Galaxy S7 Battery Issue

[bikeman25]

Hi All

 

Some reason my phone goes low a lot, and I don't realize it's that low, and when I do get the charger to plug in, then it's sometimes too late and down to 0 already,  I run Avast Mobile security on phone, Police/Fire Scanner app, Some Games, Outlook Mail, Cortana, a lot of texting,  can't figure out why the battery goes low so quickly at all.     Should I dump Avast on the phone and Computers?  should I pay more attention to the battery charge?   Phone is less than a year old

 

 

[Jim K Global Moderator]

What apps are draining the battery? 

Settings > Device Maintenance > Battery

It should tell you which apps are using the most power and then you can either put them to sleep, add them to the "Always sleeping apps" list (same section) or uninstall them.

[bikeman25]

 Ok will check that, Scanner radio used 39 percent since last charge, Cell standby 26 percent,  not too many other high ones, 14 apps Sleeping, that seems like Highest one,  Avast support said to add that to unmonitored apps so it would stop sleeping, and saying performance issue on status all the time, so I did that, might be a bad thing to do, i'm not sure, new to Android still mostly, getting used to it more so than I was though

 

I think I may decide to do a factory reset--so I know Avast is fully removed, and just use Lookout Security app maybe.  

[Jim K Global Moderator]

1 minute ago, bikeman25 said:

Ok will check that, Scanner radio used 39 percent since last charge, that seems like Highest one,  Avast support said to add that to unmonitored apps so it would stop sleeping, and saying performance issue on status all the time, so I did that, might be a bad thing to do, i'm not sure, new to Android still mostly, getting used to it more so than I was though

 

Well, if you were using the Scanner actively ... not much you can do about it.  If it was using a lot of battery while you weren't actively using it ... ouch.

 

I'm not familiar with Avast (or its battery usage) on Android.

[bikeman25]

Yeah Avast showed 0.1 percent since last charge, but it's also in unmonitored apps section per Avast support lol,    was using Actively off and on thru out the day, but not sure if it used any when wasn't using it, will have to not use it and see how it handles lol.     Guess will see how things are once recharged, and not use that Scanner app, and see if it makes a noticeable difference.

 

My Previous phone was Windows Phone for years,  this is actually my second Android but old one couldn't run many apps since didn't have the space.    Windows Phone I didn't have that many apps lol, Scanner app wasn't available for Windows lol

 

 

Trying to not let Phone goto 0 percent too much, as I know not good for it, I guess i'll have to pick it up off desk more often also to check the charge level, most of the time it's sitting on the desk here, and depending on what game or doing on PC here, I forget on it, and then I pick It up and it's nearly dead at 1-2 percent, by  the time I plugged in charger tonight it reached 0 oops.   

 

 

 

 

Edited December 10, 2017 by bikeman25

[Jim K Global Moderator]

It should give you an audible notification (at least I'm almost positive mine does) when it hits 15% / 5% and the red LED will start to flash.  You can also set it to alert you at 30, 40 and 50%. 

 

Under Settings > Device Maintenance > Battery if you tap the three dots in the upper right corner you can go to advanced settings/notification settings and toggle on the "Battery-draining apps" which may help you pinpoint which are the "problem" apps.  Cell standby also looks fairly high (missed that the first time) ... do you have mediocre service where you are at?  My cell standby is currently only at 5%.

 

My S7, under light usage will last me all day (I'm at 27% right now after about 12 hours)  Under moderate usage (like YouTube/browsing) it will take me to early evening ... under heavy usage (like playing games) it may last until early afternoon.  2 Dots (a game I'm addicted to) sucks the battery dry.

