Connect with us

Android

How to Fix Bad Samsung Galaxy S7 Battery Life

Published

on

In this guide we’ll show you how to fix bad Samsung Galaxy S7 battery life problems. Samsung’s S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge are getting a little older, but they’re still great phones. Especially after the recent Galaxy Android 8.0 Oreo update. They just need a little TLC now that they’re no longer new phones.

These devices are over two years old and have received countless updates over the years to fix issues. And while the Galaxy S7 Oreo update fixed most of them, some new ones surfaced at the same time. Don’t go to your carrier store for help, we have some solutions for you below.

Read: 10 Common Galaxy S7 Problems & How to Fix Them

Our tips will cover everything from misbehaving apps, changing settings for a better experience, software changes, and other problems in Android Nougat or Android 8.0 Oreo. Even with a big 3,000 mAh battery on the Galaxy S7 and a bigger 3,600 mAh battery for the Galaxy S7 Edge, battery life can always be a little better.

Galaxy-S7-display

How to Fix Bad Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge Battery Life

Whether you just got the Galaxy S7 Android 8.0 Oreo update, or you’re on the older Android 7.0 Nougat, these phones have multiple battery saving features, performance modes, and even quick charging technology. Combine that with our suggestions below, and they’ll last longer than ever before.

Read: Android 8.0 Oreo vs Android 7.0 Nougat: What’s New

This guide will help you get better battery life on Samsung smartphones and prepare you for the future. Abnormal battery drain can happen at any moment, and you’ll want to know how to fix it. Whether that be the Oculus app draining the battery or something else. For what it’s worth, the Oreo update should drastically improve battery life. If you just got Oreo and are having problems, here are some general Galaxy Oreo Problems & Fixes.

Find Apps Eating Up Your Battery

The first recommendation we always make if battery life isn’t as expected is check on third-party applications. Keeping an eye on your apps is one of the biggest yet easiest steps to take. They can drain a battery faster than anything else, at times.

Read: How to Free Up Space on the Galaxy S7

Whether these are stock apps that came on your phone, or 3rd party apps downloaded from the Google Play Store, there is a chance a rogue app will put a huge dent in battery life. This goes for all Android devices, not just the Galaxy S7.

If you use an application a lot, it’s going to drain your battery. But there are also times where bugs or issues might cause an app to go rogue and start abnormally draining juice. That’s been happening with the Oculus app that comes pre-installed for the Gear VR headset, whether you use it or not. If something is misbehaving, you’ll see an orange icon on the settings wheel in the notification bar. Or, follow these steps.

S7-edge-battery

Above is a screenshot showing a good day with the Galaxy S7 Edge. Getting nearly 23 hours of usage, with more than 4 hours remaining and over 4 hours of the important “screen on time”. Battery life will vary from person to person, but that is an average day for me.

The biggest drain on battery life is “Android System” shown on the bottom left of the screenshot above. That’s a bit high, but I used the device a lot. Things like Android system, Android OS, or the screen (display) should be at the top of this list. If a random app is near the top, that’s a problem. If so, uninstall that app to prevent it from draining the battery. You can reinstall it later, too.

Oculus Battery Life Fix

Users have noticed the Oculus VR app is totally draining the S7 battery, and some are dealing with this on Oreo. The Oculus Rooms feature is the culprit, and we recommend users disable the app completely if you don’t use the Gear VR.

Head to Settings > Applications > Application Manager and scroll down to Oculus. Select the app and choose the “Disable” or “Uninstall” button. This will completely disable all aspects of this app and potentially fix your problem. Alternatively, owners can turn off auto-updates inside the Oculus app, or disable and uninstall the Rooms feature too.

Reboot Your Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge

Oddly enough, I’ve found that if battery life is dropping at a fast rate after pulling it off the charger, there’s a reason for it. GPS, WiFi, or an app could be acting up. Something isn’t right, but we don’t know what yet. A quick reboot will often fix this, and save owners from dealing with a dead battery later in the day.

If the phone is getting hot for no reason, lagging or working unusually hard, long press the power button and choose “Restart”. Another option is to press and hold power and the home key for 7-8 seconds to do a hard reboot. This won’t erase anything but restarts the phone with a clean slate.

