Battery life on most Android phones is now pretty good, but apps can still drain your battery more than you realize, even when you aren’t using them. As your phone gets older and the battery life shrinks, it’s important to get them under control. I’ve started using the free app GSam Battery Monitor to do exactly that.

Android’s battery stats aren’t enough

They don’t show you the real problem

Power management on Android is much better than it used to be. Back in the early days, apps running in the background would routinely keep your phone awake and drain the battery in just a few hours, and it was often difficult to figure out which app was at fault.

That’s mostly fixed, now. Waking up to a phone that has drained 60% overnight is rare. But that’s not to say that it never happens, or that apps aren’t still reducing your battery life without you knowing. If you want to eke out as much time between charges as you can, you need to keep an eye on what your apps are doing.

Android’s battery stats themselves are not enough. They’ll show you which apps are using the most power in both the foreground (when they’re on screen) and the background (when they aren’t on-screen, or the screen is turned off), but it isn’t particularly illuminating and sometimes not even accurate.

A popular app like AccuBattery can give you a lot more information on what’s using your battery and which of your apps are the most power hungry. But it’s mostly focused on foreground apps, so it still doesn’t get to the heart of the problem.

Instead, I’ve been using GSam Battery Monitor, and it gives so much detailed information about what’s going on. The apps that are running in the background, keeping the phone awake, and which sensors they’re using. It’s so easy now to see which apps are quietly draining the battery.

How to set up GSam Battery Monitor

The power of a root app without root

GSam Battery Monitor is an old app that’s been around for over a decade and has recently made a comeback. It used to run on rooted phones, and while it can still use root privileges, that’s no longer a requirement. Because detailed battery stats aren’t freely available through Android, the setup is a little more technical than simply installing it. But it only takes a couple of minutes, and is well worth it.

You can use the app in standard mode, wherein it works just like any other regular battery app. The power comes through enabling Enhanced mode, which gives access to the raw battery data.

If your phone isn’t rooted, you have to do this using the ADB tool that comes as part of the Android SDK. We’ve got a guide on how to use ADB, and the app itself talks you through the steps you need to follow.

If this sounds complicated, it actually isn’t. Once you’ve downloaded ADB to your desktop or laptop and connected your phone, you simply type in a single command that gives the app permission to access the battery stats. And then you’ll never need to touch it again.

Get started by installing GSam and then tapping the three-dot menu button in the bottom right corner and going to More > Enable more stats. Now follow the onscreen instructions.

What to do about battery-draining apps

Fixing the problem

Once you’ve got it up and running, there are two screens in GSam that you’ll want to pay most attention to. The main screen gives you the kind of overview you’ll get from any battery app, split across various categories. If you enable notifications, you’ll get a permanent one showing an accurate assessment of how much time you’ve got left on your current charge.

The most important screen is the App Sucker screen, which you can access via the second icon on the toolbar at the bottom. This breaks down all your stats into very useful categories. The default screen shows what percentage of your battery all your apps have used since you last charged your phone.

Tap the dropdown menu and select View % Power (Background CPU Only) to see the same information, but only relating to apps running in the background. These are the ones that are draining your battery even when you aren’t actively using them. You can ignore the system tools as well as the media apps that you often use with the screen off. Anything else in the list is worth further investigation.

You can also select View Sensor Time Used and then tap an app to see which sensor it’s using. The Time Held Awake and Num Times Waking Device options show which apps are preventing your phone from sleeping when you aren’t using it.

This information will highlight any problematic apps. When you find one that uses a lot of battery, tap it for more detail, and select Manage to access the Android settings for the app. From here, select App battery usage and either toggle off Allow background usage to prevent it from running in the background entirely, or tap it and ensure that Optimized is selected.

Take control of your battery

GSam Battery Monitor gives a great insight into which of your apps are draining your battery the most. Unlike the regular Android battery stats, it won’t just highlight the games and media apps that you know will be power-hungry, but will instead show you some of the smaller, less obvious ones that continue running or keep your phone awake even when you aren’t using them.

You can then stop the worst offenders from running in the background, or even replace them with different, and more battery-friendly, apps.