Battery drain while phone is switched off

[Lucinda123]

I have a Samsung Galaxy A3. After the last batch of software updates, it has started to lose battery power while switched off. Last time I charged it fully, so it was showing 100% battery, I switched it on and it dropped straight down to 91%. Once the phone is on, the power drops more or less at the rate I would expect it to, but I don't leave it on all the time. Even so, I'm having to charge it daily now. I went into my local Vodafone store for advice but other than removing a few apps that I don't use very often, they really didn't have a clue and just said the next batch of software updates might sort it, which isn't very helpful.

I would be grateful for any advice as to how I can stop this power drain happening.

[BandOfBrothers]

I use my Samsung account  / Samsung cloud to back up my apps

[Lucinda123]

Thanks but I cannot see an option for backing up apps in Samsung Cloud, only phone logs, email and messages.

[BandOfBrothers]

Settings.

Backup and reset.

Under Samsung Account Back up my Data.

This backs up.

Phone.

Clock.

Homescreen.

Apps.

Settings.

Messages.

Music

Voice Recorder 

Documents. 

[Lucinda123]

OK, so I did the full back up and reset last night, and charged the phone to 100%, then took it off charge. When I switched it on this morning the charge was down to 81%. So this hasn't helped with the battery drain.Any other suggestions?

[kids]

@Lucinda123 Take a look here and see if it helps.

http://thedroidguy.com/2015/06/how-to-fix-fast-battery-drain-problem-on-note-3-108211

[Lucinda123]

Thanks for the article but the issues are not really the same as mine. My issue is fast drain when the phone is not in use, these people have fast drain when using certain applications if I have read it correctly. Also I have an A3 not a Note. And I've no idea what Lollipop is (other than the sweet on a stick!) 

[Lucinda123]

Hi,

I am still getting battery drain while the phone is off. The factory reset had no effect whatsoever. Last night it was at 39% when I put it off. This morning when I put it on, 20%. I should mention that I have turned off wi-fi, 4G, mobile data, and made sure that all apps were closed before I turned the phone off. There is nothing obviously running that could cause this. 

The phone is only about 18 months old, but could it just be that it needs a new battery?

The tech support people at my local Vodafone store have now run out of ideas - all they can do is to send the phone away as a warrany repair. But if there's anything else you are able to suggest that I could try before I go down that route, I would be very grateful.

[hrym]

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@Lucinda123 wrote:

The phone is only about 18 months old, but could it just be that it needs a new battery?

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That is a distinct possibility, yes, especially if you've allowed the battery to go flat at any time.   Lithium-based cells really don't like that and are best topped up regularly.   The advise is to restrict use (and possibly battery-saving mode) at 20% and to turn off completely at 10%.  Estimates vary, but you chould get a charge-cycle life of 1000-2000 times, and more pro rata (ie you can double those figures if you always charge at 50%).

The better news is that most manufacturers have a two year warranty that includes the battery.  Your best bet is to go direct to HTC on this.

[Lucinda123]

Hi all, just thought I'd update you on this: it would appear that the battery drain problem is caused by a bug in the latest Android software update. There have been many reports of the same thing - three people came into my local Vodafone shop with this problem just in the short time I was there today! My phone has now been sent off to be fixed. Hopefully by next week the problem will be sorted.

Just wanted to thank everyone who sent tips on backing up data in reply to my initial query. I now have a much better idea how to reimport everything when I get my phone back!

[hrym]

Good luck!  I'm glad we sorted out data backup and restore as a factory reset will be part of the repair process and now you have (I hope) a backup to restore from.