How to fix Galaxy S6 fast battery drain issue, plus power-related issues

S6Welcome to another post about solutions on how to deal with a #Samsung #GalaxyS6 battery drain issue! Power-related problems and specifically battery drain issue is a common complaint here in SmartAndroWorld so you may find this post helpful.

Below are the topics we discuss today:
  1. How to fix Galaxy S6 fast battery drain issue
  2. Galaxy S6 Active not charging
  3. Galaxy S6 loses battery power fast
  4. Galaxy S6 charges slowly, takes a long to charge
  5. Galaxy S6 only charges when on Ultra Power Saving Mode
If you have any other #Android issue, do not hesitate to contact us by using the link provided at the bottom of the page.

PROBLEM #1: HOW TO FIX GALAXY S6 FAST BATTERY DRAIN ISSUE

Losing power even when on charger. I have changed out cables….etc. Done a soft boot and close all apps. It takes all night to charge to 100 percent now. I have lost 4 percent in 5 minutes. — Darlene
Solution: Hi Darlene. The new Samsung S6 may be faster, more powerful, and comes brimming with the latest mobile technology the industry can offer but it does have one glaring weakness–its battery. Everything on the S6 has been improved relative to its predecessor, the S5, except the battery. In fact, the S6’s battery has 9% less capacity than that of the S5! It’s not unheard of from S6 users to get only about 12 hours of screen time on average despite moderate use.
Anyway, despite Samsung’s unfortunate decision to lessen the capacity of the battery, it should all the more prompt users to manage power efficiently. There are a few things that you can do to significantly extend your phone’s battery life and one of them is ensuring that apps don’t bleed your battery dry.

USE STOCK BATTERY USAGE INDICATOR

Installing third party battery power managers or apps that claim to help you manage battery power may be tempting but we say don’t. Do not install any such apps as your phone has a built in indicator that’s designed to give you the same exact function. Installing them is not only redundant but may not even be helpful at improving the situation at all. If you have Battery Doctor app or any similar app installed, we say you uninstall them.
Instead, we want you to go under Settings>Battery>Battery Usage. This screen will give you a basic idea on what app or feature is eating up your battery. Social networking and dating apps are usually the top battery power hogs. Other apps that constantly need to sync to update their content are guilty too. Other apps with malicious intent are of course not a rarity today although it can get tricky how to isolate them from legitimate ones.
In general, use the battery usage indicator tool and see what app or apps you can disable, uninstall, or turn the notifications off of.

RESTART YOUR PHONE IN SAFE MODE

Another good way to determine if an app is responsible for fast battery drain issue is by booting in safe mode. Safe mode prevents third party apps from running so if the isssue fails to occur while in this mode, start uninstalling apps until you have identified and/or eliminated the cause. Here’s how to boot in safe mode:
  • Press and hold the Volume Down and Power keys for 20 to 30 seconds.
  • Once you see the Samsung logo, release the Power key immediately but continue pressing the Volume Down key.
  • Your phone should continue booting up and you will be prompted to unlock your phone as usual.
  • You will know if the phone successfully booted in safe mode if the text “Safe mode” is displayed at the lower-left corner of the screen.

TURN OFF BACKGROUND SYNC

Depending on your apps, this may or may not impact much. If you have at least five apps that syncs in the background, chances are they are the primary reason why your battery power can never stretch longer in a day. If you really don’t need the syncing, go under Settings>Accounts and turn them off. Switch to manual sync whenever you need any update for, say, emails.

DISABLE UNUSED RADIOS

Do not forget to turn off mobile data, Wi-Fi, and NFCs and other form of wireless communication. If you are in a poor cellular coverage area, try turning the phone off, especially if you are not expecting calls. The phone’s constant search and reacquisition of cellular signal taxes the battery and hastens power drain.

USE POWER SAVING MODE

If you think you’re going to have a long day ahead, consider using power saving mode. This feature helps in extending your phone’s battery power by slowing down the speed of the processor, dimming the screen, and turning off unnecessary features like vibration, haptic feedback, etc.

PERFORM A FACTORY RESET

If nothing changes even after doing all the things above, try restoring the phone’s defaults via factory reset. Here’s how:
  • From the Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
  • Find and tap the Settings icon.
  • Under the ‘Personal’ section, find and tap Backup and reset.
  • Tap Factory data reset.
  • Touch Reset device to proceed with the reset.
  • Depending on the security lock you used, enter the PIN or password.
  • Tap Continue.
  • Touch Delete all to confirm your action.
Keep in mind that factory reset will delete everything from the phone’s internal storage. Make sure that you create a backup of everything before you proceed.

