How to Fix Wifi Battery Drain on Marshmallow

  Update: The higher “computed power use” for WiFi has been confirmed to be an algorithmic error on Marshmallow. So WiFi isn’t draining battery. The solution below works to fix the wrong reporting.

WiFi draining battery on your Android device running the freshest release of Android (Marshmallow)? You’re not alone. +Nomaan Mohammad over at Google+ found the
“computed power use” (new feature on Marshmallow) for WiFi higher than anything else on his device, which certainly tells that WiFi is taking the most of battery power.

However, Nomaan also mentions that this was probably wrong reporting by the OS than a real battery drain by WiFi. The stats reported WiFi using more battery power than Screen, which is almost unreal.

Anyway, if you’re seeing the issue on your device as well, below is a fix for this:

Note: Before you proceed, backup your WiFi passwords and other network settings through Google’s backup service.

  1. Go to Settings > Location > open Menu (three dots, top-right corner) > select Scanning > Turn Off WiFi scanning.
  2. Go back to Settings > Backup and reset > Network settings reset > tap “Reset settings”.
  3. Reboot your device.

via Google+

Posted by
Shivam Malani

Shivam is our resident designer and web developer who also enjoys writing. He loves to meditate, drive on the freeways and hunt for snipers during his Call Of Duty playtime. Email: [email protected]

10 Comments

  1. So, this fixes wrong reporting BUT not the battery drain, is that right?

  2. So, this fixes wrong reporting BUT not the battery drain, is that right?

  3. Marshmallow is a real battery killer. Jellybean had about 2x battery life

    The “Network Reset” procedure doesn’t work. The app freezes, and the only thing I get from it is a dialog asking me whether I want to kill the app, wait, or send a report. After that sending a report, my phone has become unusably slow and I’m forced to reset.

    Google really dropped the ball on this release. Been searching and trying since I updated a few weeks a go.

  4. Marshmallow is a real battery killer. Jellybean had about 2x battery life

    The “Network Reset” procedure doesn’t work. The app freezes, and the only thing I get from it is a dialog asking me whether I want to kill the app, wait, or send a report. After that sending a report, my phone has become unusably slow and I’m forced to reset.

    Google really dropped the ball on this release. Been searching and trying since I updated a few weeks a go.

  5. thanks…

  6. Hi, The best ideas that I have noticed was on Volt daddy (just google it) Gotta be the most detailed info on batteries and this things that I have found.

  7. Hi, The best ideas that I have noticed was on Volt daddy (just google it) Gotta be the most detailed info on batteries and this things that I have found.

  8. I found that disabling chrome and using a different browser like Dolphin solved the battery drain, although Wi-Fi still shows as the biggest drainer in battery reports. The drain on battery percentage is not as much as it was when Chrome was enabled.

  9. I found that disabling chrome and using a different browser like Dolphin solved the battery drain, although Wi-Fi still shows as the biggest drainer in battery reports. The drain on battery percentage is not as much as it was when Chrome was enabled.

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