v3 build 823 - High Battery Consumption

[maxmp]

I found something may be related to this in one usage scenario, but it's related to equalizer visualization UI not always paused (thus, it's not the case of high background battery usage). There are reports (AndroidX/chromecast/google services lib) for rare issue with chromecast detection - disabling Chromecast button in Poweramp Look and feel / Player UI should help with this.

[PAfan]

          
Pixel 2 XL (P2XL), Android 9.

First, Poweramp (PA) music player is excellent.  I've thoroughly enjoyed your top-tier player for over five years and it has been worth every penny.  PA v3 is even better, with a modern audio engine, up-to-date look & feel.  Except for one major problem:  excessive battery usage.  For me, this problem is a deal breaker as I often use the player on a daily basis for several hours (4-6 hours daily).   I'm highly confident that the problem stems from v3.  Unfortunately, I have not been able to determine the root cause.  

During my recent 10-day evaluation (5 days using v3 build 823 versus 5 days uninstalling v3 and reverting to v2.0.10, build 588), below is a summary of my results:            

In v3, the average daily battery consumption per hour ~20% according to my battery usage in my P2XL.  In other words, after 4 hours of playing time, my phone battery level would be under 25%, even with my "battery saver" mode enabled.  In addition, with v3, all suspected options potentially causing excessive battery consumption were turned off/disabled (e.g., scan/rescan, visualization, background, etc.) and my P2XL "battery saver" mode was turned on, plus my screen brightness was lowered to 50%.  No Chromecast.  Phone gets very warm under v3, not warm at all for v2.   

In contrast, v2, I simply used all of the Default settings, no battery saver and my brightness was set at 90%. The average battery consumption per hour about 5%.  In other words, after 4+hour daily usage, my battery level was between 75-80%.  Both results were consistent each day over the testing period, all else being equal.  @maxmp, I recognized that you have not been able to re-produce this problem.  However, it's clear to me that v3 is causing my battery drainage problem.  I'd be more than willing to assist you in any way to resolve this major issue. I look forward to using PA v3 on a regular basis without it draining my battery excessively. 

Notwithstanding this issue, keep up the good work!

[luckman]

This is strange workaround that works for me (Xiaomi mi5):

Set 'silent' mode on phone before entering headphones. With it I couldn't represent this bug, without it bug is represented with probability ~60-80%

Maybe it will help someone else

[WiGgLr]

hmm, maybe it's related to notifications and how they adjust the volume, I'll try fiddling with those settings

[maxmp]

@PAfan unfortunately this is not reproducible on my Pixel 2 XL - Poweramp can plays 16+ hours non-stop (LTE module disabled + Wifi ON) on this device. So this should be something else or something else in combination with Poweramp, as Poweramp is perfectly capable of very long playback and the background playback / audio engine is on the same level optimization or better than v2.

Though, of course stuff like hi-res (192khz/24bit) playback require 4x+ processing power (and on devices, not supporting Hi-Res on 3.5 output, like Pixels, it will take even more, as it should resample back to 48khz).

 

[NicoleS]

Super frustrated. I loved this app back on V2. Now it's beyond awful.

Yes, I've uninstalled, restarted phone, reinstalled. 

CURRENT SPECS:

Phone: Samsung Galaxy S9+

Android 9

App version: v3-Build-823-play (full version)

Nothing custom other than 128gb micro sd that my music lives on.

 

ISSUES:

- High battery consumption.

- Crashes (but claims it was killed)

- Music ends up with no audio but is still playing

 

DETAILS:

Had Poweramp on last phone also, worked perfectly with S8+ and Android 8.0 - got a S9+, also Android 8.0 and things still great.

Then v3 came out. I listen to music pretty much every moment I'm not at work. V3 starts crashing occasionally when left on overnight - after 10-16 hours since I start app when I clock out. And sometimes it's still playing but no audio. Media volume fine. Close and open, no audio. IF I PULL MEDIA BACK (REWIND) AUDIO STARTS AGAIN. Weird and annoying, but not worth effort to post here.