PROBLEM #2: GALAXY S6 ACTIVE NOT CHARGING

Hi, first off, my phone is an S6 ACTIVE, but that wasn’t on the drop down list. I bought it about three weeks ago. It was working fine until a couple days ago, when I put in on the charger before I went to bed. It had about 15% when I plugged it in. When I woke up, the phone was still charging but said 0%. When I unplugged it, it said 100%. Then it powered off. When I hooked it back up to the charger, it charged up to 2%. I powered it on and it kept beeping like I was taking the charger out and plugging it back in over and over, which I wasn’t. (bing Bing BING…BING Bing bong). Then I took it off the charger and it continued acting as if I was plugging it in and unplugging it. And would intermittently say “Connected to Dock”.
It has charged sporadically for the past couple days. I have tried a different cord, a different wall charger, a soft reset using the directions on your site, wiping the cache partition, and charging it on my computer. Nothing has worked.
Any other ideas? I have had an iPhone since they were first introduced and just traded in my S5 for this. I loved it but am now feeling frustrated and would appreciate any help so much! Thanks in advance. — Kristen
Solution: Hi Kristen. Hopefully there is no hardware problem involved here. It looks like the problem is more software in nature since you can still charge the phone randomly. The phone may be discharging faster than the charger can store power resulting to the problem you have right now.
If you haven’t tried booting the phone in safe mode or doing a factory reset, make sure to do them.
If the problem remains though, have the phone checked. Unlike the Galaxy S5, we cannot simply replace the battery so you want to make that a technician check the its status.

PROBLEM #3: GALAXY S6 LOSES BATTERY POWER FAST

Hello Droid guy!
Found you on the internet and decided to give you a try before I throw my phone or take a hammer to it! haha!
I got this phone 3 months ago and I have had issues with it since. I go to Verizon’s store where I got it just to have them tell me there is nothing they can do…WHAT? I paid $700 for a phone that just freezes up constantly, try to text and it will go to a blank screen then FINALLY goes back to home screen for me to swipe my pattern to get back on to finish my text.
The battery dies FAST!  I have to charge at least 3 times a day!  No programs are open, I always make sure I close everything out.  It got worse when my friends daughter tried to swipe my phone (she said a couple of times, end of being more!!) I did not ever set up a back up code to get on just in case something like this happens….the sales agent set up my phone.
After finally Googling to unlock my phone (myself) the Verizon agent set up a cloud for me to save all my info just in case the phone automatically reset back to factory settings.  I needed to save my info I had for a court case coming up so I let him do it.
It took HOURS and I mean like 9 hours to put everything on their cloud…nightmare!!  But since that time my phone has gotten worse.  I can be texting and the screen freezes (like I mentioned above). Battery will not hold a charge. It was 80% when I went to bed at 11pm last night and around 3 am, I heard the sound that lets me know the battery just died! 
At night when just sitting on my nightstand I can hear it “clicking” the sounds it makes when you hit the button on right side to shut off while not in use.
I can make a call, while in my car and it goes to my bluetooth in my car but when I am finished with the call the screen will show the call is disconnected but you can’t get it off your screen!! Then you can see your home screen in the background of the end call screen.  Please help me before I lose my mind!!
Signed,
Desperate and Frustrated!! — Theresa
Solution: Hi Theresa. It will take longer than this post to give you the entire bunch of possible factors that might cause these problems you mentioned. As an overall resolution though, we will recommend that you do a master reset to minimize any potential firmware issue. If your phone works normally after a factory reset (no slow performance issues, lags, black screen, etc.), that’s a clear indicator an app or apps are the reasons for the problems.
Once you have performed a factory reset, make sure to install only trusted and/or reliable apps. By reliable, we mean mainstream apps only. For example, if you are fond of shopping, make sure that you only install official shopping apps of retailers (although this doesn’t even guarantee that you won’t experience abnormal battery drain). DO NOT install any apps that promises to improve performance or anything of that sort. Most of the time, these types of apps are useless and don’t really do anything important.
Keep only those that you use for work like third party email apps. Productivity apps are nice if they work as advertised but most of the time they simply don’t. The idea is, avoid installing unnecessary or redundant applications. Minimizing the number of installed apps will also help.
You also want to refer to our advice for Darlene above on how to get more juice out of your battery.
We have faith in your Samsung Galaxy S6. it’s a powerful and advanced phone but it needs help from its user to work to its full potential.

