iOS App Battery Usage

paulpaulbarber-net · July 29, 2020, 9:25pm

Lately, I’m noticing my iPhone battery is draining very fast. When I went to investigate in Settings -> Battery I see that the Wyze app is always the #1 usage app by far and it has hours of background usage in the last 24 hours (current example: 7h 21m backgd). No other app even comes close to background usage.

Wyze Support suggested I turn off Background App Refresh for the Wyze app (Settings -> Wyze), but that has not helped. I also wonder how changing this impacts the Band as I see comments that the Wyze app should run in the background to work for Alexa, Find Phone, & Shortcuts.

I have a lot of Wyze devices added: Scale, Band, Cameras, Bulbs, Switches, Contact & Motion Sensors, but I’ve had these all for a while and it’s just started occurring. In addition to turning off Background App Refresh for the Wyze app I’ve also tried force closing the Wzye app and also restarting iPhone, but neither has helped.

Wyze App Version: v2.11.41
iOS Version 13.6

Is anyone else noticing how much battery the Wyze app is using?

gyzmo · July 29, 2020, 9:35pm

You can begin to update your iOS application to V2.12.30 to see if the issue occurs again but I did not have it in the lasts applications. I checked the batterie status regurlarly since a month. I have changed it two weeks ago.

paulpaulbarber-net · July 29, 2020, 10:12pm

Thanks. I just forced an update to 2.12.30 and will see if that helps.

BrettB · July 31, 2020, 2:57am

YES! I have been seeing the Wyze app using 40-50% of my battery usage for background activity for several weeks now. Maybe as far back as when I first got the Scale and Band.

I, too, have Scale, Band, Cameras (10-12), sensors, lock, keypad, and plugs. (No bulbs.)

I’m going to try disabling the Background App Refresh and see if that makes a difference in battery drain and/or functionality.

EDIT: I already had Background App Refresh turned off.

paulpaulbarber-net · August 1, 2020, 11:13am

Updating to v2.12.30 has not helped. Still the top app in usage and using 12h 50m backgd in last 24 hours.

steven.piazza · August 4, 2020, 4:44pm

I’m having same issue. I went from 100% charged iPhone 11 to 30% in 4 hours. Wyze used up 50% of the battery. I even have background refresh turned OFF.

paulpaulbarber-net · August 7, 2020, 2:32pm

I tried changing the Location Services to “While Using the App” from “Always” for the Wyze app and I see that the Wyze app has updated to v2.12.31, but I still see it the highest battery usage app in the last 24 hours at 22% and 18h backgd.

ahmede · August 11, 2020, 10:58am

The app is definitely causing battery drain on my iPhone XS running iOS 13.6.
While viewing canera footage in particular the phone starts to heat up and battery percentage drops rapidly.

Battery usage stats lists Wyze app for the highest battery usage

steven.piazza · August 16, 2020, 1:04am

Is this issue being looked at by dev team?

paulpaulbarber-net · August 16, 2020, 12:55pm

I submitted Ticket 688293, but it has yet to be resolved.

ahmede · August 16, 2020, 1:26pm

I don’t think it’s getting much attention based on the number of members who posted here.

paulpaulbarber-net · August 16, 2020, 2:59pm

The last time I was contacted by suport I was asked to submit logs for the app, so it’s moving along, but I think that support is very busy since the time between emails is about 7-10 days.

thwang · August 16, 2020, 8:33pm

My iPhone 11 has the same issue when using Wyze app. The issue on my pan cam motion tracking has not been resolved and now a new issue starts appearing. The motion tracking makes the pan cam move around without motion tagging (green box) when there is no motion at all. During the night, the Night Vision IR lights is on and off frequently and then push notifications (over 100) overnight.

paulpaulbarber-net · August 16, 2020, 8:59pm

Wyze Support just responded to me. Here are their suggestions -

Here are a few more things I'd like you to try:

* Navigate to the Account tab > App Settings > clear Cache File.
* If the issue persists, try the Beta version of the app by following the steps on this link: [Become a Beta Tester](https://support.wyzecam.com/hc/en-us/search/click?data=BAh7CjoHaWRsKwjHWJvTUwA6CXR5cGVJIgxhcnRpY2xlBjoGRVQ6CHVybEkiVGh0dHBzOi8vc3VwcG9ydC53eXplY2FtLmNvbS9oYy9lbi11cy9hcnRpY2xlcy8zNjAwMzI0NTg5NTEtQmVjb21lLWEtQmV0YS1UZXN0ZXIGOwdUOg5zZWFyY2hfaWRJIik4MzNmN2YzNi1lZDJiLTRlYjYtYmJjNS04ZmY4YzNmYWMyYzgGOwdGOglyYW5raQg%3D--4809c3ddf8c1eecb2a3b322201f2d1b1cb858ebf)
* If it will still show a high percentage of background app, continue uninstalling the app for 6-8 hours, and monitor your phone's background activity.

I’m trying the first one for a few days before moving on to the next one.

If others are having the issue, I would suggest submitting a report. Here’s how you can do that from the app that will send logs:

1. In the Wyze app, go to Account -> Help & Feedback -> tap 'Submit a Log' -> Wyze App and Services -> tap "Other".

2. You will be redirected to the "Submit a Log" page. Depending on which option is selected, you may need to specify the device name from the drop-down list. In the Details field, please enter a brief description of the issue you're having. Make sure to leave the circle checked next to the 'Send log file' option at the bottom of the form and tap Submit.

Optionally you could reference Ticket 688293 as possibly the same issue. You could also include Jennifer in the Agent Name as that is who I’m working with.

ahmede · August 17, 2020, 5:30am

That beta version is worse than the current public version in terms of battery drain

ahmede · August 18, 2020, 3:07pm

Updated to V2.12.50. Issue with the app is battery drain when viewing live footage. The app is using way too much phone processing / resources.
My iPhone XS starts heating up instantly.

I regularly use Zoom and Microsoft Networks video, my phone never heats up dispite prolong use.

paulpaulbarber-net · August 21, 2020, 12:37pm

I cleared the cache file (Account tab > App Settings > clear Cache File) and then watched how the app was using the battery over the next few days. Additionally, the app updated to v2.12.50.
As of now, the Wyze app is no longer the my #1 battery usage in the last 24 hours, it’s #4 with 5% usage (16h 38m backgd), so this is much better than when it was the app using 20% of the battery.

ahmede · August 21, 2020, 12:55pm

Thanks for your suggestion. My cache stands at Zero and has always displayed Zero for some or other reason. I have deleted the app from the phone, re installed , then manually disabled background app refresh. No change

paulpaulbarber-net · August 21, 2020, 1:09pm

If you haven’t already, I would suggest submitting an issue sending logs as described above.

ahmede · August 22, 2020, 12:09pm

Support request submitted. What i noticed is that simply having the app open without using any of the features causes battery drain and the device heating up.

I picked this up waiting for support to respond via the app