[Q] Lockscreens draining battery? - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I couldn't find any topics like this so here goes:
Currently I have my lock screen off so that when I wake my device on I instantly get to my launcher instead of going through the lock screen swiping or tapping in a combination to get to the launcher. Yeah, I get that its more secure with the lock screen on; but I just feel that the battery is getting drained when going through the lock screen. I don't know how if the lock screen is conserving battery or something. Enlighten me. I want to hear it from you guys. Will disabling the lock screen save me some battery?

Seems to me like any amount of battery saved would be negligible. Sounds like a personal preference IMO.
Sent from my ADR6410LVW using XDA Free mobile app

I don't know that the lock screen saves battery - in fact I doubt it. If it does, it's barely any, as the guy above me said. If you're trying to save battery, just make sure you're killing apps when you're done with them and maybe even install Greenify.

I think it depends on what you have on your lockscreen. If you have a bunch of widgets, then the widgets might be using up your battery. For example, if your lockscreen displays the weather and it is sync'ing the weather or location every 5 minutes, then you might see a pretty big battery draw.

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Effect of Widgets on Battery?

I use a lot of widgets from Sense UI and also use the Market widget, the Youtube Widget, Facebook Widget, and Beautiful Widgets....my question is what is the impact of widgets on battery life, is it better to not use them at all, or limit them, etc??
Widgets that are basically just buttons, that won't do anything until you click them will have a negligable impact on battery life. Widgets that display information, though, will often update themselves in the background, which requires the CPU to spend more time awake, as well as 3G/WiFi to be active more often.
Having less widgets that fetch data will improve battery life a large amount... even better if they just use Push instead of polling (requires Froyo), although 'none' is still the most battery effective.
No expert here, but I have consistently noticed worse battery life with widgets that require data, facebook especially. Other widgets don't seem to make a difference, though one would think that since a widget uses cpu resources you'd end up using more battery, but that just seems logical right?
But yes, for me, facebook widget did drain my battery much faster than a non-data requiring widget.
EDIT: kitsune beat me to it.. and said it more elegantly ;p
KitsuneKnight said:
Widgets that are basically just buttons, that won't do anything until you click them will have a negligable impact on battery life. Widgets that display information, though, will often update themselves in the background, which requires the CPU to spend more time awake, as well as 3G/WiFi to be active more often.
Having less widgets that fetch data will improve battery life a large amount... even better if they just use Push instead of polling (requires Froyo), although 'none' is still the most battery effective.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have superclean right now how do i setup the push instead of polling? I have ultimate juice and I am pretty sure I have it setup so my apps are able to get data every 2 hours for a max of 30 seconds so that helps
A lot of the widgets have a setting (well some do) like the built in Touchwiz "Feeds and Updates" where you can tell it NOT to update or refresh automatically. The same goes for things like Beautiful Widgets, that has a weather forecast thingy built in. Turn off the auto refresh. Turn off the weather based on GPS. This will stop it from using your resources automatically, and you can just ask for a refresh when you need it.
I know some weather apps (can't remember if it was accuweather or weather channel, don't give you this choice).
I haven't found my gmail to be a big drain, but turn off MOST widgets that auto refresh. You can also adjust some of them based on time, like get an update every 2 hours instead of every hour.

I need a good Lock Screen app

I hate the factory lock screen, and I was locking for a replacement.
I try'd Live Locker, and I like it very much. But I found out it drains the battery a little, so I'm searching for a good replacement.
I also see that WidgetLocker is good, but for what I read in this forum, it as some problems with SGS2.
Any sugestions are verry apreciated.
Thanks.
I've been using WidgetLocker for some time, and since I have root and use the root option of the App, I must say, for some weird reasons it runs much better
Before I had root, I had some problems with my battery, it was draining like hell, now not anymore.
Thanks for the replay, I think I'm going to test it, since I also have root.
Widget Locker will also drain more battery than normal. I think any third party lock screen will do more or less same.
ithehappy said:
Widget Locker will also drain more battery than normal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Eh? I have widget locker and the extra battery use is minimal.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA Premium App
Well, then maybe I have to use the default lock pattern.
It's not nice looking but works.
Widget locker is a peace of crap. Home Button works awful with it. I need to wait 3-4 seconds, before button react on my press. I hope in CyanogenMod will be normal lockscreen option, like on CyanogenMod at Samsung i9000.
Is there a way to get the Nexus One off screen animation like that of a CRT television?
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
I use Goto Lockscreen
It's a little less flexible than widgetlocker, but I think it looks better.

