AVG's Android report shames battery, traffic and performance drainers
AVG released the Android App Performance & Trends Report for Q3 2015 recently highlighting applications that impact the user experience on the operating system the most.
If your Android device is leaking battery juice like crazy, not performing as well anymore as it once did, or constantly download data to the device, then you may want to investigate the issue especially if things were better when you first got it.
On some devices, it may be the built-in hardware or pre-installed software that is causing these drains and issues, and on others, it may be user-installed applications that are the root cause for these issues.
AVG's report is based on data that the company's own AVG Cleaner & Battery Saver application for Android gathered.
AVG compared apps that are run automatically on startup with those run manually by users on the system and created top ten lists for both of them in the categories "performance draining apps", "battery drainers", "storage hops", and "traffic hogs".
The lists read like the Who is Who of the Android world.
- Performance Draining Apps (startup): Facebook, Google Play Services, BBM, Instagram, Messenger, ChatOn Voice & Video Chat, Facebook Pages Manager, The Weather Channel, KakaoTalk, WhatsApp Messenger
- Performance Draining Apps (user): Snapchat, Amazon Shopping UK, Spotify Music, LINE: Free Calls & Messages, CleanMaster, Samsung WatchON, Netflix, BBC News, Amazon Shopping Global, Microsoft Outlook
- Top 10 Battery Drainers (startup):Â Android Firmware Updater, Beaming Service for Samsung, SecurityPolicyUpdater, ChatON Voice & Video Chat, Google Play Services, Facebook, BBM, WhatsApp Messenger, Weather & Clock Widget Android, WeChat
- Top 10 Battery Drainers (user):Â Samsung WatchON, Snapchat, Amazon Shopping UK, Microsoft Outlook, BBC News, Netflix, LINE: Free Calls & Messages, CleanMaster, Walmart, Amazon Shopping Global
- Top 10 Storage Hogs (startup):Â Facebook, Amazon Kindle, Sp-Mode Mail, Facebook Pages Manager, Google Play Services, Skype, Instagram, Tango: free Video Call & Text, Google Play Services, WeChat
- Top 10 Storage Hogs (user): Spotify Music, Chrome, Ailis Filters & Stickers, LINE Free Calls & Messages, Amazon Shopping UK, TripAdvisor Hotels Flights, Amazon Shopping Global, Snapchat, Clean Master, Photo Editor by Aviary
- Top 10 Traffic Hogs (startup): Facebook, Yahoo! Japan, Avast Antivirus & Security, The Weather Channel, Instagram, iHeartRadio, Google Play Services, APUs Launcher, Groupon, WeatherBug
- Top 10 Traffic Hogs (user):Â Netflix, Snapchat, Tumblr, BBC News, CleanMaster, Samsung WatchON, Spotify Music, Photo Editor by Aviary, Microsoft Outlook, Tinder
Some findings are self-explanatory. It should be clear that apps like Netflix or Spotify Music use a lot of traffic when they are used on the device. Others may be eye-openers, for instance that apps like Samsung WatchON or Walmart drain a lot of battery.
Some applications are listed in several categories. This includes Facebook which is listed as the number one performance draining application, the number six battery drainer, the number one storage hog and the number one traffic hog.
Other apps listed in several top ten lists are BlackBerry Messenger, Google Play Services, Instagram, The Weather Channel, WhatsApp Manager, Netflix, Spotify Music and Samsung WatchON.
So what can you do about it?
It depends. If you need to use an application regularly for instance, you cannot do anything about it, but if you only use it sporadically, you may be able to reduce an application's impact on your Android device.
For instance, if you use the Weather Channel Application only sporadically, you may block it from auto-starting with the Android device to load it manually instead whenever you need it.
Apps like Startup Manager may assist you in doing so.
Now You:
Thanks for the tip Martin.
It is for these kinds of posts that I follow GHacks.
What’s up with the generic comment, are you a bot?
2G?
Where on the planet is that still in use? I was forced to give up using my RAZRV3 years ago because 2G was phased out by AT&T.