Then Pie. Battery drained in less than 6 hours, even when app not in use. Google Play Services killing it. Flip out at Samsung. Safe mode has normal battery consumption. Leave safe mode, battery drained too fast again. Meanwhile app keeps crashing, and then complaining that Android is killing it and I need to enable permissions. They're already enabled, and phone is plugged into charger, and at 100%. BS. Half the time after it crashes and lies about being killed  I have to start up twice because after the first time it gives killed error it crashes again immediately, and complains about being killed again.

Still occasionally audio stops and I have to rewind to get it going. Sometimes I plug in headphones and it doesn't start. On lock screen,  if app hasn't been running recently  my phone tells me I have to set up a media player, but if it was running recently, app widget is available on lock screen. 

Now, both Google Play Services AND Poweramp are decimating my battery, and I'm getting complaints about Poweramp using too much cpu. More often than not when I wake up in the middle of the night  there's no music. I paid for this app. Not a ton, but it wasn't free. No contact for support except here. Looks like many others have had trouble. Where is the fix at?

Really frustrating. Very upset, and uninstalling. Hope this gets fixed so I can use it again.

[maxmp]

@NicoleS Poweramp v3 alone is not the cause of your battery issue (see my posts above with the screenshots). Yes, there can be Google services associated issues, but Poweramp itself is the most optimized Android player out there, it's even able to be better than (stock player) "hardware" optimized playback on some devices (it's actually a specialized hexagon cpu inside SOC, so it's software too) on e.g. Qualcomm platform. Google services are disabled when Chromecast Button is disabled in Poweramp Look and Feel / Player UI settings.

If you feel power usage is more than expected, please do a continuous playback and post your battery stats screenshot. Thanks!

[PAfan]

@maxmp, Point well taken. the excessive battery usage may be a combination of PA v3 in connection with something else &/or the interaction with the android OS.  However, v3 is definitely involved one way or another. It should also be noted that I do not experience this poor battery performance with other top music players (e.g., Pi Music Player, BlackPlayer Music Player EX).  Hopefully, resolution of this growing problem is nearby.

   
FYI, my other specs... Wifi/ON, Google FI/LTE, BT/ON connected to OnePlus Bullets Wireless earbuds.  P2XL, android 9

[NicoleS]

@maxmp

Thanks for that info. I've just now re-installed and will try with the Chromecast being disabled (I'll keep my fingers crossed too...). Should I post elsewhere about constant crashing/closing and notifications about the app being killed (even when charger is in and it's at 100% battery)? After re-installing I did make sure to set it so that the app can change system settings.

[andrewilley]

2 hours ago, NicoleS said:

Should I post elsewhere about constant crashing/closing and notifications about the app being killed 

Yes, please, otherwise threads can get a bit muddled. The closing might (ironically) be caused by Android power-saving features being too aggressive.

Andre

[KOB]

I tried to follow up battery usage on my device and found that Poweamp is almost in the top of this list even when not in use for a while (almost a day)..

S8 android 9

[NicoleS]

Battery use is still a bit higher than it used to be before my phone updated to Android 9, but is much better with Chromecast disabled 

On 4/18/2019 at 7:37 AM, maxmp said:

@NicoleS Poweramp v3 alone is not the cause of your battery issue (see my posts above with the screenshots). Yes, there can be Google services associated issues, but Poweramp itself is the most optimized Android player out there, it's even able to be better than (stock player) "hardware" optimized playback on some devices (it's actually a specialized hexagon cpu inside SOC, so it's software too) on e.g. Qualcomm platform. Google services are disabled when Chromecast Button is disabled in Poweramp Look and Feel / Player UI settings.

If you feel power usage is more than expected, please do a continuous playback and post your battery stats screenshot. Thanks!

(I took the liberty of adding bold/underline formatting to steps to do this)

I'd recommend to at least try this to any Android 9 user who does not use Chromecast. But, I am still having other issues with the app. Is there any chance that any dev or QA has an old apk for the v2 software that I can try using?

