# Increased battery life hack



## brkshr (Jun 16, 2011)

It's not really a hack, but whatever.

All you have to do is install AppOps and turn "Keep Awake" off for Google Play Services (Now it's called "wake lock" in App Ops X). I have been testing this out for the past week and I have yet to see a single downside. Worked great for my N7(13) as well. I'm just did this to my GFs Moto X last night, so I'll see how it works on that phone soon.

I'm no expert, but I believe that there are enough apps/services calling on Google Play Services, that they keep it running most of the time, just not 100% of the time.

So give it a shot if you want to and let me know what you think after a day or two.

Edit: I also just used the standard AppOps option. No need for the App Ops X option unless you want to use it.
Edit2: On another note, I have also noticed some increase in battery life by turning off the 'Scanning always available' option in the advanced settings for Wi-Fi. I think this would improve battery life in urban areas, but in my rural area I think it hurts battery life more than anything.


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## laflavor (Jul 3, 2012)

How much improvement in battery life are you seeing?


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## brkshr (Jun 16, 2011)

laflavor said:


> How much improvement in battery life are you seeing?


It's hard to put an exact figure on it. Before, I was seeing about 4 to 5 hours of screen time for a day and usually ended my day in the teens to 20s percent wise. Now I'm easily getting 5 to 6 hours of screen time in a day and I'm ending the day in the 30s or 40s percent wise. The most noticeable difference is in my idle time. If I don't look at my screen for 8 hours, I will still be in the 90s.

Edit: Basically, this hasn't hurt anything for anyone I've talked to. No harm can come from trying it for a day or two. Even if it did mess with something, just turn it back on.


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## laflavor (Jul 3, 2012)

I'm testing it out today.

As an aside, I still don't know how anyone could get 5 hours of screen time. I don't think I've gone past 2 in a day, and the battery would never make it with 5.


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## yarly (Jun 22, 2011)

laflavor said:


> I'm testing it out today.
> 
> As an aside, I still don't know how anyone could get 5 hours of screen time. I don't think I've gone past 2 in a day, and the battery would never make it with 5.


Something has to be off if you're only getting 2. I get 2 to 2.5 hours of screen time on a Galaxy Nexus with the stock battery.


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## seanglew (Oct 11, 2011)

I tested it on my nexus 5. From my experience with this app my battery drain 50% faster for some reason. It did not work for me but it might work for you though. Thanks for posting this any way.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk


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## brkshr (Jun 16, 2011)

laflavor said:


> I'm testing it out today.
> 
> As an aside, I still don't know how anyone could get 5 hours of screen time. I don't think I've gone past 2 in a day, and the battery would never make it with 5.





yarly said:


> Something has to be off if you're only getting 2. I get 2 to 2.5 hours of screen time on a Galaxy Nexus with the stock battery.


I agree with Yarly. It would literally be impossible for me to get under 3 hours screen time if I played Riptide GP2 the whole time.


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## brkshr (Jun 16, 2011)

seanglew said:


> I tested it on my nexus 5. From my experience with this app my battery drain 50% faster for some reason. It did not work for me but it might work for you though. Thanks for posting this any way.
> 
> Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk


That sucks! Did Google Play service usage go up in your battery stats?


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## seanglew (Oct 11, 2011)

No, it did not. I don't know what causes this everything seem to be normal in the battery monitor. But it did stop it from waking up though. I also had same experience with greenify app.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk


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## brkshr (Jun 16, 2011)

seanglew said:


> No, it did not. I don't know what causes this everything seem to be normal in the battery monitor. But it did stop it from waking up though. I also had same experience with greenify app.
> 
> Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk


Interesting...


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## seanglew (Oct 11, 2011)

brkshr said:


> Interesting...


I'm not disappointed though. It was happy just to tested it out. ; )

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk


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## mindleak (Nov 17, 2011)

Yeah I dunno how you guys get 5 hours of screen time... I've never got above 2.5... usually not 2... and even that is huge to me coming from the Galaxy Nexus.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk


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## ZDworks (Dec 13, 2013)

Yes, Tested and less battery draining , but Google Play Services is important for me :-(


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## brkshr (Jun 16, 2011)

ZDworks said:


> Yes, Tested and less battery draining , but Google Play Services is important for me :-(


Have you seen any adverse effects to Google Play services while doing this? I honestly can't tell any difference, other than increased battery life. Everything works the exact same for me.

The last couple days I decided to turn Keep awake back on. My battery life dropped significantly and everything works the exact same either way. So I turned Keep awake back off last night and I can already tell an improvement in my battery life this morning. I'm wondering why this hasn't made it's rounds around the internet yet. I've only had one person say it effected their phone negatively (earlier in this thread) but I expect something else is to blame if he's also getting worse battery life with Greenify.

