very high mobile phone battery drain on Android: Tesla app using 49%

[John G Upstate]

HI All,

In the past few days, my mobile phone battery has drained very quickly. Android reports that the Tesla app is using 49% of the battery. I also recently got the 2019.36 firmware update for the car. Does anybody have a work around for this problem?

Thanks

 

[Ken's M3]

My S9+ shows no unusual battery drain from the tesla app. I have the 2019.36 update.

 

[Xevex]

2019.36 here also.
Just checked the battery usage for last 7 days and the Tesla app was in 18th, with 2.2% drain. Very low consumption with my S10e.

Side note, the 1st was Chrome with 198.4% drain gotta have more real life lol

 

[Kleenerth3]

Motorola Android 5e, update 8.0.0.
Tesla app 3.10.1
Tesla update version 2019.36.2.1
1.8% battery usage. Not a problem on my phone. Only thing I noticed is that no homelink is displayed on the controls pg. Good luck with yours.

 

[Mattzilla]

Very high (11.3%) battery drain over 12 hours and only being opened once or twice on an S10. It's the highest consumption item on my app list currently. App version 3.10.1-384.

 

[John G Upstate]

I'm the original poster. Just for reference, I'm on a OnePlus 6 with Android 9, patch level 2019-08.01. Tesla app is 3.10.1-384 Oct 14, 2019. I will post further if I can resolve this problem.

 

[SlimJim]

OP should try switching to iPhone.

 

[garth_angst]

Try a reboot of phone. I had high percentage when I first got car in May. I was on Moto G5+ and was draining very fast. I wasn't even using the app at all. I rebooted, I may have even force stopped the app. Honestly, I don't know why the app needs to run anyway. The bluetooth acts as the key to open and run the car.

 

[Wennfred]

Check to see if your battery is heating up, also what’s your battery health %

Fred

 

[Falkirk]

I'm also on a OnePlus 6, no problems lately on the latest version of the app and firmware. Once though I remember the Tesla app used tons of battery but a quick reboot resolved it.

 

[John G Upstate]

I'm also on a OnePlus 6, no problems lately on the latest version of the app and firmware. Once though I remember the Tesla app used tons of battery but a quick reboot resolved it.

Hi Falkirk, thanks for your suggestions and thanks for responding. I tried both rebooting and also reinstalling with no improvement yesterday. I turned on the Android battery saver overnight and that seemed to help but I don't find that a really great solution. It might be a workaround if there is some permanent solution coming.

I just turned off the permissions for location service for the Tesla app to see if that will mitigate the problem. Presumably, this would also disable the ability to summon the car. I saw in the Google Play Store reviews that another person is complaining about a high battery drain on the Tesla app recently. He indicates that it is related to overuse of location services by the application. So maybe this will solve the problem. If so, i will post about it. I've turned the Android battery saver off at the same time.

Still it's puzzling that we have exactly the same phone and car firmware with different results. I have two SIM cards in the phone and they are both turned on. If you are only using one SIM, maybe there is some side effect that is causing the battery drain. However, It's not clear to me why this would suddenly start happening unless it is related to the car firmware update, which I got three or four days ago. The battery drain is pretty dramatic.

AIDA64 reports the phone battery health as 'good'

 

[bijan]

Honestly, I don't know why the app needs to run anyway. The bluetooth acts as the key to open and run the car.

It's not just detecting the bluetooth that acts as the key. There's a handshake protocol through the Tesla app/widget to prove that the phone is actually close enough and not being relay attacked.

 

[John G Upstate]

Hi All, I'm the original poster. Disabling location permissions for the Tesla app returned my battery usage to normal - my phone is usable again.

One Plus 6, Android 9 (Pie), API level 28, Security Patch Level 2019-08-01. This is a dual SIM phone and both SIM slots are populated and active. The Tesla App is the Oct 14, 2019 version (3.10.1-384). Presumably disabling the location permission breaks the summons feature somehow, but I have not tested this. Climate and controls in the app work fine with disabled location permission.

The car firmware is 2019.36.2.1 (Model 3 LR AWD), VIN 43xxxx

From the discussion, it seems like not all Android phones or even all OnePlus 6 phones have this problem, so it may be something specific and unusual about my phone. However, the location permission causing excessive battery drain is reported in reviews of the Tesla app at the Google Play Store.

 

[Gondi63]

Nothing strange here on Pixel 3a

 

[Falkirk]

Good to hear you found a way to keep it under control. I checked my Tesla app and it's Not optimized under the Battery optimization setting because some time back it seemed to help with the unlocked of the car but with the new phone I'm not sure it's needed. My phone is also just one SIM.

 

[Sheilsys]

HI All,

In the past few days, my mobile phone battery has drained very quickly. Android reports that the Tesla app is using 49% of the battery. I also recently got the 2019.36 firmware update for the car. Does anybody have a work around for this problem?

Thanks

Did u ever get your answer on this? My phone is dying at 4pm!