[Q] how to Disable the lock screen?

Is there anything i can do to disable the lock screens? I have the option of having that giant picture to swipe or the number/pattern unlocks...i wish to have neither...waste of valuable time!
There is an app called 'no lock' its got good reviews, but would that stop this phone from going into its 'deep sleep' and thus waste more battery?
There is no connection between No Lock and deep sleep. You can use that without any probs.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
cheers
will try it out
Not had any problems with NoLock in the past, but use WidgetLocker to change it up a bit now.
Think the stock lockscreen is the worst of any phone I've seen. Locks minimalistic and clean (which is lovely), but the swipe effect and transition is horrible.
No lock runs in the background..and takes up 5-6mb of ram. Doesn't show up on battery useage. Quite satisfactory
Wonder if theres a root version that like takes unlock off once and doesnt need to run ever again!
This is what I'm after. Surely there is something that can be frozen or uninstalled to stop the stock lock screen from ever appearing?

Steps to Better Battery Life

I've seen these throughout the forums and we are lacking one of our own!
This is how (i hope) you can get better battery life and what i use personally to get my phone to last through the day
1. If your not using it then turn it off! GPS, Bluetooth, Wifi
-Minus the screen these are the biggest battery killers and if you don't need them then turn it off
2.Auto brightness is not your friend. Use a set brightness to your liking below 50%
-I see people claiming it helps and truth is it doesn't, It enables an added sensor to monitor the amount of light outside and guess what? That kills your battery too. You're better off using a widget or some other method to change your brightness on the fly to avoid this
3.Data and Background syncing.
-If you can afford to turn your Data connection off when you're not using it i suggest getting into the habit! This can drastically improve your battery life. For those who can't i suggest adjusting your sync intervals so they aren't checking as often
4.Put Your Phone Down!
-Yes we can all agree your phone can be a fun toy to play with but if you need it to last then put it down! Stop checking it every five minutes just to look at the screen! you have notifications for a reason and your background isn't going look better if you keep looking at it
5. Live Wallpapers
-Live wallpapers are fun to show off especially to Iphone owners but it comes at a price, Show them what it can do then go back to your boring wallpaper to save battery
6.Rogue apps
-There are many apps in the market to help you find these silent battery killers. Find one and uninstall them.
Apps like Facebook also kill your battery horribly, Use the web page instead if you don't need to know what everyone is posting at every second
7.Turn off animations/Haptic feedback
-I personally don't do this but it has been proven that these features do kill your battery
8. Task killers
-This hasn't been a problem more recently but if this does apply, uninstall the dang thing and stop killing every app that pops up! If the app keeps running in the background then just uninstall it
9. Find the rom that suits your needs
-To each their own, find the rom that better suits your daily life. I agree Its awesome to run the cutting edge software on our phones but if you need your phone for daily use then maybe stock/debloated is what you need
10.Extended battery/carry a charger
-If the stock battery just doesn't cut it then it's probably time to invent in an extended battery, and if you're like me and that still doesn't cut it then carry a charger with you to give you and extra boost. When your on the side of the road with a dead phone because you had to run AOSP and it killed your battery you will wish you had this
Summary: In the end It's just fancy phone with an HD screen so it was inevitably a battery killer from the start so good luck
If you have anything to add (Apps or suggestions to help) then don't be afraid to speak up this is a community effort
Using few or no widgets helps conserve battery life
AshtonTS said:
Using few or no widgets helps conserve battery life
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
but i like widgeypoos
You may be correct that it isn't very effective at saving battery, but I think that's only because it never dims far enough, compared to other devices I have where auto-brightness seems far more effective.
Also, I'm almost positive that turning off auto-brightness does not disable the light sensor. You can turn off auto-brightness and use a sensor probing app to verify that it is still indeed functioning.
