I hop on to that: I charged my phone yesterday, barely used signal (maybe like three messages overall), first in wifi, then cellular connection and it trained 25%. And the last 5 to 6 hours i had airplane mode running. This cant be the norm and its a huge drainage, compared to what i used it for. hows that possible?

    RuedigerJoe I have been a Signal user for the past several years. Although I recently switched my SMS communications to the stock AOSP, due to reasons that are obvious, but beyond the scope of this thread. I have never experienced the type of battery drain you are referring to. Typically, I end my day with at least 70% battery life. This includes having wifi, LTE and bluetooth on, spending 2 - 3 hours each day on the phone, and receiving between 25 and 50 SMS messages a day. I still have Signal running, with its "proprietary" notification mechanism in place, as I use it to converse with folks in my circle that are more enlightened with regards to privacy. Running on Google 7 Pro. Not sure what is different in our setup that receiving only a few Signal messages could cause such bad battery drain. If you don't mind sharing, which Pixel device do you use, and how old is it?

      Kamaehuakanaloa ofc. i own a pixel 6a and just got it, like a week or so. but i read about this problem several times with this specific phone and setup. running signal through aurora store and not planing to install any Google dependencies. maybe someone has a clue...?

        By the way if you expect to use Signal for SMS you can forget it, they are currently dropping its support.

        So i lessened battery usage by Signal, by putting it into restrictive mode. Also i disabled background data usage. Not the most convinient option, but anyways the battery now lasted 3 1/2 days. So its surely related to Signal...

        9 days later

        invalidemail

        I was recently having the same issue with Signal after a recent update. I do not have the GOS Google apps installed.

        Over the last week or so the battery consumption from that app was excessive. For example my battery would drop 35-40% over night where previously it might drop 5-6%. The primary demand by far was the Signal app. So I made a backup of my messages, uninstalled Signal, then reinstalled it along with the backup.

        Like my previous installation, I configured storage scopes, and set battery to unrestricted. This didn't fix the problem.

        Then I changed the battery to optimized - same battery issue. Then to restricted - same battery issue.

        So then I installed Molly - Foss and the problem cleared up. Same settings as I had in Signal but without the battery consumption. Only problem is I think the current Molly is not based on the latest version of Signal (as it does not have the Stories feature) so I could not reinstall my backup and lost my previous messages.

        So at least for me, I believe it was something to do with an update to the Signal app and nothing GOS related.

        I have a Pixel 5.

        Yes, recently, Signal (with the addition of Stories) has consumed a significant amount of battery while on a call (I have seen a battery loss of 3-4% over a 25 minute call), texting, or just being open but not actively used. I did a lot of experimentation with Battery Saver and Signal (and other apps) to reduce battery consumption.

        Even with Battery Saver enabled, if Signal's Battery is Optimized or Unrestricted and I "close" Signal, it moves from a foreground app to a background cached process, but it's still active, just not currently open. When I looked for open apps, I didn't find Signal, but it's still available and consuming battery as a background cached process. I found this by enabling Developer mode and looking at the "Running services".

        • Settings > System > Developer options > Running services [these are foreground apps]
        • Settings > System > Developer options > Running services > (triple dot) > Show cached processes [these are background apps]

        Here's how I ensured Signal stopped consuming battery after I closed it:

        1. Set the phone to Battery Saver mode.
        2. Set Signal's battery mode to Restricted.

        When I looked at "Running services", Signal is no longer present, and when I "Show cached processes", it's no longer present there, either. So Signal is no longer consuming any battery whatsoever.

        Even though I set Signal to Restricted battery mode and the phone is in Battery Saver mode, I still received Signal texts and Signal phone calls. I'm still working with Battery Saver and Restricted battery to figure out if there are any "patterns" of behavior, such as lost or late notifications, missed calls, etc., with Signal, but so far, so good.

        Battery Saver Mode
        From what I have experienced, apart from the few advertised actions Battery Saver performs, it has had ZERO effect on caching apps, that is, allowing the apps to run in the background, until I set the Battery to Restricted and closed the app. Then, and only then, did the app stop consuming battery as a background (cached) process.

          dcd-graphenediscuss - May I ask please from your research, what settings you recommend for Signal to save battery usage and yet still receive messages.

          Hi,

          and thanks aäfor all experiences to this topic.

          The first post says that battery usage is the same with or without using Google Push Notifications.
          Do others of you made the same experiences? Other reports in the web suggest that Signals own Push Notifications may be accountable for the problem.

          BTW: My experience without network permission for Play Services etc. is also, that Signals uses a lot of battery.

          Best regards

            I did the following steps on my phone:

            1. Turn on Battery Saver (permanently):

            Settings > Battery > Battery Saver > Use Battery Saver (turn it on)
            Settings > Battery > Battery Saver > Set a schedule > Based on a percentage (OPTIONAL, but I set mine to 35%)
            Settings > Battery > Battery Saver > Turn off when charged (I turned it off)

            1. Change Signal's battery mode to Restricted

            Settings > Apps > All apps > Signal > Battery > Restricted

            In order to make Signal actually stop as a foreground or background app, you must close Signal when you're done using it. So far, I regularly receive Signal text notifications from my contacts. I'll ask one of them to call me tonight while my phone's screen is off and Signal is closed.

            ADVISOR
            Please be sure to read up what happens when you enable Battery Saver. Here's some things to be aware of: it turns on Dark theme, limits or turns off background activity, and some visual effects, certain features, network connections, and apps may experience delays in this mode.

            GraphyGraphy I have minimal battery drain using Signal with Websocket for notifications.

            For example, Signal has been running in the background for 33 hours since my last reboot, the phone was fully charged 12 hours ago, and I currently have 71% battery left. That's with sporadic surfing throughout the day, messaging people (via Signal), security camera notifications, reddit, etc.

            This is on a Pixel 7. Signal is set to optimised for battery. The battery usage page reports that Signal has used 1% since last charge.

            No Play Services or Store installed; only GSF without any permissions allowed.

            11 days later

            I know this is not really on topic, but wanted to share a github variant of Signal that allows SMS . I was using the one from signals website when it removed SMS. The one on this link allows SMS with no popup. Of course this will go away eventually due to SMS being completely removed, I am sure. I appreciate everyones feedback on the above battery saving options, this was helpful for me

            https://github.com/johanw666/Signal-Android/releases