How To Fix Bad Android 8.1 Oreo Battery Life

The list of Android 8.1 Oreo problems includes complaints about strange and severe battery drain. This guide will show you how to fix bad Android Oreo battery life on a Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P or a Pixel device.

As we move away from the latest Android 8.1 Oreo for Nexus devices, we’ve been hearing about issues plaguing Google’s operating system.

We’ve heard about broken Bluetooth, broken Wi-Fi, problems with apps, lag, as well as serious, abnormal battery drain.

Strange battery drain is an extremely common problem especially right after a major software release. As more Nexus owners download the latest Android 8.1 Oreo, we expect complaints about poor battery life to increase.

Google’s update shouldn’t drain your phone or tablet’s battery, so there’s a good chance it’s actually something else causing the drain, like an app.

While your first inclination is to contact Google customer service, you should be able to fix the problem yourself within minutes.

How To Fix Bad Android Oreo Battery Life

This guide will show you how to potentially fix bad Android 8.0 and Android 8.1 Oreo battery life. Battery drain issues can be tricky, but these fixes have worked well for us and others in the past.

Restart your device

The first thing to do is a simple reboot. Press and hold the power button to turn off the device and then press and hold the power button to turn it back on. Check your battery life for improvements.

Control Your Apps

If a simple reboot doesn’t fix your battery drain, it’s time to check your apps.

In most cases, serious battery drain is caused by a rogue app. Applications can sometimes break after installing a new operating system. Luckily, Android Oreo has a very easy way to check app performance and spot the ones that are causing problems.

Go to your settings and go to the Battery section. If you scroll down, you will see a section that says “App usage after full charge” along with a list of apps underneath. This shows you how much battery life an app has used since you last charged your phone or tablet. An app with a high percentage may be your culprit.

Clicking on an app will take you to a special page where you can force stop or disable the app. Try disabling an app to see if it helps your battery. If problems persist, you can always turn it back on.

To get a better view of your apps, tap the top of the screen on the Battery page where you see the battery icon. This will give you a more detailed breakdown of your apps and battery usage.

If you notice anything out of the ordinary, disable or uninstall the app in question to see if it helps bring your battery life back to normal.

you can be too Try booting in Safe Mode. This disables third-party apps and, if you’re lucky, helps you focus on one app.

Upgrade to Android Pie

The Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, and Pixel C won’t get Android 9.0 Pie, but Google’s Pixel, Pixel XL, Pixel 2, and Pixel 2 XL are all eligible.

If you own a Pixel device and are struggling with Android 8.1, consider upgrading to Android Pie if you haven’t already.

Android Pie’s Adaptive Battery feature can do wonders for your battery life.

Use Battery Saver

If you’re still in the Battery section, you can try turning on Android Oreo’s Battery Saver function (as needed) and see if it helps.

Battery Saver is a low power mode that limits functions that can drain your phone or tablet’s battery. When turned on, it limits vibrations, ambient display, location services, and most of your background data. Moreover, apps like email and messaging apps may not be updated unless you open them. It’s like a higher-function Airplane Mode.

You can turn this on at any time, so use it when you start noticing drain and need to maintain a few percent of battery life.

Force Background Boundaries

Android Oreo 8.1 brings a nifty new feature that lets you push background boundaries on your apps. This allows you to dominate aggressive apps like Facebook.

If an app supports Oreo, this function is turned on automatically. If an app doesn’t support Oreo yet, you need to push background limits.

To do this go to Settings and Battery then tap on an app. If an app doesn’t support Android Oreo yet, you should see a Background activity button under Manage battery usage. If it’s on and it should be, turn it off. This prevents an app from running in the background.

This will limit what the app can do, for example you won’t get notifications, but it can help reclaim your battery life.

Manage Your Screen

If your device is awake, it’s running out of battery. If you are not using it, it should not be vigilant.

Android lets you control how long the phone or tablet stays awake during periods of inactivity. If you want the phone to stay on for 30 minutes after you last used it, you can do that, but we don’t recommend it.

Go to Settings and Battery and go to Sleep. Tap it and make the choice that best suits your needs. If you want to save the most battery life, choose 15 seconds – 1 minute. Usually ours is set to 1-2 minutes.

Just above Sleep is a function called Adaptive Brightness. When turned on, it optimizes your device’s screen for the available light. If you’ve turned it off and don’t want to manually adjust your screen every time you enter a new room, you might want to give it a try.

Turn Off Ambient Display

Android’s Ambient Display is a feature that sends notifications to your screen when the device is locked. While it’s nice to see what’s going on without turning on your phone, these notifications can drain your battery life. Fortunately, Ambient Display is easy to turn off and on.

In Settings, tap Display and then Advanced at the bottom. Scroll all the way down and turn off Ambient Display. Again, this will prevent your screen from waking up when you receive notifications.

Disable Services You Are Not Using

In Battery, tap where the big battery symbol is at the top. In best practices, this detailed battery screen shows you how System, Mobile network standby, Phone idle, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are draining your battery. If you notice that one of your connections is draining your battery abnormally, turn off the service.

When you are not using a service, it may be a good idea to turn it off. Services like Bluetooth and GPS can potentially drain battery life in the background. If you are in a poorly serviced area, try disabling cellular data. Your phone or tablet may be working hard to get a signal, and this can ruin battery life.

If your battery is really struggling, you can turn on Airplane Mode and disconnect all connections to see if that calms things down.

Clear Cached Data

We also recommend clearing your cached data. This works differently on Android Oreo.

Go to Settings and Apps and Notifications. When you select App info, you will get a list of installed and disabled apps on your device. Tap an app to bring up a new menu.

In this menu, select the Storage tab. You should now see two tabs, Clear Data and Clear Cache. Tap Clear Cache to clear the app’s cache and Clear Data to clear data.

Switch to Android Nougat

If you’re having trouble exiting the Android Oreo update, you can try porting your device back to Android Nougat.

Downgrade can be time consuming, but it can help fix your bad Android Oreo battery life. If you don’t know the downgrade process for Nexus/Pixel devices, Take a look at this step-by-step on the Nexus Help Forums.

Factory settings

If nothing here works and you can’t find a solution elsewhere, you can try factory resetting your phone or tablet.

Resetting your device to factory settings restores your device to factory defaults and erases everything on the device in the process. So be sure to back up important files before you move.

If you want to factory reset your Nexus or Pixel, go to: Google’s website for a simple, detailed walkthrough.

Buy a Battery Pack

If you’re not afraid to spend money, it might be a good idea to invest in a battery bank.

In case you didn’t know, battery banks are small and lightweight gadgets that can give you multiple charges on the go.

Lots of options out there but we really like this one Anker Powercore 2010. It’s currently just $40 via Amazon with free shipping for Prime members.