[Chthulhu]

LG G Stylo, stock Android 6, Poweramp v3, build 823

What I'm seeing is that PA *sometimes* fails to shut down when BlueTooth disconnects from the audio system in my car, after which PA seems to spend all its time attempting to re-establish a connection. If BlueTooth is still enabled on my phone, the phone gets quite warm and the battery level diminishes more rapidly than normal. If I turn BlueTooth off *and* stop PA, battery drain is back to normal.

Yesterday I was on the road for about seven hours (vs about 1.5 hours on a normal day), and with PA the only active app I was down to 43% battery when I got home. That is comparable to a normal rate of depletion for me while PA is actually in use. It's only when PA gets stuck on and BlueTooth is on that consumption is excessive.

So it looks to me like something is preventing PA from shutting down properly and consistently when BlueTooth disconnects from my car.

[andrewilley]

11 hours ago, NicoleS said:

Is there any chance that any dev or QA has an old apk for the v2 software that I can try using?

Poweramp v2, and all of the earlier alpha/beta v3 releases too, are available from the Downloads tab at the top of the page.

Andre

[NicoleS]

Thanks @andrewilley I see it now. I'm trying one other setting with V3 before I move back to V2. Thanks!

[tdas777]

On 23 apr, i installed the new version update of 22 apr from playstore. I cleared cache and reset the app before using; but battery drain is still there. So I reverted back to v820.

[maxmp]

@tdas777 have you tried disablibg Cromecast button in Poweramp Player UI settings? Note that it’s impossible to reproduce this issue. Also why 820?

[andrewilley]

4 hours ago, tdas777 said:

So I reverted back to v820.

Could you perhaps try each update since then (821, 822, etc) to see which one introduced the issue for you?  It might help Max work out what might be causing it. Chromecast is the biggest recent change of course, which was added in 821.

Andre

[tdas777]

Yes, Chromecast was disabled.

I had v820 in which I didnt face this issue. Then I updated to v823, which started this issue. So I reverted back to v820.

@maxmp

[Moho Miner]

Hi all,

An update on my testing. For the entirety of yesterday I used Poweramp and not once did I suffer from the issue, I was using the interface, pausing/stopping/etc nothing all day. I've continued using it this morning and will feedback later today if it still seems okay. Not sure if my Samsung S9 had an update over the last few days, perhaps something has updated?

Moho

[Moho Miner]

Okay its started doing it again

I'm sad now.

[andrewilley]

4 hours ago, Moho Miner said:

Okay its started doing it again

I'm sad now.

See if rolling back to build 820 fixes it for you, as some other people have observed.

Andre

[maxmp]

40 minutes ago, andrewilley said:

See if rolling back to build 820 fixes it for you, as some other people have observed.

Or try to disable chromecast button in Poweramp Look and feel / Player UI settings (+ restart PA or reboot phone, as google services can't be otherwise unloaded from the app).

[akb825]

13 hours ago, maxmp said:

Note that it’s impossible to reproduce this issue.

What do you do to try and reproduce the issue? For example, do you just start a playlist and have it continue playing overnight? Do you try to follow common usage patterns for real-world usage of the app?

 

For my own usage, during most of the time the screen is off, and I'll use the inline remote on my wired headphones to control playback. Occasionally I'll do other things like browse the internet on my phone while it's playing, and I'll sometimes use the interface in Poweramp rather than the remote to switch songs. I also make use of the feature to stop playing when the headphones are unplugged. Another user mentioned bluetooth being a possible cause, and while I have bluetooth enabled I don't use it to play music.

[maxmp]

@akb825 right, all my tested devices are capable for overnight (~16 hours) playback w/o issue - on different outputs, headsets, speaker, chromecast, etc.. As this issue most probably associated with google services unable to talk to some old chromecast devices in the net, I advise to temporarily disable Chromecast button on the device and reboot. Alternatively, network (wifi) can be temporarily disabled to check if you're hit by that gms issue (it will immediately stop talking to net, reducing load).

But note that the issue is >5% per hour usage by Poweramp when device becomes hot. Anything else is a normal power usage or/and not related to Poweramp (for example, such as Poweramp on top of Power usage stats. When Poweramp plays on background for few hours, it's normal as it's the only active app - as in attached screenshots).