Screen Brightness & Sleep Time

Having a big 5.1 or 5.5-inch Quad-HD display watching videos or playing games at full brightness can easily drain a battery. Screen-on time under the battery stats page in settings is important, as the display will usually be at the top of the list. Here’s how to change it:

  • Go to Settings 
  • Click on Display
  • and select Brightness

Choose a level that works best for you. Leaving brightness on auto is easier, but it’s not the best route for battery life. Personally, I use somewhere around 30-40% brightness at all times. You can also change this quickly in the notification pulldown bar on most Samsung phones.

S7-brightness

While we’re in display settings some owners will want to lower the “screen timeout” option. This is how long the phone stays on before the screen dims and turns off when it’s not in use. By default, it’s set to 1 minute but try 30 seconds instead. This actually makes a huge difference when you turn on your Galaxy S7 150 times a day, as the screen stays on for a minute at a time, each time you use it. Turn the Screen Timeout down to a lower setting, or remember to hit the sleep/power button when you’re done using your phone.

WiFi, 4G LTE, Bluetooth & GPS

If you aren’t using WiFi or Bluetooth, you might as well turn them off. Even though they’re minimal when it comes to battery drain. It’s one more quick and easy step. If you’re in a WiFi location (coffee shop) yet not using WiFi, certainly turn it off as the device will continuously search for a network. It’s a huge battery saver at home to use WiFi, but if it isn’t being used, disable it. Bluetooth being enabled isn’t much of an issue, but while we’re here, disable it if you haven’t a need for it. These are right at the top of the notification bar, or the first few options in settings.

Then, using things like Tethering will drain your battery so use it only when necessary. Anything using 4G LTE and data often will drain the battery. Use WiFi as often as you can, then turn it off when it is not needed.

S7-location

However, the biggest drain on your battery is location services and GPS. So using Google Maps, letting Facebook messenger use GPS to find your location and other things of that nature. The GPS chip is very power-hungry and can kill a battery extremely quick, especially on the Galaxy S7.

The image above is what we recommend. Head to Settings > Privacy & safety > Location > and select Location Method, then choose “Battery Saver” or the middle WiFi and Mobile networks. Unless you need Google Maps daily, don’t use GPS for location, as it will be a big drain on battery life.

Use a Black Wallpaper

Switching to a black or dark wallpaper could help deliver better Galaxy S7 battery life thanks to the way Samsung’s AMOLED display consumes power. By default, the background image is black and blue, but the darker the wallpaper the better. This is a small difference, but everything adds up in the long run.

After you’ve downloaded one go to Settings > Personal > Wallpaper > From Gallery > and then set your black Galaxy S7 wallpaper.

Install Battery Guru

The Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge software have plenty of battery saving features we’ll go over below, but if you install the free SnapDragon Battery Guru app you’ll see better Galaxy S7 battery life right away. This app learns usage habits and where you connect to WiFi to know when settings turn on and off. After learning your habits these settings will turn on and off automatically. This only works with the US version of the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge as they use a Snapdragon processor. Other models use Samsung’s own in-house chip.

This app actually works on any Snapdragon powered device, and so far we’ve seen great results on the Galaxy S7. It basically turns features on and off for you, rather than you messing with them all day long.

Galaxy S7 Software Features

The Samsung Galaxy S7 has a lot of software features that can hurt battery life, and others that improve it. As a result, here’s how to disable a lot of that stuff you’ll never use.

By default, the Galaxy S7 has tons of gesture and motion controls enabled out of the box. Like swiping a hand over the screen to take a screenshot, keeping the screen on if the sensor above the screen senses eyes looking at it, and more. You can even put the phone to your ear while reading a text to instantly call that person. These are helpful, but they drain the battery waiting to be used, and most people don’t even know they exist.

Screenshot_20160331-122127

Head to Settings > Advanced Features > and turn off things like Smart Capture, Palm Swipe Capture, Direct Call, Easy Mute, and disable “Smart Stay” in the display settings. All of these will lower battery life and I’m willing to bet you never use them.

Battery Saver And Performance Modes

The Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge also have battery saving and performance modes you can use. The Galaxy Android 7.0 and Android 8.0 Oreo update removed the battery saver modes, and replaced them with “Performance modes”.

If you’re looking to save battery life or improve performance, here’s everything you need to know about Galaxy S7 performance modes. This can lower the screen brightness, slow down the processor, and sip on your battery when it’s needed most.

Screen Shot 2016-03-31 at 12.27.06 PM

When you enable Power saving mode, it will limit the quad-core processor’s performance, lower screen brightness, and overall frame rate, turn off the touch key lights, turn off vibration feedback, and reduce the screen timeout feature mentioned earlier. It’s a great way to get through an entire night when there’s only 30% left.

