficiently.

yeehawk

GrapheneOS You're using Signal without FCM. That's enough for battery life to be poor without anything else on the device. Step one, replace Signal with Molly with WebSocket push and your battery life will be far better. Replace Molly's WebSocket push with Unified Push via MollySocket and you'll actually have an efficient setup for it.

I followed your advise and it actually boosted my battery life so that I only need to charge it every second day. (more or less off topic...)
I'm thinking about a MollySocket (UnifiedPush) setup on my server to further decrease the battery consumption. Yet, I haven't done hosting on domains, since MollySocket requires https.
I'm asking whether someone could recommend me trustworthy registrars that do care about customer privacy or is Cloudflare Zero Trust's Tunnel as reliable? Because if I have to setup an own domain, my name would be visible under WHOIS (I know about WHOIS Privacy, but I don't want to gamble on how much information they'll actually reveal about me).
I've read some articles recommending some registrars with their pro's and cons. A registrar that has been mentioned a lot in terms of privacy is Njalla, but I don't really trust them because of their ownership-policy and how they're not having a Privacy Policy on their website as a company advertising their privacy-friendly intentions?????
Please let me know what you think.

yeehawk

de0u I wonder if maybe some music players and/or the audio subsystem allocate and free memory very frequently. If so, that might cost more power on GrapheneOS due to the hardened memory allocation in the kernel and in user space. There was a report a few months ago that OsmAnd got much faster when the hardened allocator was disabled.

That hardening catches bugs including possible exploit vectors, so turning it off may not be a good idea, but it might make for an interesting experiment. And apps might be able to reuse memory more often rather than allocating and deallocating so often.

Interesting theory. I'm trying that out. The Devs called that I'm

GrapheneOS using an inefficient music player

so this might do it. Aside from that I'd be very interested to know which player the Devs recommend, currectly I'm using Phonograph Plus from the F-Droid repo, but since I've pretty much tried any other player with the same results I can switch to any other. I haven't tried out whether disabling those security features would help with the battery drain while hearing to music, but if it does I'm wondering whether this solution could be applied to my 10 year old game. In difference to the music player, I do not really trust the game devs so I want to know what exactly these security features do before disabling them.
I'm also trying this out on my VPN and Molly, since the system battery reports sometimes show an unusual and irregular drain from both of these applications.
Thanks in advance.

DeletedUser218

GrapheneOS My battery life is set to optimized for all apps. Does that still mean it drains more battery?

DirtyDan

I've improved my battery life significantly. I wasn't running any battery inefficient websockets - everything was either FCM or nothing. I also had restricted most of my apps in the background, but it was still draining battery.

I found this video and did most of the things on there minus tips that would be too disruptive for me.

I also battery restricted the GrapheneOS launcher, which was routinely using a lot of battery for some reason. So far, no issues by doing that.

The last thing was location services. I don't know why, but GrapheneOS has been very battery inefficient when I have location turned on. I tried both the default rerouting that only uses GPS as well as Google location services with WiFi. The Google one was a bit better, but not by much. Google also requires Play Services to have location at all times, which then pinged my phone every 5-10 minutes, which I think played a role in the battery drain. Turning off location completely significantly helped. I'm hoping the new grapheneos wifi location services feature will offer a better alternative.

Also, if you have play services installed and are logged in, you may wish to turn off find my device in Settings -> Apps -> Sandboxed Google Play-> Google Settings -> Find My Device if you aren't using it as it also likely hurts battery.

Lastly, having more than 1 profile active at a time will also drain battery. Starting up profiles, including private space, also appears to use up some battery each time (1-2℅).

GrapheneOS

DirtyDan

I also battery restricted the GrapheneOS launcher, which was routinely using a lot of battery for some reason. So far, no issues by doing that.

Don't recommend restricting the launcher. It's highly unlikely to improve anything for you. The reason it thinks the launcher uses a lot is because of how much of the UI it provides.

The last thing was location services. I don't know why, but GrapheneOS has been very battery inefficient when I have location turned on. I tried both the default rerouting that only uses GPS as well as Google location services with WiFi. The Google one was a bit better, but not by much. Google also requires Play Services to have location at all times, which then pinged my phone every 5-10 minutes, which I think played a role in the battery drain. Turning off location completely significantly helped. I'm hoping the new grapheneos wifi location services feature will offer a better alternative.

GNSS uses a ton of power. Our own implementation of network location is available in the latest release currently in the Alpha channel which should reach Beta soon and then Stable tomorrow. Enabling network location will save lots of power from many apps using it instead of GNSS. Best to use that, turn location rerouting back on (default) and turn off Location for Play services and the Google network location toggle.

Lastly, having more than 1 profile active at a time will also drain battery. Starting up profiles, including private space, also appears to use up some battery each time (1-2℅).

Starting them doesn't use nearly that much power. Keeping them running does use somewhat more power but it's mostly that you have more apps running. If you have 2 separate instances of sandboxed Google Play then you can expect more power consumption for it than the stock OS which uses a single Google Play across all profiles.

DeletedUser218

GrapheneOS how can I stop them running? Holding the power button and pressing end session still shows a blue "dot" on my owner profile