For comparisons sake. Yesterday (Keep awake on), I took my phone off the charger at 7am and by 10am I was down to 94% battery. Today (Keep awake off), I took my phone off the charger at 7am and by 10am I was down to 99%. Both of these days are pretty much only idle during these times as I use my tablet mostly in the mornings. (Edit: I'm actually at 98% now at 12:45. I do have auto-sync and all that stuff working like a smartphone was meant for. I just haven't really been using my phone yet today with 4 minutes screen time)

As I have stated before. I think this just keeps Google Play services from running 100% of the time and waking up the device for no real reason. If it's called upon by another app or service it works just like it's supposed to.


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## soundee (Dec 20, 2013)

Will try that..


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## BrandoHD (Dec 5, 2011)

This is interesting, I was thinking about trying this but was not willing to take the risk


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## brkshr (Jun 16, 2011)

BrandoHD said:


> This is interesting, I was thinking about trying this but was not willing to take the risk


I don't think there is much risk involved. If you don't like it, just turn it back on.

Some guy on XDA was claiming to also turn off Location as well. Of course that would help with battery life even more, but I wouldn't do that! Then you lose location functionality which a lot of apps call on. Just turning off Keep awake seems to help plenty.

On another note. I tried this on my girlfriends Moto X and it doesn't seem too help much. I suspect that the Moto X's contextual awareness and unique X8 low-power cores keep things awake more. It's not a big deal for Moto X's anyways. They get great battery life regardless.


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## t_ruggs (Dec 7, 2013)

I'm on 1 day and 30 minutes right now with 25% left. Nothing special blocking apps, running one of the most recent CM Nightlies.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using RootzWiki mobile app


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## jjhiza (Oct 22, 2011)

Quick question guys... The OP mentions disabling the "keep awake" permission for Google Play services...I don't see that option listed. The closest thing to it would be wakelocks... Is that what I'm looking for? Thanks in advance for any feedback.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk


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## brkshr (Jun 16, 2011)

jjhiza said:


> Quick question guys... The OP mentions disabling the "keep awake" permission for Google Play services...I don't see that option listed. The closest thing to it would be wakelocks... Is that what I'm looking for? Thanks in advance for any feedback.
> 
> Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk


You're correct.

I originally posted when I was using the official Google app ops. App Ops X just words it differently for some reason. That, or Google changed the wording with the 4.2.2 update.

For those that don't know. We lost access to the official Google App Ops with the 4.2.2 update. So App Ops X (root required) is what we have to use now.

Edit: updated op
Sent from my Nexus 5


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## atishey23 (Aug 29, 2013)

I installed apps ops...after some usage I was not quite happy with it. Then I uninstalled it & boom I got my best battery life ever on this phone. I'm on elementalX kernel.
















Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk


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## Andrew149 (Aug 22, 2011)

Anyone else tried this.?

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk


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## charliehill (Mar 18, 2014)

Many people say they use wireless charger for Nexus phone, I'm gonna buy WIWOFIT Wireless Charger from Amazon, my friend recommend it , anybody knows this ? they also have wireless car charger available.


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## DroidBurgundy (Nov 30, 2011)

great advice, trying this out myself to see if I can get some extra batt life


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## brkshr (Jun 16, 2011)

charliehill said:


> Many people say they use wireless charger for Nexus phone, I'm gonna buy WIWOFIT Wireless Charger from Amazon, my friend recommend it , anybody knows this ? they also have wireless car charger available.


I know this is old, and no, I haven't tried the WIWOFIT.

BUT

I absolutely love my Nexus wireless chargers!!! I have 2 now and I want to get a third soon. The magnets in the charger line the Nexus 5 and Nexus 7 (2013) up perfectly, every time. I have one at work and I drop it on the charger when I sit down and grab it when I get up. Which is at least 30 or 40 times a day. I know they're more expensive than pretty much anything else, but to me, they are well worth the price if you have the latest Nexus devices. The Nexus 4 has a hint of magnetic alignment. Not nearly as much as the newer ones though.


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## blackbearblanc (May 16, 2014)

Just noticed this again. Gonna try . Anyone tried a day with background data restriction on?


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## landamnaresh (Sep 10, 2014)

You can get the detailed stats and information related to your Nexus 5 such as usage statistics, battery information, phone information, and WiFi information by simply dialing *#*#4636#*#*. Give it a try, http://www.spinfold.com/nexus-5-tips-and-tricks-to-enhance-your


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