Galaxy S6 / S6 Edge & Marshmallow Update - Is your Battery Better or Worse?

[XtremeResident]

Hi Everyone,

Sorry if this has been posted before, I did a quick search and was unable to find anything. I recently updated my S6 to Marshmallow and although one of the new features is a "Doze" battery saving mode, I noticed that my battery life got significantly worse.

I have tried the usual battery saving techniques (reduce screen brigtness, WiFi off during sleep, close unused apps, turn off location...etc)

I'm wondering if this is just happening to me, or are there others out there with the same issue? Are there any known fixes?

Thanks!

[KAPABLE-K]

@XtremeResident You can try clearing your cache partition, most times after an update you will notice more battery drain but give it a couple of cycles and it should improve. Doze only works when your phone is idle and I mean completely that means sitting still no moving or nudging it.

You can also Install GSam Battery Monitor and you can monitor what is causing the highest battery drain so you can take necessary steps in correcting it.

[Pigpen510]

I've noticed this as well, I need to be on power saving all day and still can't make it through the day without charging. This is not my only issue with this dog of an upgrade.

[XtremeResident]

Thanks! I just cleared the cache partition and will let you know if there is an improvement.

[XtremeResident]

Update - unfortunately there has not been any improvemnt with the battery life on my end. by 9PM Im at 10% battery left. i'm not a heavy user either

Average Daily use

1 hour of talking

1 hour of browsing

2 hours of music (through earphones)

As mentioned in my first post, I already looked online and modified my settings which would save me some power but didnt seem to help. Any tips would be great!

Thank you!

[KAPABLE-K]

@XtremeResident Did you install the app I suggested above to maonitor whats using the most battery power?

[XtremeResident]

@FidoMaria I thought of doing a complete restore of my phone however I would probably do that as a last resort.

@KAPABLE-K I downloaded the the GSam Battery Monitor app and used it the last few days. Attached are some screenshots I took yesterday. As per the main page, the Screen and App usage were the 2 highest % catgories, so I clicked into them to get more info. Those screenshots have also been attached.

App Usage - The top 3 are Android System, Google Play Services and Kernel (Android OS)

Screen - Ill let that speak for itself! 55% of my battery consumption wasdone with the screen OFF.

[KAPABLE-K]

@XtremeResident For the screen you can turn down the brightness and use a dark wallpaper.

No it seems your apps usage is whats draining your battery the 3 top % shoudn't be using so much Google play services shoudn't even be on the list.

Do you have more than one account on the phone?

Do you use any antivirus programs?

[XtremeResident]

@KAPABLE-K My wallpaper has always been pretty dark actually, Brigtness meter is probably set around the 30% mark. I even disabled LTE. I do have more than one account and tried disabling all the ones I dont use. Right now in terms of active accounts, I only have my 2 email addresses and 3 social media accounts. No antivirus programs installed.

I feel that the more battery saving actions I take, the more limiting my device becomes. Have I exhausted all my options at this point?

@FidoMaria I think my one year with the device is coming up and if this is Samsung related, I'd like to look into it with you before the warranty expires.

[KAPABLE-K]

@XtremeResident do you know the file size of your wallpaper? Is it an image you took with your phone? Alot of the screen battery drain while off has been traced back to wallpaper file size being too large.

The accounts you have syncing make sure its syncing properly because if you have account that is not syncing properly and is constantly trying to sync will result in a huge battery drain.

[hapa99]

saw a similar post about battery life issues after the MM update on my S6.  I've done all of the obvious things to limit battery usage (rogue apps, screen brightness, syncing,etc).  Even did a factory reset.  It drops over 20% overnight (vs 4-6% prior to the update).  Phone radio was 55% of the usage today (with no actuals being made).  Is fido doing anything to troubleshoot this?  Thx

*** Edited to add tags and labels ***

[FidoClaudia]

Hey @hapa99,

Restoring the phone is one of the first thing we would recommend, but from my understanding that didn't improve your battery situation following the update.

Have you also tried clearing your cache partition already?

[FidoKenny]

Hey @XtremeResident 

We would be happy to take a look into it with you.

I'm sending you a PM. Talk to you soon.

[XtremeResident]

As per the pics above it was not even 6PM and I was already at 26% battery left, with barely any usage.

[FidoKenny]

@XtremeResident

Thanks for the reply

Do you keep most of your apps opened on your phone in the background?

This may affect the battery life on your device.

Let us know.

@KAPABLE-K any ideas?

[FidoMaria]

@XtremeResident Have you tried restoring your phone already?

@Community, is anyone else experiencing this?