[bikeman25]

No Audiable alert option when low, but does show a text notification when it starts to get low and LED flashing red noticed,    Managed to make sure didn't get too low so far today,  didn't use scanner app as yet though, so will see if runs any better.  Most of the time i'm on lowest level of the Condo here, so signal may not be that great down here, but most of the time I have 2-3 bars usually

 

 

 

[PGHammer]

There could be another flaw - the *charger*.  (Sounds cuckoo - especially if using the stock charger - but hear me out.)  Starting with the S8, Samsung added a new feature to their chargers - support for Adaptive Fast Charging (AFC) - it's an advance over Fast Charging (FC); what they (meaning Samsung) are NOT telling you is that their phones (and phablets - and even some of their TABLETS) have supported this feature for a rather far-back stretch.  My GNex (the oldest Samsung device that is NOT a TV in the household) supports Fast Charging, but not AFC; mom's Galaxy Tab 4 and J(3)6, and my S7 all support AFC - the biggest surprise are the tablet and three phones; all predate the charger - which was originally manufactured for the S8; the Tab 4 is the oldest of the devices, and is dead-stock KitKat.  Now, Fast Charge is - of course - faster than stock; Adaptive Fast Charge is even faster than that, then drops down to Fast Charge when it is over 90 percent charge (to avoid overcharging).  It still connects via the same the same connectors - to it can directly replace an existing Samsung (or non-Samsung) charger, as long as charger cable end uses USB - which most do.  I still have a Galaxy Tab 2; however, it need as new USB charge/data-transfer cable (which is complicated by it needing that 20-pin end for the tablet itself - due to lack of availability of such at a decent price, I'm tempted to keep it in retirement and simply purchase a new tablet (my newer Lenovo Tab 2 is bricked currently; debricking it would require I drop one of my notebooks back to a 32-bit Windows; since I AM using my S7 more these days - including for things I used to use the tablet for, the pressure is not as great to debrick it).).

[dfuk]

41 minutes ago, PGHammer said:

Starting with the S8, Samsung added a new feature to their chargers - support for Adaptive Fast Charging (AFC)

My 21 month old S7 came with an Adaptive Fast Charger as standard.

 

[PGHammer]

1 minute ago, dfuk said:

My 21 month old S7 came with an Adaptive Fast Charger as standard.

 

I have the S7 also - hence my referring to the charger - not the phone - as the issue.  (Remember, I also pointed to the Galaxy Tab 4 - which is older than the S7 - in addition to the S7 itself.)

[dfuk]

3 minutes ago, PGHammer said:

I have the S7 also - hence my referring to the charger - not the phone - as the issue.  (Remember, I also pointed to the Galaxy Tab 4 - which is older than the S7 - in addition to the S7 itself.)

So was I.

You stated that Adaptive Fast Chargers weren't available until the S8. The USB Adaptive Fast Charger was released with the S7.

The Adaptive Fast Wireless charger was released at the same time as the S8.

[PGHammer]

34 minutes ago, dfuk said:

So was I.

You stated that Adaptive Fast Chargers weren't available until the S8. The USB Adaptive Fast Charger was released with the S7.

The Adaptive Fast Wireless charger was released at the same time as the S8.

Did that charger come with your S7?  Or did you purchase it later?

 

The one I have I did not purchase with a phone - which is what I contend is the flaw; if a device supports a particular charging feature, the charger included with the device should support that feature as well - it's not unique to phones.

[bikeman25]

Could even be the apps i run on the phone itself,  example digital Police/Fire Scanner app regularly,  Cortana,  Avast Mobile security,  it hasn't gone down to 0 again in months, but watching it more closely than i used to.   Yes mine is Adaptive Fast Charger, just looked at it more closely

 

Considering Dropping Avast Completely when Spring Creators comes out if i feel i can trust Defender in Windows 10 Here for PC, then might remove Mobile security from phone as well, but just gotta see if feel Comfortable with Defender by then

 

 

 

 

 

[dfuk]

14 minutes ago, PGHammer said:

Did that charger come with your S7?  Or did you purchase it later?

 

The one I have I did not purchase with a phone - which is what I contend is the flaw; if a device supports a particular charging feature, the charger included with the device should support that feature as well - it's not unique to phones.

Came with the phone.

[Jim K Global Moderator]

1 hour ago, dfuk said:

So was I.

You stated that Adaptive Fast Chargers weren't available until the S8. The USB Adaptive Fast Charger was released with the S7.

The Adaptive Fast Wireless charger was released at the same time as the S8.

Same here ... AFC adapter came in the box with my S7.

 

Not sure if any of this has anything to do with the OP's problem ... or even if he still has a problem ... 3 months later.

[bikeman25]

Not much of a problem now, watching the charging more closely, and charging usually when it gets as low as 30 percent, and seems to be working fine now