Hello! I just installed GrapheneOS and I love the privacy and security of it, but I have figured out that the sandboxed play services has taken a major toll on my battery. I'm not sure if this is hardware or software optimization and I have to switch to CalyxOS for better battery life. Should I re-flash stock December 2022 or should I tinker with the software more?
Sandboxed play store + services take a toll on battery life
Is it always running? I stopped the execution and my battery usage is fine
Google Play Services is a monolith, which has many running services and eats battery as a result. If you have Developer Options enabled, go to 'Settings - Developer Options - Running Services' to see how many processes and services are running on your device.
Like abcZ said, this isn't specific to GrapheneOS. I would try and get away from using Google Play Services as much as possible. microG is lighter and better for battery in this regard because they do not implement all Play Service APIs and do not have as many running services. Because not all Play Service APIs are implemented, microG isn't as compatible with some apps that depend on Play Services.
If I could do it with both, I would run microG for apps that required push notifications in one profile and in another profile, I would run Play Services for apps I need support for such as Google Voice. However, such a setup is not possible at this time. I know some of the GOS users would probably disagree with this approach, but this is what would work for my needs.
What I currently do is I have only Play Services installed in another profile. Whenever I am done checking certain apps, I end that profile's session. In an ideal world, I wish there was a way we could pick and choose which Google Play Services were running at any given time. I only really care about the GCMService for notifications. The rest like the Exposure Matching Service I would want to stop.
graphenepixeled Just to make sure that you've installed Sandboxed Google Play in the proper way:
- Have you installed all 3 apps from the "Apps" application (GSF, Play Services, Play Store) on your device?
- Does Play Services/Store have the network permission granted to them?
In general, please describe your setup to us, and let us know how much battery they are consuming, because it currently sounds like you're experiencing that may be a bit outside of the norm.
matchboxbananasynergy
He's probably just talking about the average power consumption of these services. Without these running, the battery lasts about 30-50 percent longer, depending on usage. But i think that's typical for android. Even the stock google rom shows this behavior. Both, GrapheneOS and Stock Google don't take much power when in idle or standby, but once you use them, the google services of course drain a lot of battery because they are connected to everything in some or the other way.
2 years later
matchboxbananasynergy Have you installed all 3 apps from the "Apps" application (GSF, Play Services, Play Store)
What is GSF?
avaluedcustomer Google Service Framework, but if you have Android 15 it doesn't exist anymore since as it's integrated into Play Services so don't worry about it.
Thanks. I am trying to find out why Play Services drains my battery so much
avaluedcustomer I keep Play Services unrestricted but put Play Store's battery usage to restricted, which seemed to lower the percentage of battery usage for Play Services by a few points and hasn't affected how Play Service works in any way. Not much but better than nothing