Read: Samsung Galaxy Android 7.0 Nougat Problems: 5 Things to Know

Also, with Android 7.0 Nougat Samsung changed the screen resolution to 1080p, instead of Quad-HD. This helps battery life and most don’t even notice the difference. However, you can always change it back if you’d like. We recommend keeping the screen resolution at 1080p for the best Galaxy S7 battery life.

Clean Up Old Files

While it might not make sense, cleaning up old files and freeing up space on your phone can and will improve battery life. After 2+ years of downloading apps, uninstalling apps and software updates, you probably have a lot of leftover residual files all over your device.

Read: How to Free Up Space on the Galaxy S7

By following our guide in the link above you’ll free up space on your phone, clean it up so it runs better, and potentially improve battery life all at the same time. This is one of those steps people should do every 5-6 months, but most don’t. Give it a try to improve your S7 experience.

Other Quick Tips

Each one of these small but very helpful tweaks will actually make a noticeable difference in battery life. Users can always get apps like BetteryBatteryStats to dive in even deeper. It’s what we used to find the Oculus issue. It’s a good app for tracking battery usage, finding apps that misbehave, and understanding how you use your phone.

Other Details & Check for Updates

In closing, we want to share a few other details. For one, make sure your phone is running the latest software update from your carrier or Samsung. We’ve seen multiple updates to the always-on display app, performance modes and more throughout 2017 and 2018. Make sure you’re running the latest software by heading to Settings > About Phone > and checking for software updates. Or, get up to date on the Google Play Store, and check for updates in the Galaxy App Store too. That way you have the latest version of Samsung’s own apps.

We doubt the Galaxy S7 will get an update to Android 9.0 P in 2019, so this could be the last major software update. That said, Samsung will continue to release security updates and fix bugs moving forward.

Read: 14 Exciting Official Galaxy S7 Accessories

Above are some great Samsung accessories, and that list includes a battery case that nearly doubles S7 battery life. Meaning the battery can last 2-4 days if you buy one. Get a battery case, portable chargers, or other things if needed.

We also suggest using Airplane mode when you travel, or won’t need your phone. Airplane mode turns off all radios, data, and services and most phones can last 3-4 days in Airplane mode. Then, occasional device restarts can help flush out the system and memory, giving your device a clean slate for the day or week. And if you’re experiencing extremely bad battery life, do a factory data reset and erase your Galaxy S7. This is the last resort, but it can and will fix almost any major problem.

These are just a few of the many options available to users. Try a new launcher, download third-party text apps, or even better, uninstall Facebook. If you’re still not satisfied with battery life or need more juice while out and about, take advantage of the fast charging technology in the Galaxy S7 and buy a fast portable battery charger. Before you go, take a peek at these best Galaxy S7 cases from our slideshow below.

20 Best Samsung Galaxy S7 Cases

Galaxy S7 S-View Flip Cover (Clear)

Galaxy S7 S-View Flip Cover (Clear)

First up is a fan-favorite, the official Samsung S-View flip case. For the S7 Samsung actually has three different S-View Flip cover cases. There's the traditional flip cover with a window like previous years, then a completely clear one and an LED flip case. Our favorite is the clear case. This offers a full view of the entire screen, not just the small cutout like previous years.

This case gives you quick access to information on the screen, even when the case is shut. It's at-a-glance information, and it's one of Samsung's most popular cases. You can even answer a call or take a photo without opening the front. This one also has a new notification bar (while the case is closed) allowing users access to more than just missed calls or texts. 

Buy it Now for $59.99 in three colors

77 Comments

77 Comments

  1. Suraj Raut

    03/31/2016 at 11:44 pm

    This post is misleading. I have galaxy s7 and it battery last for 2.5 days with wifi on, play music for 2-3 hrs per day and play games 3-4 hrs per day. This is the best phone in market with respect to battery life. If Galaxy S7 batter is poor then what you can say about IPhone 6 or 6S. As per the writer, Iphone battery should be worst and that too after having hefty price tag. Please do not mislead users.

    • Jb

      04/05/2016 at 7:14 pm

      I just switched to the Samsung Galaxy s7 edge from the iPhone 6 and let me tell you… The battery life on the Samsung is way worse than the iPhone. I’ve noticed I’m down to 15 percent from 7 am to 10pm compared to the iPhone I would only be down to 35 percent. Talk about bad battery? The Samsung has taken the cake so far and now I’m stuck with it for another year or so.