Pretty much everything else makes sense to me. I have tons of widgets but most of them are simply information and don't really need to poll anything or use many resources most of the time.
Strangely enough, I've been really noticing my battery die quickly every once in awhile recently, and when I check it seems that Google Maps has been going crazy in the background and won't close.. very strange. A reboot usually solves the problem for a few days til it happens again.
jayochs said:
but i like widgeypoos
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lmao widgeypoos I have my homescreen chock full of them but I've heard they're bad and come to think of it when I switched from sense to senseless my battery life got better because I had only 5 homescreens with less widgets (sense has better widgets than AOSP)
---------- Post added at 03:24 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:23 PM ----------
a.mcdear said:
You may be correct that it isn't very effective at saving battery, but I think that's only because it never dims far enough, compared to other devices I have where auto-brightness seems far more effective.
Also, I'm almost positive that turning off auto-brightness does not disable the light sensor. You can turn off auto-brightness and use a sensor probing app to verify that it is still indeed functioning.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because the light sensor is needed for the capacitive buttons
AshtonTS said:
Lmao widgeypoos I have my homescreen chock full of them but I've heard they're bad and come to think of it when I switched from sense to senseless my battery life got better because I had only 5 homescreens with less widgets (sense has better widgets than AOSP)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
haha on the nexus, i've got 7 pages...1=calender agenda, 2=calender monthly, 3=picture frame, 4=HD widgets clock, 5=poweramp widget, 6=evernote, 7=people widget
god damn, i have a widget on every page hahah
jayochs said:
haha on the nexus, i've got 7 pages...1=calender agenda, 2=calender monthly, 3=picture frame, 4=HD widgets clock, 5=poweramp widget, 6=evernote, 7=people widget
god damn, i have a widget on every page hahah
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My 5 pages have (left to right): 1- news/weather, Apollo (cm music), google ears/sound search, 2- power control, gmail, 3(main screen)- desk clock 4-calander agenda, google music, 5 browser bookmarks, google voice
I have waaaay to many widgets lol
a.mcdear said:
You may be correct that it isn't very effective at saving battery, but I think that's only because it never dims far enough, compared to other devices I have where auto-brightness seems far more effective.
Also, I'm almost positive that turning off auto-brightness does not disable the light sensor. You can turn off auto-brightness and use a sensor probing app to verify that it is still indeed functioning.
Pretty much everything else makes sense to me. I have tons of widgets but most of them are simply information and don't really need to poll anything or use many resources most of the time.
Strangely enough, I've been really noticing my battery die quickly every once in awhile recently, and when I check it seems that Google Maps has been going crazy in the background and won't close.. very strange. A reboot usually solves the problem for a few days til it happens again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used to think that auto-brightness was killing my battery, but from doing some informal tests I actually found very little difference in battery life using 25-50% brightness versus auto-brightness. I'd be interested if other people have different experiences.
Actually I've noticed that Google Maps also keeps waking up my phone and using the GPS recently. What ROM are you on? I'm on Viper 1.0.3.
a.mcdear said:
Also, I'm almost positive that turning off auto-brightness does not disable the light sensor. You can turn off auto-brightness and use a sensor probing app to verify that it is still indeed functioning.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think the tweaks on Newt's Rom has an option to change the scaling of the auto-brightness, meaning that you move the whole scale down so that it is dimmer at given light levels than stock. I'm not sure if it ever goes to full value though and that would disappoint me on sunny days.
In regards to the Facebook app, you can disable notifications and auto polling...
Figures, we get aosp and I have to change carriers
I like my new phone tho
Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

Some quick general questions about preserving battery through out the day.