PROBLEM #4: GALAXY S6 CHARGES SLOWLY, TAKES A LONG TO CHARGE

Hello. I have Samsung Galaxy S6. The problem that has occurred is that my phone battery is not working properly. I am not sure but I guess it might happen after using phone as a GPS device in a car when outside was sunny with 40 degrees Celsius (105 degrees F) and that sun beams might affected it.
 It drains power very quickly (being on Facebook drains 1 percent every two minutes and doing nothing drains 1 percent approximately every 5-10 minutes).
It charges for a long time. it takes around 12 hours to charge when phone is switched off.
When it is on and I try to charge, it still actually drains battery just slower than usual. Fast charging option isn’t working. Sometimes phone does not even respond to a charger (I tried few USB cables). In this case, when phone is switched off and I put to charge it responds by popping up the lighting sign but then it does not continue charging.
Last night I left my phone to charge while it is switched off and instead of charging it actually drained 20 percent (WHILE it is off). Wireless charger does not work properly as well (checked this function in Samsung manufacturer shop). I brought my phone technical support center to check the problem and they guess that it is the problem with micro USB input.
As they only guess, I do not believe this their version as the phone always respond to a charger at least somehow except wireless charging which I guess is not related to micro USB input.
Is there any ideas what can it be? Is it enough just a battery replacement or something more? Because as support center told me replacing micro USB input is expensive as it is attached to a screen (so I really do not want to do that before being sure what is the problem). Thank you very much! — Laurynas
Solution: Hi Laurynas. It absolutely doesn’t make sense to say that the USB port may be the reason for the problem given that nothing changes when you charge wirelessly. You may be right though that the battery is to blame. Unfortunately, you are likely to shell out more if you want the battery replaced (unless you can use the standard warranty).
Before you do battery replacement, make sure to follow all our suggestions above to ensure that this is not a software problem.

PROBLEM #5: GALAXY S6 ONLY CHARGES WHEN ON ULTRA POWER SAVING MODE

My phone will not charge at all unless on ultra power savings mode. In fact, if it’s not on upsm, and it’s plugged in, the phone will show its charging but then actually die down in battery percentage. I am using the fast charger given with the phone and it still takes like 3 hours for the phone to charge on upsm.
I have tried other chargers, but it takes even longer to charge the phone.
I have also taken it in and the general Manger of that Verizon store said to soft reset the phone and then favor reset it and it’s still just doing the same things. He actually just wasn’t helpful at all and said it was my photo Gallery killing my battery. I don’t know. I just don’t know what to do anymore. — Amanda
Solution: Hi Amanda. That the phone charges, albeit slowly, when in ultra power saving mode seems to suggest that a lot of background tasks may be happening when the phone is on that it consumes more power more than the charger can give it when charging.
When in ultra power saving mode, only the most basic functions are running and the phone’s processor are prevented from running too fast to save power. In other words, your S6 is basically converted into an expensive dumb phone like the ones from about 10 years ago. This also means that when in normal mode, the phone is actually doing processes and tasks even if you are not actively opening or using any app. Such behavior can be due to a malicious app although other mundane explanations like leaving a lot of radios on or background syncing unchecked can also be blamed.
Doing a factory reset do not usually work if you re-install the same problem app (if an app is the reason) afterwards. Consider doing another round of factory reset, charge the phone without installing anything, then observe.
You can also refer to the instructions given above for more tips.
If that won’t help, have the phone replaced if it’s still covered by a warranty.

ENGAGE WITH US

If you are one of the users who encounters a problem with your device, let us know. We offer solutions for Android-related problems for free so if you have an issue with your Android device, simply fill in the short questionnaire in this link and we will try to publish our answers in the next posts. We cannot guarantee a quick response so if your issue is time sensitive, please find another way to resolve your problem. 
When describing your issue, please be as detailed as possible so we can easily pinpoint a relevant solution. If you can, kindly include the exact error messages you are getting to give us an idea where to start. If you have already tried some troubleshooting steps before emailing us, make sure to mention them so we can skip them in our answers.
If you find this post helpful, please help us by spreading the word to your friends. SmartAndroWorld has social network presence as well so you may want to interact with our community in our Facebook and Google+ pages.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)