      • Ploperos

        03/15/2017 at 7:11 pm

        iPhone battery is not better hahahaha. Good one though, I giggled. Either you’re paid or delusional.

    • Raphael

      04/19/2016 at 9:32 pm

      how? what are your settings? i last barely a day playing Spotify here and there ans surfing the net.

    • Chad W

      04/27/2016 at 9:27 pm

      Do you have the S7 or S7 Edge? I just got the S7 and browsing the internet in Chrome and doing email for about 40 minutes dropped by battery by 18%. On my old Windows Phone, it would normally drop maybe 8% and on iPhone, even less.

      I’m trading in my phone for a new S7 tomorrow to see if that will fix this issue.
      Did you do anything special with your settings to obtain such long battery life?

    • Paul Kiener

      06/25/2016 at 3:25 pm

      You’re a paid hack. Shut it.

      • Ivan Samuelson

        01/16/2017 at 9:31 am

        Anger management issues? My phone lasts all day if I’d let it. Problem is I keep playing games all day. lol. Otherwise, it would last long. It drops maybe 4% over an 8-hour period if I’m not on it which is usually at night when I go to bed.

    • Kurt Cauchi

      07/20/2016 at 3:07 am

      I’m about the same, I get just over 2 days but I could easily get 3 days if I tried.

    • X

      04/10/2017 at 5:32 pm

      Yea speak for yourself, please don’t mislead users. 2.5 days with 3-4 hrs a day of gaming which is basically over 8 hours of screen on time. Not even including anything else you are doing GPS, background apps, etc. There’s absolutely no way your phone gets that much battery out of 3600 mAh. I have the s7 Edge and it’s not even close to 8 hours of SOT.

    • Allen mantle

      07/23/2019 at 5:52 am

      I have a galaxy s7 it gets hot on the middle chip and the battery is dien fast I dont chaged the battery and do everything it says on here to do and nothing is working like I need HELP asap my next step is changing the mother board CAN SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME ASAP PLEASE…..THANKS

  2. Chad Berger

    04/01/2016 at 10:21 am

    The Snapdragon Battery Guru app isn’t compatible with Android M. So… how did you test it again?

    • Gaming Zone

      04/28/2016 at 4:39 am

      Samsung’s engineers note that battery life on a 3600 mAh battery — like the one found in the Galaxy S7 edge — could be extended by 40 minutes just by moving to this new launcher built with Vulkan.
      Source = https://goo.gl/KH2wGv

  3. Joe

    04/01/2016 at 2:53 pm

    this post is useless. you mention nothing about how to solve for android system draining that much. which is the biggest problem among SD820 users.

  4. Kossi Hermann

    04/03/2016 at 4:44 am

    To download Snapdragon battery guru, go to your browser and tape and tape “download Snapdragon battery guru”and follow the steps , to easy. And also you could download “doze app” works great for me, my phone stay the hall day, the last app may be the best one it’s battery time app powerful and to easy to set up…

    • Steve Loughlin

      05/01/2016 at 12:31 pm

      Derp… What about “not compatible with Marshmallow” do you not understand? So, yes it is easy to spread FUD. It is not easy provide relevant information when you don’t have a S7 with a SD920 to test your BS before you post it.

  5. Sparks09

    04/04/2016 at 1:13 pm

    Hm, what is the best way to fix battery problems? Answer is to make new normal batteries which can work properly. Just look there are many other companies who do great batteries like those which are charhing themselves in seconds made by NEUTRINO INC. and soon will be oficially released. I mean, is it so hard for samsung to make something similar? If small companies can why samsung cant? Or can but does not?

    • Ivan Samuelson

      01/16/2017 at 9:29 am

      uh, rechargeable battery technology is where it’s at right now and each recharge reduces the life-span of the battery. Basically, the statement is, 1 full recharge a day should give you at least 2 years of use. If you charge more than that a day, you are reducing the lifespan of your battery and might not make it through two years. It is what it is.

