Extreme battery drain from Mobile Network

MiniSota

MiniSota I went back to stock for a couple of days and battery life is significantly better. I'm using the same apps and settings that I had on Graphene and mobile network is only at 3%. The battery almost lasts two days on stock whereas I was struggling to get 1 day on Graphene.

DeletedUser396

my battery drain was solved by doing the following...

remove molly-foss
install threema
eject physical sim an use eSIM
select 4G
problem solved

the biggest battery drain was molly, well over 50% of any battery usage on any given day.
when threema was installed battery usage was 3-5%
when the physical sim was removed battery performance increased again.
when selecting 4G not 5G battery perfomance increased markedley

GrapheneOS

MiniSota You're almost certainly not using the same setup as you were in GrapheneOS. You can go back to GrapheneOS and set things up with sandboxed Google Play in the Owner profile followed by installing the same apps from the Play Store and it will likely be nearly the same. Installing apps from F-Droid or using multiple profiles on GrapheneOS is not the same setup.

GrapheneOS

DeletedUser396 Signal's WebSocket push is known to be a substantial power drain. People often use this on GrapheneOS and then wrongly blame the OS for poor battery life. We tell people this all the time. Battery usage is primarily caused by the app and network setup. Using Signal/Molly with FCM is not the same as using it without FCM via WebSocket push. Molly supports UnifiedPush as an efficient alternative to FCM but that requires setting it up with one of the available public MollySocket servers or setting up your own server.

GrapheneOS

waterelefant You set up things up on GrapheneOS in a way that drained power such as using Signal with WebSocket push instead of FCM or Molly's UnifiedPush support. Using the same apps does not imply setting it up the same way.

whitherunderground

In case it helps, I've noticed this same battery behavior recently. (In fact it seems like it might have intensified, but I have no hard evidence for this.) I don't have Molly or any other Signal apps installed on the phone, but I am on the T-Mobile network in the US.

I do have apps installed other than stock grapheneos apps, so my setup doesn't provide any evidence that this is an issue with grapheneos rather than some other app, but hopefully it's helpful to know that the problem isn't limited to Signal users.

waterelefant

Last week I sent my Pixel 9 Pro XL to Google to have it checked. It came back with everything working fine. Then I flashed Stock Android, did a battery cycle and tested it for a day. Then I flashed GOS, did a battery cycle and tested it for a day. Always with only 5G. For both tests, I was in the same place and tried to do everything the same way. With GOS, I didn't install any apps and turned on Dark Mode. With Stock Android, I logged in with my Gmail account and installed Signal and Reddit, but didn't change anything else. The battery life differs significantly. What I also noticed was that under Gos, the device was always warm, but with Stock, it was always cold. Details in the Picture.
Screen time Stock: 4:52
Screen time Gos: 2:35

More Details and Screenshots

PixelNest

I have the same issue going on with my Pixel 7a, I turned on LTE only, turned off VoWiFi and VoLTE and the battery problems went away. Doing that also caused me to miss texts and calls for 2 days. Not sure what to do.

DeletedUser831

waterelefant Same issue here—my network completely drains the battery, even when I’m on Wi‑Fi phone getting warm quickly p9p and its not configuration !

Oggyo

PixelNest
Answered you in another thread - https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/26565-huge-battery-degradation-on-pixel-9/10
If you stick with 4G/LTE only, then data works but for calls need VoLTE (Voice Over LTE) and if you disable it or not available/compatible from your operator, then it can't fall down to 3G/2G for "traditional" voice protocol. Experiment with LTE mode and 2G protection toggle.

DeletedUser831 even when I’m on Wi‑Fi

Please note that on GrapheneOS, even if you are connected to WiFi, your mobile data session is still connected, despite WiFi is used. You can experiment with manually turning off the mobile data (swipe down and choose Internet, flip the mobile data toggle).

GrapheneOS

PixelNest Turning on LTE-only but disabling VoLTE is simply incorrect if you want to receive calls. Having VoLTE enabled will not consume any power.

GrapheneOS

waterelefant The stock OS disables 5G most of the time as part of adaptive connectivity so you should test with the cellular connection set to 4G, especially if the OS is telling you that it's cellular draining your power. That indicates a network issue with 5G.

v1ct0r

In the end I noticed that Google Play Services was running almost non-stop in the background. Upon inspection of the log I noticed : NearbyDiscovery … BleRecoveryHelper … enableBLE and FastPairScanner … BluetoothAdapter: isLeEnabled(): OFF spamming the log and strongly suggesting a stuck Nearby/Fast Pair job causing wakeups.

Nearby devices permission was denied for Google Play Services but Bluetooth and Wifi scanning were activated. After disabling both Google Play Services started napping most of the time.

My Phone is at about 50% after an entire day on and about 3h of display on. On previous days, my phone was about dead at the end of a day of use. I hope this helps some here.

DeletedUser831

Oggyo I have 9 Pro. I disabled 120Hz and max resolution, and most of the apps are in restricted battery mode. Before the latest update, I had 69% battery usage from the network and 22% from Wi-Fi. I'm very sure this isn't normal. Before A 16, everything was fine. Now I have only 4h SOT.. Latest update XXXXX19 reduced network drain to 49%

Viewpoint0232

v1ct0r Nearby devices permission was denied for Google Play Services but Bluetooth and Wifi scanning were activated. After disabling both Google Play Services started napping most of the time.

Where do you find these settings?

wizoatk

Viewpoint0232 Where do you find these settings?

Simplest way is to type either nearby or wifi into the search bar at the top of Settings.

Oggyo

DeletedUser831 Before A 16, everything was fine

Android 16 was included since 2025063000 in GrapheneOS updates, not by the last two 2025091000 and 2025091900.

DeletedUser831

Oggyo Oggyo, I'm talking about battery drain — not dates. I'm a big fan of GOS and a strong supporter, but ever since A16, battery life has clearly gotten worse. Looking through this forum, many users are reporting battery drain related to network. Would you mind sharing your battery stats ?

Oggyo

DeletedUser831 I'm talking about battery drain — not dates.

You mentioned "Before A 16", assuming you meant Android 16. And that's why I said it was introduced at the end of June, not at the last 2-3 updates.

I have noticed issues with battery from time to time, and I believe apps update and Play Services updates greatly contribute to it.

DeletedUser831 Would you mind sharing your battery stats

I don't think this will be relevant. I rarely use the phone, and my SOT is pretty low because of that. Also, at my sleep time, my phone is in Airplane mode with BT and WiFi off.

Moreover, currently, I'm experiencing this issue - https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/26549-battery-drain-problem-since-update-2025091000/55

GrapheneOS

DeletedUser831 You're attributing things to updates which are clearly not tied to updates but rather your apps and configuration. Android 16 was released in June and GrapheneOS shipped it in a production release by the end of the month. It reached the Stable channel in early July. You aren't experiencing regressions caused by Android 16.

DeletedUser831 No, there are not many people reporting battery drain related to that. There are a few people reporting it, largely the same few posting multiple times. We've already helped multiple people solve it by changing their OS configuration and app setup.

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