Fix: Google Play Services Consuming Abnormal Battery Life
Google Play Services are installed on all Smartphones by default and it provides support and updates to all third-party apps installed on the mobile. Quite recently, a lot of users have reported that the service is draining huge amounts of battery life on their phones. The Google Play services is an essential function to the phone therefore, it cannot be turned off even in the background. However, it is tailored and optimized to consume very little amounts of battery life so it is quite rare for it to consume a lot of battery life.
What Causes Google Play Service to Consume a Lot of Battery?
Upon receiving numerous reports from multiple users we decided to investigate the issue and devised a set of solutions that solved the problem for most of our users. Also, we looked into the reasons due to which the application is forced to consume a lot of battery life and listed them below.
- Third Party Applications: All the third-party applications require permissions to use certain features of the phone such as the microphone, storage, camera, etc. Access these through Google Play Services. So if an application is causing this increased resource usage in the background, it might show up under Google Play Services’s usage.
- Updates: For some users, the application only started to consume a lot of battery resources after it was updated. So it is possible that the update to the application was not properly installed or it was missing some files due to which the battery usage has been increased.
- Outdated Software: Since Google Play Services is a system service it is updated and improved in every system update. If the Android version that you are running is very old that means that the Google Play Services application is old as well. Therefore, it is recommended that the Android be updated to the latest version supported by your device to get the most out of service in terms of performance.
- Multiple Accounts: Google Play Services requires the users to be signed in with their Google account in order for them to use the service. The application continuously syncs notifications, emails, updates, etc. for that account and if you have logged in multiple accounts to the Play Service than the application has to sync everything for multiple accounts which causes increased battery consumption.
- Sync Errors: If the Google Play Service is encountering sync errors while trying to sync certain data for your account it might continue to try even if its failing due to which increased resource usage can be triggered. Therefore, you need to make sure that the internet is connected properly at least once a week.
- Third Party Security Software: The Security on the Android operating system is quite good and unless you download anything from dodgy app stores or open a malicious link you will not face any security issues on Android. However, if you have installed third-party software it will continuously scan your device for malicious files using the system’s resources resulting in increased battery usage.
- Third Party App Killer: There are many “App Killers” available in the Play Store that claim that they limit the background processes. However, all they do is shut down a specific process which can sometimes result in that process relaunching. This process can result in a battery draw due to increased resource usage by that process while starting.
Now that you have a basic understanding of the nature of the problem we will move forwards towards the solutions. Make sure to implement these in the specific order in which they are provided to avoid any conflicts.
Solution 1: Updating Device Software
Important performance and bug fixes are provided in new updates to the Android Operating System. Therefore, in this step, we will be updating the device software. For that:
- Drag down the notifications panel and tap on the “System” option.
Dragging down the notification panel and tapping on the “Settings” icon - Scroll down to the bottom and select the “About Phone” option.
- Tap on the “Software” option and then on the “Check for Updates” option.
Tapping on the software update option - Tap on the “Download Updates Manually” option and wait for the downloading process to finish.
Tapping on the software update option - The phone will prompt you with options to install it now or later tap on the “Install Now” option.
Tapping on the “Install Now” option - The phone will now restart automatically and the update will be installed.
- Check to see if the problem persists after the update.
Solution 2: Launching in Safe Mode
When the phone is launched in safe mode all third-party applications are prevented from being launched. Therefore, if a third party application was causing the issue it will be identified through this process. For that:
- Press and hold the Power button and tap on the “Power Off” option.
Tapping on the Power off option - Press and hold the “power” button until the manufacturer’s logo appears.
- When the logo appears press and hold the “Volume Down” button and release it when the Android logo is shown.
Button allocation on most devices - The phone will now be booted in the safe mode and the words “Safe Mode” will be seen on the lower left side of the screen.
Safe Mode written in the lower left corner of the screen - Check to see if the issue persists in the Safe mode if the Google Play Services no longer consumes a lot of battery it means that the problem was being caused by a third party application.
- Press and hold a third–party application and select the “Uninstall” button
Long pressing on an application and selecting “Uninstall” from the list - Check to see if the issue goes away after uninstalling the application if it still persists uninstall more applications until the issue goes away.
Solution 3: Uninstalling Google Play Services Updates
If the problem came after the phone or the Google Play Service was updated, it is possible that the Google Play Application was not installed properly or certain files went missing during the process. To solve that:
- Drag down the notifications panel and tap on the “Settings” icon.
Dragging down the notification panel and tapping on the “Settings” icon - Inside the settings, tap on the “Application” option and then on the “Google Play Services” option.
Tapping on the applications option inside settings - Tap on the “menu” button in the top right corner and then tap on the “uninstall updates” option.
Tapping on the Uninstall updates option and then on the “OK” button - Check to see if the issue persists.
Solution 4: Disabling Body Sensors
There are many sensors installed on Smartphones nowadays that can in some cases be very useful. However, increased usage of the body sensors from the Google Play Services application can result in a major battery drain/ Therefore, in this step, we will be disabling the permission to the application for that:
- Drag down the notifications panel and tap on the “settings” icon.
Dragging down the notification panel and tapping on the “Settings” icon - Tap on the “Applications” option and then on the “Google Play Services” option.
Tapping on the applications option inside settings - Tap on the “Permissions” option and then on the “Body Sensors” toggle to disable the permission to use them.
Tapping on the permissions option and then disabling the body sensor toggle - Now check to see if the issue still persists.
Note: It is recommended not to use multiple accounts or third party security or app killer software. If the issue still persists after this try to contact the customer support for your mobile device.