  6. Shirley

    04/09/2016 at 9:01 am

    hoperfull Super and Easiest 0nl!nee Home opportunity for all. make 87 Dollars per hour and Make 2512 Dollars per month.All you just Need an Internet Connection and aComputer To Make Some Extra cash. Visit this link…… See More

  7. aaa

    04/09/2016 at 9:54 am

    i really want to like this phone because i’m stuck with it for now but coming from iphone 6 which is even an older model makes it very difficult. Iphone is way more efficient when it comes to power management compared to the s7. It’s so ironical that you get so many features from s7 that you end up turning off one by one just to conserve power… (off topic) another issue is in the front camera. S7 overprocess too much that it makes pictures look like it’s obviously airbrushed. Iphone 6 takes more natural selfies….oh well

    • Cuong

      04/09/2016 at 3:23 pm

      Just change the skin tone level to 0. It’ll make your face look more natural, hated how it made my face look so fake. (make sure your phone isn’t on beauty mode, but normal mode)

  8. Scooter

    04/20/2016 at 10:52 am

    My Sprint S7 battery life has sucked since I booted it up. I’ve tried every trick in the book and nothing has improved my S7 battery life.

  9. Fred

    04/20/2016 at 12:30 pm

    only reason I got this phone is battery life on droid turbo started sucking and now it sucks on my new S7… making it easy for me to try I-phone next

  10. Cara

    04/28/2016 at 11:50 am

    My new Glaxy s7 has been on for 2 hours and it is down from 100% to 55%. I switched to this from the S4 becase I wanted 24 hours of battery life. At this rate I may get 4 hours out of it. MAYBE!!

    • Gaming Zone

      04/28/2016 at 10:32 pm

      You should have wait for the new update.

      • Steve Loughlin

        05/01/2016 at 12:51 pm

        Agreed. Once Vzw and Sprint get caught up on updates, the battery life should be better.

    • John

      07/16/2017 at 1:00 pm

      The issue is Snapdragon. I got the Exynos model in Europe and it just lasts and lasts. The topic starter showed 4.5H SOT at 500mAh which is pathetic. I average at around 1200-1300mAh a day for the display but with ~4-5.5H SOT. This is due to me using automatic brightness which forces the display nearly at all times to go to 100%.

      If I extrapoalte 4.5H @ 500mAh to my standards at 1300mAh, I’d sit at 11.7H of SOT. Is that possible? Yes. I have had 2 occasions where that happend that to me. It was over the course of two full days in the weekend with no 4G. All of it was on WiFi. I got about 11H SOT out of it at ~1800mAh for the display used.

  11. Larry

    05/04/2016 at 3:09 pm

    I bought the AT&T Galaxy S7 Edge…received the updates..battery is the same. It’s not terrible but not as good as I hoped. As far as iPhone goes?? I’ll take the battery hit in this before I go back. The 6S felt like a Blackberry compared to this S7 Edge! The display alone is worth ditching the 750p 6S! It’s a wm2K display people! Great phone! Jesus this S7 can handle up to 200gig MicroSD cards!

  12. Jimmy

    05/04/2016 at 4:10 pm

    I’ll try a battery saving app. Just switched from a iphone 6 plus. The 6 plus battery was fantastic. I take my S7 Edge off the charger in the morning, do nothing with it and the battery is ticking away 97%,- 94%. The 6+ would still be at 100%.

    • The

      05/07/2016 at 7:27 am

      It’s Because your iPhone 6+ has a 720p display resolution whereas the S7 Edge has a 1440p (2k) display resolution. It’s normal lol

      • david

        05/15/2016 at 9:29 pm

        1920*1080 is 720P?

    • The

      05/07/2016 at 7:28 am

      750p* sorry

  13. Jenny

    05/14/2016 at 5:20 am

    Has anyone found an app similar to Snapdragon BatteryGuru for the s7Edge running 6.0.1?

    • Ivan Samuelson

      01/16/2017 at 9:27 am

      Greenify is very similar. It hibernates apps. It’s not an app killer which is worse for your battery life. It works in non-root or root mode. It can hibernate some system apps in non-root mode, but that can be dangerous as well. Use at your own risk.

  14. leo pratistha

    05/19/2016 at 8:58 pm

    You saving my s7 edge.. it wont start dont know why.. but i do what do you suggest to push volume down with power button simultan and its work.. thanks..

  15. Barida

    06/04/2016 at 7:58 am

    Battery life on my s7 edge has been fantastic as long as u can turn off some features. It will serve u for at least 22 hours start with disabling google apps

  16. rob

    06/07/2016 at 6:21 pm

    absolute crap . $1000.00 phone and I have to turn everything off in order to save battery. why have this phone at all if you can’t use anything. new phone battery drained after 6 hours. Rogers salespeople just provide lies. Blackberry never had this problem.

    • Michael J Smith

      10/19/2016 at 5:17 am

      The most sensible comment on here. We read reviews that praise a phone up for the features and screen quality and brightness and then are told to disable then and turn the brightness down in order to get through a day without searching for the charger i.e. why pay big money for an all singing and dancing smartphone and then turn it into feature phone because of the crap OS?

