Here are some tips on how to fix the Galaxy A8 battery drain issue when the phone is idle. Samsung launched the new Galaxy A8 and Galaxy A8+ phones earlier this year as a substitute to their three different offerings under the Samsung Galaxy A series. Samsung Galaxy A8 was launched with Android 7.1.1 Nougat, with Samsung Experience (also known as Samsung TouchWiz) on it. And we all know how slow does Samsung UX get over time. Not just slow, your phone starts to drain battery really fast.
When your phone is all new and you do not have many apps on your phone, Samsung Galaxy A8 will keep on performing great. However, over time, you will notice a significant battery drain with your phone, it gets slow and you start feeling the need to charge your phone multiple times a day. That’s when you realize the Samsung Galaxy A8 or the Galaxy A8+ has a battery drain issue, even when the phone is kept idle and not in use. We have some tips and solutions below that may help you fix this problem on your Samsung Galaxy A8.
Fix Galaxy A8 Battery Drain When Idle / Not In Use Problem
One thing all of us Android users (specially Samsung users) need to to agree on. Some apps can be a big battery hog. Also the Samsung firmware doesn’t go easy on battery, memory and overall performance of the phone. No matter how big batteries these Samsung Galaxy phones come with, there is always an issue of phone dying too early than expected, or getting slow over time. Android phones have many system apps and background processes running in the phone at all times. And the same has been noticed in the Samsung Galaxy A8.
We have compiled a list of tips that you can use for your own Samsung Galaxy A8 and the best part is, you do not even need to be rooted for these to work. So let’s see how to fix the battery drain problem on the Galaxy A8 and Galaxy A8+ devices:
Increase Screen on Time (SOT) on Samsung Galaxy A8 / Galaxy A8+
We measure Android battery in terms of SOT. This is the approximate time your screen has been on and in use by you. Samsung flagship devices have a Screen On Time of about 4-5 hours, on average. On the other hand, I get about 6-7 hours of SOT on my Google Pixel 2 XL — all thanks to stock Android with no Samsung Experience UX modifications or features. You can increase screen on time by getting rid of a few features and services from your phone. They may be useful for some, but they use most of your battery when the phone is not in use or when idle.
These are the features / services that you need to disable on your phone:
- Location Mode
- Google Location History
- Google Location Sharing
- Android Device Manager / Google Find Phone
- Synchronization services
- Samsung Galaxy Apps Store
Once you disable these apps and services on your phone, you will soon start noticing a significant improvement in your battery timing. Most importantly, your screen on time will increase which will make it possible to your phone a lot more.
Solution #1 – Change or Disable Location Mode
Our very first recommended tip is to change or disable location mode on your Samsung Galaxy A8. GPS / location services on any Android phone uses a lot of battery and can be the number of cause of battery drain issues on your phone. When your phone is idle in a pocket or kept on a table, it keeps on pinging Google services to collect your location data. All this is synced to your Google account and can be accessed via Google My Account from a computer.
Go to Settings > Connections > Location to change your location method. You will get a screen similar to the above screenshot.
Solution #2 – Disable Android Device Manager / Google Find Phone
Another important use of location services is to keep your phone safe and help you find it when the gets lost. However, at times, this may cause severe battery drain problems on your phone. As much as it is risky, you can disable Android Device Manager (now known as Google Find Phone) from your phone and see if it helps you increase battery life.
Solution #3 – Disable Synchronization of Services Not In Use
When you add a new account to your phone, all related services start syncing automatically. For example, if you add a secondary email account on the Samsung Galaxy A8 or Galaxy A8+ and you only use Gmail with it. However, your phone will also enable Google Photos, Maps, Google account, Google Contacts etc. This uses battery when your phone is not in use.
Solution #4 – Disable Samsung Galaxy Apps Store and Updates
Samsung has its very own Galaxy Apps store that allows you to download Android apps and games. Using this app, several of Samsung system apps are also updated. And most promotional games can be downloaded for free from the Galaxy Apps store. This app runs in the background to check for app updates, and then downloads and install these updates automatically on your phone. Samsung Galaxy Apps may also use your battery if you are around a slow WiFi or data connection as it would keep on trying to download the updates.
Solution #5 – Factory Reset Phone
This should be a last option, but only if nothing above works to improve your battery drain issues on the phone. In many cases, a factory reset refreshes your phone and you get to start over again with new set of apps and games. In this way you can flush out any bad app that may or may not have been causing battery drain on your phone. Samsung Galaxy A8 will be much faster and give you much better battery timing after a full reset of the device.
We hope these tips would help you find out and fix the battery drain issue on the Samsung Galaxy A8 and Galaxy A8+. Let us know in the comments below about the solution that worked for you.
