If you’ve recently encountered any problems regarding battery draining itself far too quickly on your Android smartphone, then you might be subjected to an Android bug in the system that affects not only you but also numerous other users.
Multiple news reports and tweets state that the latest version of Google Play Services (version 18.3.82) is the cause of massive battery drainage for numerous Android handsets. The complaints keep on coming from users all over the world, and they won’t stop unless the problem is solved.
Google Play Services and Battery Draining Problems
The app is a background service that joins Android apps together for better communication between them. It also connects apps to other services, like Google Maps and Google Sign-In. It also eases the update process for apps, without having you to update the entire Operating System to do so.
Even if Google states that Google Play Services doesn’t make your battery go out of juice faster, that does not mean it isn’t doing that. Several Android users have reported on several occasions that the app uses a lot more battery than some apps use combined.
To figure out if this is the case for your device, try these steps:
- Go to Settings on your Android handset
- Tap Battery -> Battery Usage
- See if Google Play Services is at the top of the list
Fixing the Android Bug that Causes Battery Draining Issues
Sadly, Android won’t let you “Force Stop” his application just like you do on others, and it will require you to do some extra work.
The problems might happen because of the most recent version of the app, so we suggest you go back to the previous version. To do that you can download the previous version in APK format.
Steps:
- Download the Google Play Services app for your Android handset
- Activate the option “Install unknown apps” on your smartphone’s Settings
- Install the app
- Access Apps ->Google Play Services -> Data Usage
- Disable “Background Data.”
Take note that this method might cause bugs and glitches on your Android device so you can do this method at your own expense.
Dorothy has been a journalist for ten years and has been working with the Tech News Watch staff since the beginning of the news site. Her main contribution to Tech News Watch are mobile, IT and science news, with a focus on software updates and great outer space discoveries.