Hey all, just wanted to post some quick general questions. So first off, I wanted to know if you all use auto-brightness or if you use the brightness widget to adjust the brightness based on ambient light. Second, when it comes to closing out apps from memory, do you only use the recent apps capacitive button, or do you also go into settings>battery and click on all of the available X's to the right of each app to close out the apps that way as well? Just asking these questions as I'm trying to maximize my daily battery life on top of LK kernel. Thanks!
-Matt
Roflwafflez said:
Hey all, just wanted to post some quick general questions. So first off, I wanted to know if you all use auto-brightness or if you use the brightness widget to adjust the brightness based on ambient light. Second, when it comes to closing out apps from memory, do you only use the recent apps capacitive button, or do you also go into settings>battery and click on all of the available X's to the right of each app to close out the apps that way as well? Just asking these questions as I'm trying to maximize my daily battery life on top of LK kernel. Thanks!
-Matt
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I usually allow Sense to handle the killing of task. I know some thinks it does so very aggressively, but it seems fine to me.
As for brightness, I leave mine set at 50% and call it a day. My phone goes off the charger at 6:30 a.m and goes back on at 4:00pm. I'm usually around 50/55% when I get home to my charger. That's using Twitter religiously as well as Google Now for scheduling appointment. Also checking forums.
One battery saving tip I have for you though is this: Put your phone in Airplane mode if you know you won't be using for a while or if where you are currently doesnt have a very good signal.
Roflwafflez said:
Hey all, just wanted to post some quick general questions. So first off, I wanted to know if you all use auto-brightness or if you use the brightness widget to adjust the brightness based on ambient light. Second, when it comes to closing out apps from memory, do you only use the recent apps capacitive button, or do you also go into settings>battery and click on all of the available X's to the right of each app to close out the apps that way as well? Just asking these questions as I'm trying to maximize my daily battery life on top of LK kernel. Thanks!
-Matt
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some things I do when Im away from home:
- Don't use autosync (put the sync widget on a home screen and when you want to sync your stuff just press it and it will sync everything once when you need it)
- Use wifi as much as possible
- Keep brightness at a comfortable level but try to keep it around 50% or less. I keep mine at about 25~30%
I use the recent apps button and clear out apps when im done with them (I can't really say if this actually kills the apps or not or how effective it is for saving battery)
Turn off unnecessary syncs. Do you really need facebook to update every 30min? Weather to update every hour? Evernote to update every hour?
Disable those syncs (especially facebook), and I usually see a saving of 20% by the end of day.
Well what I do is, since I have root access, I use juice defender to control my auto sync, CPU speed, usage and brightness. And since I did that my battery is around 20 percent at 10 pm. And I take it off charge at around 6 30 am.
Sent from my HTC evo 3D GSM
Thanks for the input! Much appreciated, going to put some of this into use.
-Matt :good:
Roflwafflez said:
Thanks for the input! Much appreciated, going to put some of this into use.
-Matt :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For me: 1) As mentioned, first check those syncs 2) I don't have Facebook installed, if I want to check it, I do thru the browser 3) I use the Power Contol widget, it has the screen brightness toggle. I use it at 0-15% in the evening indoors and morning, 1/3 generally and Auto during the day in my truck. If I'm going to use the internet for a couple hours session, I'll tether to my HP Mini, saves screen time on the phone. At times during the workday and I have no use for the internet nor have any impending emails I absolutely need to receive, I will turn off Mobile data, that alone will save you tons of battery and you will still receive text messages and phone calls. If I'm in a fringe area I will do the same, turn off Mobile data or watch your battery drain right before your eyes. If you use Airplane mode, I'm sure you know you won't be able to text of receive/make calls. GSam Battery Monitor is a good app to monitor your battery usage and what apps are being used. Oh, and yes, I just use the Recent Apps to wipe out apps I'm done with and let Sense handle the rest.
I just used Juice defender to manage my phone. Works well.
Sent from my HTC Butterfly using xda premium

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