  17. John Blair

    06/07/2016 at 9:38 pm

    Blackberry never had a lot of things. Like features that anyone wants or useabilty. Or water/dust proof IP68 or fast charging or 2K display or 200GB extendable storage. My Razor had a great battery. Should I go fire it up and use that?

  18. cherry316316

    06/19/2016 at 1:40 am

    who cares about fancy features and 2k display when you will be left with no battery if you go for a hike or anything away from power source. its basically you have to carry a power source with you always. its like saying, buy a Ferrari, but makes sure you don’t leave a gas station or your car won’t run. if you go to store and try to pay using samsung pay and suddenly realize your phone don’t have any battery, you are waiting there in line for store guy to charge your phone.

  19. Tets

    06/22/2016 at 6:09 pm

    One thing you forgot to mention is CLEARING THE SYSTEM CACHE! This worked for me, not this bullshit trivial crap everyone knows……

    • RJ

      07/10/2016 at 6:47 pm

      how do you do this

  20. Jezza

    07/02/2016 at 7:51 am

    Disappointed that the Snapdragon BatteryGuru app isn’t even compatible with Android Marshmallow so can’t be installed on the S7. What even is this ‘article’… :(

  21. Rockstar

    07/04/2016 at 9:10 am

    The battrey life is rubbish on s7 edge. I’m not looking forward to the future when I can’t replace the battrey. Also it’s the most fragile phone I’ve ever had. Front and back shatters after being dropped from a small height. Dropped my galaxy s5 hundreds of times without any protective case. From a good height on concrete etc and it never cracked once. I used to laugh at people with iPhone as they break so easy but next time I’ll probably just get an iPhone if the galaxy I’d going to be so fragile anyway

    • Kurt Cauchi

      07/20/2016 at 3:03 am

      Do you use power saving mode? Grayscale mode? Do you turn off useless features? Turn off bluetooth and wifi when you’re not using them? Turn off celluar data when you’re not using it?

      I do all this and get over 2 days out of my phone.

  22. Sarz

    07/11/2016 at 3:47 pm

    What is OM customise? It’s draining my battery 22% of it

  23. Kurt Cauchi

    07/20/2016 at 3:01 am

    I get 1.5 days – 2 days on average with my S7 Edge. I could get just over 2 days. Other things to help with battery is to use grayscale and have it set as a shortcut for triple clicking the home button.

    • Kurt Cauchi

      07/20/2016 at 3:04 am

      I also get 5-6 hours gameplay, playing Pokemon Go which is extremely good compared to most people who get a measly 2-3 hours and then have to use a portable charger.

  24. Cory Daehn

    08/10/2016 at 6:55 pm

    Unfortunately I can’t test your advice because Google Play Store says that my T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S7 isn’t compatible with the Snapdragon batteryguru doesn’t that just suck.

    • Ivan Samuelson

      01/16/2017 at 9:18 am

      Snapdragon battery guru has been incompatible since Marshmallow. They haven’t updated it since MM came out. That is misleading by this article. Pretty much tells you the author probably cobbled together what they could find on how to save battery life but never really did a lot of testing, including with Snapdragon Battery Guru. if they had, they would have seen it’s not even available for the S7.

    • Ivan Samuelson

      01/16/2017 at 9:21 am

      But, some of the other tips are actually good tips, but for those that are having issues such as lasting only 3 hours, none of these fixes will fix that. Either these people are doing more than just listening to music, etc, or they have a bad battery. I listen to music for 8 hours straight and my battery drains maybe 10% tops for the day, but that’s as long as I’m not doing things such as playing games or other battery intensive tasks. Taking phone calls, browsing the web for a few minutes, reading emails, texting, do not suck a lot of battery life. Leaving your screen on all the time while playing music WILL drain your battery. Having a live background will drain your battery. Having all the nice extra options (palm swipe, etc) turned on will drain your battery. Either just use the buttons to screenshot, or use the game tool that comes with it. I just hide it, and then swipe down from the top to bring it up and take screen shots. Pretty simple really.