Everywhere 3G has been turned off and you don’t have LTE coverage, and believe me there are many developed countries where this is the case and if it weren’t for 2G you wouldn’t even be able to make a phone call.
Maybe I missed it, but I don’t believe tha term “2G” is in the article. Perhaps you are referring to “AGM G2”??
@Martin
Your website has gone insane.
When I the post button I then saw my comment posted on a different article page. When I opened this article again, it is here.
@Tachy @Martin Brinkmann
” Your website has gone insane. ”
Same here. Has happened several times.
@Tachy,
@Martin P.,
For over two weeks now,
I’ve been seeing “Comments” posted by subscribers appearing in different, unrelated articles.
https://www.ghacks.net/windows-11-update-stuck-fixed-for-good/#comment-4572991
https://www.ghacks.net/windows-11-update-stuck-fixed-for-good/#comment-4572951
For the time being,
it would be better to specify the “article name and URL” at the beginning of the post.
@tachy a lot of non-phone devices with a sim in them rely on 2G, at least here in europe.
Usually things reporting usage or errors/alarms on something remote that does not get day to day inspection in person. They are out there in vast numbers doing important work. Reliable, good range. The low datarate is no problem at all in those cases.
3G is gone or on its last legs everywhere, but this stuff still has too much use to cancel.
Anyhow, interesting that they would put that in. I can see the point if you suspect a hostile 2G environment (amateur eavesdroppers with laptop, ranging up to professional grade MITM fake towers while “strangely” not getting the stronger crypto voip 4G because it is being jammed, and back down to something as old ‘stingray’ devices fallen into the wrong hands).
But does this also mean that they have handled and rolled out a fix for that nasty 4G ‘pwn by broadcast’ problem you reported earlier this year? I had 4G disabled due to that, on the off chance that some of the local criminals would buy some cheap chinese gear, download a working exploit and probe every phone in range all over town in the hope of getting into phones of the police.
>”While most may never be attacked in stingrays, it is still recommended to disable 2G cellular connections, especially since it does not have any downsides.”
The downside would be losing connectivity. I spend a lot of time way out in the countryside where there’s often no service or almost none. My network allows 2G, and I need it sometimes. I have an option on the phone to disable 2G, I may do that when I’m in the city and I have good 5G connectivity, but not out in the country.
I would imagine that the stingray exploits, like most of the bad things in this world, are probably things you will run into in the crowded big cities.
I stopped using it in a mobile (Wi-Fi line) environment, so I’m almost ignorant of the actual situation,
But the recent reality in Japan makes me realize that “the infrastructure of the web is nothing more than a papier-mâché fiction”.
https://www.ghacks.net/2023/08/17/google-chrome-to-enable-https-first-by-default-for-all-users/#comment-4572402
It is already beyond the scope of what an individual can do.
What we should be aware of is the reality that “governments and those in power want to control the world through the Web”, and efforts to counter (resist and prevent) such ambitions are necessary.
Why do you want people to disable the privacy features? Hmmmmm?
Now You: do you plan to keep the Ads privacy features enabled?
I’d like to tell you, but apparently if you make a post critical of Google, you get censored. * [Editor: removed, just try to bring your opinion across without attacking anyone]
@Martin
You website is still psychotic. Comments attach to random stories.
@Martin please do fix the comments, it’s completely insane commenting here! :[
@Martin
The comments are seriously messed up on gHacks now. These comments are mixed with the article at the below URL.
https://www.ghacks.net/2023/08/18/android-how-to-disable-2g-cellular-connections-to-improve-security/
And comments on other articles are from as far back as 2010.
What does this article has anything to do with all the comments on this article? LOL I think this Websuite is ran by ChatGPT. every article is messed up. Some older comments from 2015 shown up in recant articles, LOL
The picture captioned “Clearing the Android Auto’s cache might resolve the issue” is from Apple Carplay ;)
How about other things that matter:
Drop survival?
Screen toughness?
Degree of water and dust protection?