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Just watch the energy consumption. When in China - and having "must-have" Chinese apps like Baidu installed - my smartphone lasts not even half as long as "in t

Just watch the energy consumption. When in China - and having "must-have" Chinese apps like Baidu installed - my smartphone lasts not even half as long as "in the West". The battery is drained in record time. Once I remove the apps after my trip, I am back to normal. Whatever these apps doing in the background, it takes a lot of energy. That is probably one of the reasons why you can rent power packs literally everywhere in China.

BiasRegularizer 5y ago
VPN might have a part in this too. I remember when I was in China, I was connected to ExpressVPN 24/7 (whatsapp, gmail etc), and the battery drain was visibly higher than when I had the VPN off.
angio 5y ago
The usual suspect is that apps cannot rely on Google Play Services for push notifications and so they keep a background task to fetch them.
- zinekeller 5y ago
  > The usual suspect is that apps cannot rely on Google Play Services for push notifications and so they keep a background task to fetch them. Surprisingly, that not all of the reason, although push notifications does count. It's like Facebook's (Android) app (which famously tries to not remove something as much as possible due to bad app design), but much more heavier. This is why Chinese Android builds (without Google Services) has heavy-handed "battery optimizations" (more like killing apps).
b3lvedere 5y ago
"When in China - and having "must-have" Chinese apps like Baidu installed". This is mandatory in China?
- bsenftner 5y ago
  It has essential features, like a better than google maps street & building maps, for the average day to day needs of one in China. Not running these apps would be like going to meet someone, but you have no face or hands. These app are that integrated into their society, without them you are not really there.
- helen___keller 5y ago
  Google maps and such don't function correctly, so for a modern smartphone experience it's necessary, but not strictly mandatory
NamTaf 5y ago
What platform? I found no battery change wtih WeChat on my iPhone, though I can force-kill it and as I understand it does nothing.
avianes 5y ago
> I remove the apps after my trip So maybe it's not just the apps that make a difference, it could also be your location. Your battery can drain faster when your phone is searching more frequently for a cell signal. And this can happen on trips because of the different local cellular operators and the different frequency bands used. This is of course only a hypothesis.

BiasRegularizer 5y ago

VPN might have a part in this too. I remember when I was in China, I was connected to ExpressVPN 24/7 (whatsapp, gmail etc), and the battery drain was visibly higher than when I had the VPN off.

angio 5y ago

The usual suspect is that apps cannot rely on Google Play Services for push notifications and so they keep a background task to fetch them.

zinekeller 5y ago
> The usual suspect is that apps cannot rely on Google Play Services for push notifications and so they keep a background task to fetch them. Surprisingly, that not all of the reason, although push notifications does count. It's like Facebook's (Android) app (which famously tries to not remove something as much as possible due to bad app design), but much more heavier. This is why Chinese Android builds (without Google Services) has heavy-handed "battery optimizations" (more like killing apps).

b3lvedere 5y ago

"When in China - and having "must-have" Chinese apps like Baidu installed". This is mandatory in China?

bsenftner 5y ago
It has essential features, like a better than google maps street & building maps, for the average day to day needs of one in China. Not running these apps would be like going to meet someone, but you have no face or hands. These app are that integrated into their society, without them you are not really there.
helen___keller 5y ago
Google maps and such don't function correctly, so for a modern smartphone experience it's necessary, but not strictly mandatory

NamTaf 5y ago

What platform? I found no battery change wtih WeChat on my iPhone, though I can force-kill it and as I understand it does nothing.

avianes 5y ago

> I remove the apps after my trip So maybe it's not just the apps that make a difference, it could also be your location. Your battery can drain faster when your phone is searching more frequently for a cell signal. And this can happen on trips because of the different local cellular operators and the different frequency bands used. This is of course only a hypothesis.