  25. Gnashgal

    08/29/2016 at 7:21 am

    My charging port died 3 weeks after purchase and 3 1/2 weeks in the wireless charging took forever. Battery life was awful with the phone dying after 2 hours off of a charger and not even being used. I returned the brand new phone….only to get a refurbished one. Roll out another 3 weeks later and the battery drains if it is off the charger for a second. In a minute it will go from 100% to 93% and I’m not even using it. It’s dead before lunch. My settings are minimal and I have disabled everything that isn’t necessary. I’ve even removed all social media off of my phone. Nothing is helping. I don’t understand since it was a brand new phone and now a “refurbished” phone. I have several friends and family members with this phone and have zero problems. I’m ready to just purchase a flip phone–back in the day when those would last 3-4 years if not longer.

    • Ivan Samuelson

      01/16/2017 at 9:26 am

      Yes, things were so much simpler with flipphones. But then, flip phones didn’t do all the things smart phones do.

      Constantly charging your phone WILL reduce the battery life. Each charge reduces the effectiveness of the battery. Not much can be done about that as that is a fact of life with rechargeable batteries. And, with all the things smartphones do (GPS location, motion detecting, games, etc), battery life is limited, so you have to try and temper your use.

      Sounds like you may have had a case of unfortunate luck getting two devices that were bad. It’s terrible that you had that happen, but there are a lot of us who are having no issues (knock on wood). I can understand your frustration, and getting a refurbed model when your first was brand new seems just wrong. 3 weeks you should have still been under warranty (I think it’s 90 days) and you should have been able to swap it out for a completely brand new one free of charge. Sounds like you got ripped off.

  26. Shi

    08/30/2016 at 8:55 am

    I have Galaxy s7 I got in July, and the snapdragon battery guru isn’t compatible with my phone…kinda misleading

  27. jansson007

    10/01/2016 at 4:26 pm

    I am reading these comments and feel like I found myself in an alternate reality. However, that’s not it. It’s very interesting to see so many people here trying to sell BS, as soon as they’ve heard about the problems mainly caused by the occulus app. Funny how nobody had any issues with S7 & S7 edge prior to this. In fact everyone was full of praise for the battery life. Another peculiar thing is that one commenter after another is selling the story how they had iPhones and had switched to S7 and now they’re sorry, because iPhone had such an amazing battery. IPhone’s battery is crap and even the most hardcore Apple fans admit that. I had only ever used iPhones until the S7 and with every single one; from the 3g to 6s, I had to charge them at least twice a day, after only a few months of use. S7 on the other hand, with all the features turned on and with non stop screen time, easily lasts me 6-8 hours and with normal use, it lasts a whole 24 hour day. It is 5 months old. Same goes for at least half a dozen people in my company and a few of my friends outside of work. So, I don’t know who you are trying to fool, but it ain’t gonna work. You won’t get new devices. ;)

  28. Mike Novack

    10/02/2016 at 9:23 am

    My S7 battery life is total crap — only about 5 hours. And it gets REALLY HOT during use; so hot in fact that I recently got a pop-up from a built in Samsung app warning me that it was too hot. (I have an S7, about 7 months old, not the Edge or Note). Never had the Oculus app installed. I’m going to take it back to the T-Mobile store and see what they suggest, which will likely be “too bad, sucker”.

  29. shanay

    10/08/2016 at 5:56 pm

    Last night my s7 battery went from 60% to 0% in about an hour. I’ve never seen anything like it before! I wasn’t using my phone so I didn’t notice it until I went to restart it and charge it overnight before I turned in. It wouldn’t restart! I finally got it going, but the battery was totally dead. I listen to the audible app a lot. A strange message popped up the other day while I was listening saying that the app was using an inordinate amount of battery.

    Also, last week it wouldn’t charge. Apparently, because of moisture! But the moisture indicator was white (if there’s moisture, it turns pink) and the phone hadn’t been anywhere near moisture. And that was the second time it had complained of moisture since I’ve had the phone (got it 4 months ago, brand new). Never had this problem with my (refurbished) galaxy s4, which WASN’T water-resistant!

  30. Joe Johnstone

    10/09/2016 at 4:30 am

    My S7 needs charging at least twice a day, and sometimes the battery goes down whilst charging so I need to turn it off… The main things that drain battery, in order are

    Android OS – 30%
    Android system – 20%
    Chrome 15-30%

    I also suffer the media server error some days where it just rinses through battery but I just wipe all the pics off the phone to fix that.

    Really not impressed with the S7, other than the camera and waterproofing it doesnt really perform well at all.

  31. Amit

    10/10/2016 at 12:59 pm

    My s7 is the only one which run for max 2 days sorry for mostly paid/fake guys but s7 is really most advanced android phone till now .Even any other phone lacks such capability.

