Wyze app seems to cut down on battery life on Android phone

Anybody know if the Wyze camera app is known to suck down the battery on an Android phone?

Seems like since I installed it my phone’s battery life per charge has gone down significantly.

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Depends how much you USE the Wyze app, what you do in it, and what settings you have turned on.

It certainly does use a good amount of battery to stream cameras and do other things, but it should be fairly insignificant when it is closed and idle. Obviously if you are getting notifications every 2 seconds, that will affect your phone battery life too since the phone has to process so many notifications.
Also, if you have any kind of location or geofencing settings turned on (ie: change the on/off status of the Thermostat, air purifier, lock, etc based on your location), then your phone has to relay your GPS location to the Wyze app every so often since you told it you want that checked regularly.

So there are things related to it that will affect the battery to a degree, but most things should be insignificant while it’s sitting idle. It is while you are actively streaming video through it that it will definitely use more battery. But this is normal for video streaming apps.

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I haven’t noticed any significant increase in the battery usage lately.

I’ve had my Android 11 phone unplugged for about 9 hours and have been using it on and off all day. The Wyze App has been running in the background constantly and I have had the app open several times viewing video. I have even left it on for an extended time… A total of almost 4 hours today.

Yet, the Wyze App has only used about 3% of the total capacity. I have the phone set for Adaptive Battery Monitoring and have not been warned of any overusage of the battery outside of normal historical parameters. I also have the Wyze App set for Battery Optimization.

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Thanks, @carverofchoice and @SlabSlayer. I guess I have been streaming video more often and for longer periods than I normally would, since I’m new to all this online camera stuff. I imagine once the novelty wears off :slight_smile: I’ll settle down to a more normal usage.

Just curious, @SlabSlayer, what do you use to interact on this forum? Is it a desktop or laptop computer? If so I’m wondering how you get screen shots from your phone or tablet into these messages. I’ve been asked to provide screen shots a time or two and don’t know how that is done in this environment.

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100% Android mobile. I scrapped all my laptops and desktops over 10 years ago.

When using the forum in a Chrome Browser on Android, it has a setting in the menu to install the Forum as and App on your home screen. That adds an app icon that launches the Forum in a dedicated Chrome UI without all the browser functions, only the Forum UI, like a stand alone app independant of Chrome. The forum also has settings within the 3 Bar Menu stack to toggle from Desktop View to Mobile View so that the Forum is optimized for your phone. Accessing the forum from the phone is the easiest way to post screenshots of the native Android or iOS Wyze App doing what it does, but sending screenshots thru other means is possible. Some also use Android Emulators on their computers to run the Wyze App.

If you are using a PC as opposed to SlabSlayer doing it exclusively on a phone, here is how I do it.
On the phone, take a screen capture (how you do that depends on your phone - Google is your friend). Then either E-Mail the screen capture or transfer it via USB cable to your PC. Then on the PC, if desired, edit the screen capture (for example, add arrows or circle something). Lastly here on the forum, press the upload button (shown below) to upload the image file.
If you live in the apple world, adjust as needed.

Upload photo

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Followup on this battery life thing… I installed AccuBattery on my phone and yes, the Wyze app does consume a significant amount of battery even while running in the background. But… I have a Motorola E5 Play phone that runs something called Moto App Launcher. That thing consumes more battery power than pretty much everything else combined… more than 20 percent of total battery consumption last test… but only when the Wyze app is running in the foreground or the background. If I do a Force Stop on the Wyze app, Moto App Launcher goes back down to 1 percent or less of the total battery consumption.

So, that’s the answer. Guess I need to keep the Wyze App Force Stop’ped when it’s not in use and I need to maximize battery life on a charge. Of course, then I can’t get any alerts. :frowning:

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Have you played around with the Android “Battery Saver”and “Data Saver” settings to see if that improves battery life?

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My Moto App Launcher is less than 1%

Moto App Launcher is a background utility. It isn’t an App with settings you can change. In your Settings, under Battery, Usage Details, you should find Moto App Launcher. Select it. Restrict it from using battery in the background. Also make sure it is Optimized for battery use.

Make sure you test how this affects operation as it may change how apps are launched.

I just noticed this month’s Android 13 Beta version is working on a fix for excessive battery drain.

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On two occasions the Wyze app has caused my iPhone battery to deplete.

It happens if I view a recording with sound on and then switch to another app. The audio will still run in the background and consume energy.

Checking the battery usage in the settings shows “Wyze - Audio, Background activity” as using over 90% battery in the past 24 hours.

Unfortunately, and inexplicably, my Motorola E5 Play "smart"phone won’t run anything later than Android 8. Why that is is way beyond my ability to comprehend.

I have same issue on my iPhone 12 Pro Max. It started about last 2-3 Wyze app updates ago. The app eats 50+% of the battery. Before, it was about 20%.

I only have the app running in foreground ~10 minutes per day on average…mostly viewing event and live videos. When viewing the videos, I noticed the cpu get really hot 3/4 of the time. I had to close the app and wait for it to cool down.

I have V2 and V3 cams. Geofencing/Location not enabled in app.

Same issue here, seems to be a new problem. App info on Android shows screen time of 1 min, 43% battery use since last full charge.

Sigh, Wyze Continues to be a problem the new phone (Pixel 8 Pro)

I am running the Wyze Beta App on a Moto G Stylus 5G 2023 w\ battery optimized.

12hrs 14min run time since last charge = 6%

Chrome has used 36%.

Wonder if it is another Pixel OS Build issue. :thinking:

Edit for comparison based on @carverofchoice’s reply below :point_down:

No Purifiers
No Lock
Thermostat triggered by HMS change in mode
No location rules. In fact, GPS off on phone by default because it’s nobody’s business where I am.
79 notifications from Wyze Beta in last 24 hours.

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Are you running GPS/location stuff through Wyze automations?

  • Do you have the Air Purifiers turn on when you get home?
  • Do you have the original Lock auto-unlock when you get home?
  • Do you have the Thermostat automatically shift between Home/away based on when you are home or away?
  • Do you have lights or anything else turn on/off based on your location?

Location tracking is a HEAVY battery use issue for most apps. There are a lot of factors that go into it and different ways to do it, but rarely are we allowed to choose what method or frequency is used, and so that is a huge battery drain.

Others:

  • How many notifications are you getting?

I’m sure there are tons of variables that make it drain really bad for one person and not for others, but those are the ones that come to the top of my mind at the moment.

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