Why is my Lumia 950 battery draining?

[Telescuffle]

Lumia 950 Battery Drain question

Hi,

I've just ordered a 950 to replace my 925. I see a lot of complaints regarding the phones battery drain. One of the suggested fixes was to not restore a backup when setting up the phone and instead to have a clean start. So out of interest, who restored a backup when setting up there Lumia 950 and did you suffer a battery drain problem? Same goes for those who didn't restore from backup, did you suffer battery drain issues?

Thanks

Scuffle

 

[jacknewp]

Re: Lumia 950 Battery Drain question

I've had my 950 here in the States since day 1 ..... I looked past the excessive drain the first few days due to my constant usage, downloads, and exploring. Since the .29 upgrade, the battery gets me thru a full day most od the time. The only times I notice excessive drain now is during video playback & music downloading & music streaming. Not horrible, but still more drain than I was hoping for from a 3000 mah battery. As soon as I get an extra battery, all will be ok for me.....

 

[dashrendar]

I did not restore from backup, but I still see a battery drain compared to what I had on my Lumia 635 and also my experience with Android devices.

During standby I lose ~%3 per hour which is not terrible at this point.

However, during video playback (e.g. Tubecast) or regular app usage (i.e. Flipboard) it gets hot and drains ridiculously fast (like %10-20 within 30 minutes)

There is something definitely wrong. I don't know what it's called in the Windows Mobile world, but its equivalent being CPU governor in the Android/Linux world, it's as if it's set to Performance rather than OnDemand and it doesn't scale up and down nicely depending on process and battery needs. Something is definitely off and I hope the new firmware that was released a few days ago addresses this.

 

[xikle]

I switched from Android, so there was no backup for me to restore from, but I had excessive battery drain for about the first week or so (take it off the charger at 6 am and it was dead by 12 pm with normal use). It was getting to the point that I was tempted to return the phone to Microsoft for either a refund or a replacement. I then tried uninstalling the Fitbit app after reading about it being a possible issue on another thread, and for me that fixed the battery drain issue. Today I was able to stream music for about 7 hours (on Wi-Fi screen off most of the time) and listened to a couple of podcasts (locally stored) and I still have battery left (currently sitting at 10%). This is in complete contrast to yesterday, before I uninstalled the Fitbit app, where I bearly used the phone all day and it was down to 20% at 10 pm from when I took it off the charger at 9 am that same day.

 

[Durishin]

I had an issue as well. I did not measure it, but, unlike my 1520 running the Win 10 preview, the 950 just didn't last long at all. I made sure that in the messaging settings I disconnected Skype from "messaging." The issue seems - a few days later - to be mostly solved.

 

[mariusmuntean]

Over night in standby, in 7 hours I've lost only 8%

 

[terryd33]

Sorry for sounding stupid, but can you tell me how to disconnect Skype from messaging.

 

[terryd33]

Sorry for sounding stupid, but can you tell me how to disconnect Skype from messaging.

 

[colinkiama]

Sorry for sounding stupid, but can you tell me how to disconnect Skype from messaging.

You need to go to the skype video app, tap the "..." Button, then settings. After the should be an option to sign out.

 

[terryd33]

OK. Thanks.

 

[BaritoneGuy]

OK. Thanks.

I did it from the messaging app, not the Skype video app myself. I would also suggest enrolling in the insider program so that you can get 10586.36 which appears to be the most stable build to date. Additionally after a new setup it may need a day or so to do all the indexing and optimizing that Windows does.

 

[jiangweilin]

Sign out of skype Video. Problem solved

 

[TheChazas]

Had a strange thing that never ever happened to me, was charging battery, on about 70-80% i unplugged the phone and gone to the next room and plugged in back there, and boom instantly 100%. Is that normal? for a battery, or it was just glitch, showing lower percent.

 

[n7slc]

Had a strange thing that never ever happened to me, was charging battery, on about 70-80% i unplugged the phone and gone to the next room and plugged in back there, and boom instantly 100%. Is that normal? for a battery, or it was just glitch, showing lower percent.

I'm experiencing a similar issue. Mine was at 87%, plugged in and BOOM! Instant 98%. Went in to a family function for almost 2-hours and the phone went to 99%. I think there's some issues with the way the OS is measuring the battery. Went to a bachelor party last night and had 61% when I arrived. I didn't touch the phone for several hours and it was at 29% when I left.

Either way, the battery sucks on mine and I'm hoping that the new firmware will improve that on my AT&T 950.

 

[William Sanderson]

Re: Lumia 950 Battery Drain question

The Firmware Update that is being released slowly across the world for the 950/950XL addresses the battery drain issues.
The comments seen suggest the battery drain goes way down with the update.
As well, the updates for the Windows 10 Mobile also help the battery drain issue.
I am running the Insider update 10586.36 and the phone has shown much improved battery use. I am still yet to receive the Firmware Update.

 

[TheChazas]

Re: Lumia 950 Battery Drain question

Either way, the battery sucks on mine and I'm hoping that the new firmware will improve that on my AT&T 950.

I am running the Insider update 10586.36 and the phone has shown much improved battery use. I am still yet to receive the Firmware Update.

I am on .36 and new firmware, and battery still drains fast, actually I have not noticed any difference after updating, unless you do absolutely nothing on your phone, then it is ok of course. Many people reporting that firmware battery improvement is false.

 

[ajprmaverick]

The truth hurts people I cant believe people keep lying to themselves saying update .36 and new firmware fixes battery if it did microsoft would release that to the world in a day without this insider preview or region rollout, just like they released this stupid crap of a phone prematurely. What makes me more mad is that they don't freaking sell the batteries to buy extra freaking microsoft

 

[Alexander Long]

Ok, since yesterday the post about edge drain battery, I disable the background running of edge, the battery did improve a lot , it only run from 86% to 45% for the last 24 hours, I still play music , check Instagram and twitters plus my microsftband connected all the time.
However I do believe there are more improvement to be done with later firmware. FYI, I didn't get the new firmware yet, it was never pushed in Canada yet.

 

[Alexander Long]

Just an updates on my phone batterylife. I fully charged my phone last night at about this time when I replying this thread. it has been 24 hr , I have been used my phone regularly,
txts& calls,
browsing,
email
shopping use the phone for points cards, coupons and starbucks
vine ,Instagram, facebook and twitter
connected to my band 2 all the time, use GPS to check location and bus schedules.
play musics when I was on the bus ride
oh, my glance screen is ON as well
my email is retrieved regularly,
as I mention this was my regularly daily use for any phone.
In short, use regularly. and now 24 hr later without charge, I still have 40% battery left. which is quit normal for a smartphone nowadays.

I guess after the first several weeks of a NEW TOY plus it was holiday, which leads me use my phone way more often than regularly I would. I used continuum for almost two whole days alone without need of computer or my surface.
And also before yesterday, I never let my phone fully empty out the battery before, always put it to charger or Qi pad, when it was still over 50%, the phone never fully charged from fully empty. so yesterday, I finally did that for the first time on the Lumia 950. which might help the system calibrate the battery.
So in conclusion, I suggest you guys all try at least for once, use out all the battery of the phone till it turn off itself. then charge it to full without using the phone, and then use it regularly without heavy use 'til empty the battery again. fully charge without use the phone too much. then the Phone's battery could be better than before.
another tip is, close down the "running" apps by long press the back key on the navigation bar->close down those apps you don't use anymore.

 

[MerlotC]

Coming from a 920 I have much improved battery life with my 950. My 920 would struggle to make it a full day but I find I'm still with about 50% left at days end on the 950 with same average use.