  32. 1000yrOldteacher

    10/13/2016 at 1:45 pm

    Wow! Great info, it worked like a charm. Went through and forced shut down some other useless apps while I was at it. No more hot battery, and no more battery drain. Thanks

  33. Brendon

    11/28/2016 at 12:31 pm

    My phone had great battery life, then all of a sudden the phone is HOT all the time. Android System is using 55% of the battery, followed by other Google “OS components” (Android OS, Play Services.) And at the moment Keep, which I’ve not used since I last rebooted using 13%.

    This happened a few days ago and clearing the system cache from the recovery menu was the only thing that fixed it. Now, less than a week later, my battery is draining into the 30% range in 6 hours of NOT USING the phone. But it is really warm!

  34. margaret

    12/08/2016 at 12:22 pm

    snapdragon isn’t compatible with the gs7. what a waste of time reading this baloney. i already did everything suggested and the battery still only lasts about 3 hours doing nothing but listening to google play music. pos

    • Ivan Samuelson

      01/16/2017 at 9:16 am

      Then something is wrong with your phone. I listen to music all day on my phone and it lasts through my 8-hour work day with no problem. If you’re using Google Play Music, are you streaming? I don’t stream and I’m using PowerAmp as my main music app to play music stored on my SD card.

      Otherwise, the battery life is pretty good. I only eat through it when I play games and there’s not much you can do about that unfortunately.

  35. David

    12/10/2016 at 8:58 pm

    The best thing about the Snapdragon video, may have been the music. That’s just sad.

  36. Ivan Samuelson

    01/16/2017 at 9:14 am

    Snapdragon Battery Guru is not compatible with the S7. Did the author actually attempt to try and use it? I haven’t been able to use that app since Marshmallow came out. Used to use it on my LG G3 until Marshmallow came out.

  37. Jacob

    01/29/2017 at 2:50 pm

    I have a SnapDragon S7 Edge model, why can’t I download the app?

  38. cherry

    01/31/2017 at 10:52 am

    i just turned off my S7. now i have very good battery life :-D

  39. Chris

    02/09/2017 at 1:28 am

    Has an iPhone 6 plus for 2 years and the battery was great. I was only just beginning to see it draining a bit more when not in use. Read all the reviews of the edge 7 and the supposed great battery life and opted to get it. I wish I had stuck with my iPhone 6 plus. Battery life is terrible on this phone. I have switched every thing off that was supposed to make this phone great and not made a difference. Stuck with this phone for the next 2 years now.

  40. Bo

    02/23/2017 at 10:18 am

    My battery life is awesome now! The fix: I turned it off with 100% battery life and turned it back on 12 hours later and it still had 100% battery life :/

    • fabian

      04/27/2017 at 4:51 am

      What you did?

    • fabian

      04/27/2017 at 4:52 am

      ahahahaha

  41. Scott

    03/12/2017 at 10:33 am

    VZ Support & Protect was eating 37% of battery so I disabled it. Now to find a good anti-virus. Verizon store told me Avast was malware, but I think they were just pushing their product.

  42. Rob

    05/03/2017 at 7:26 am

    This is such a load of BS. Before Nougat, I had full screen brightness, full Wifi and BlueTooth. Now, I can lose 20-30% of battery overnight while I sleep with nothing going over the 2-3% from before.

  43. Loren

    05/11/2017 at 8:46 am

    This info does not help with the new Nougat update. Before update my phone had 50-60 % battery by the end of the day. Now I have to charge twice a day to make it through 1 day. I have tried the reset apps option, recovery option, restart option etc etc etc. It’s like a piece of junk now and also my MMS barely send pictures anymore. I have been a Samsung fan since the S3 but now I’m pretty much done with their ish.

  44. wj

    05/14/2017 at 5:50 am

    These comments are not helpful at all to the updated software issue. Only commenting around loading additional software or tips that were available prior to the nougate update.

  45. Reuben kihara

    05/16/2017 at 10:27 am

    My s7 edge hanged for the last 2 hours. No switching off. What do i do to restart

  46. Ik Shin

    05/26/2017 at 7:18 pm

    I watched free tv streaming all day on s7 edge with battery draing out complete before half a day watching. My solution was disable all notifications one by one. It may help you all.

  47. james

    07/23/2017 at 5:54 am

    snapdragon batteryguru is not compatible with android ver 6 or 7.
    I have galaxy s7 w snapdragon 820 running nougat and it says device not compatible.
    the app hasn’t been updated since 2015. please check basic facts before writing any article.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.