Phone battery drains suddenly

[robjh]

My smartphone battery has recently taken to draining very rapidly from a high charge % to 0 in a few moments, and generally not linked to any app usage that I am aware of. Typically it will start normally from 100%, reducing slowly, but there will come a point - sometimes around 50%, sometimes 70% and yesterday 80% - where it just drops off a cliff and a moment later the phone is at 1% and closes with a 'low battery' warning.

A display of the battery usage yesterday evening shows this. It was the second one like this that day.

Is this likely to be a problem with the phone and the apps running, or with the battery? All the on-line help I can find blames this on genuine power usage by the phone, maybe with processes looping, and recommend various power-saving options. I've tried various of the suggested remedies but to no success.
Or is the battery just knackered? It's probably 2 years old.

The phone is a Sony D5503 (according to settings), running Android 5.1.1.

One other thing that I noticed last night, but may be incidental : Facebook won't open on the phone, but may flash for a while before going off, and this happened at the moment the battery drained last night. FB has been doing this on the phone for a few days, but the battery problem is older than that so it is probably coincidental.

 

[Milkfloat]

So which apps are burning power? Settings > Device > Battery or Settings > Power > Battery

 

[gaijintendo]

Maybe the phone didn't have the correct battery profile, and overestimated the charge.

Regardless, for some reason I read this thread title like a local newspaper story headline.

 

[PK99]

when a similar thing happened with mine a year or so ago, the issue was a fecked battery,

but you could try uninstalling FB?

 

[cisamcgu]

I would have thought that a battery cannot really use power at that rate, it would burn a hole in the table if it used 60% of the energy in the battery in a matter of moments. Either the battery is "kaput" or the battery reporting in the phone is skewed, or a combination of the two. - Maybe

 

[robjh]

when a similar thing happened with mine a year or so ago, the issue was a fecked battery,

but you could try uninstalling FB?

I'm playing around with it again today and that's one thing I'm going to try

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

I've found that as most smartphones are on two year contracts, they tend to develop strange and terminal faults around the 22 month mark.

 

[john59]

I'd try putting the phone in safe mode and see if the same thing occurs. If it doesn't it could be an indication that an application you downloaded is causing the drain.
http://support.sonymobile.com/gb/xperiam4aqua/kb/0231018877589a7b01429399b11c00699b/

 

[mybike]

As @PK99 says, most likely the battery. I had the problem on mine, replacing the battery cured it. I'm not entirely sure of the structure of the lithium rechargeable battery, but it would appear that there is a dodgy cell that's not taking a full charge. You get similar problems in car batteries.

 

[RoubaixCube]

I think the battery inside has had it. My old battery would drop quite quickly and go from 40% to absolutely dead in less than a blink of an eye. Instantly die. Go giving my phone the time to go through low power shutdown sequence or anything. Just completely kaput.

Either take your phone to a repair shop so they can switch the battery out or get a new phone

 

[swee'pea99]

I think the battery inside has had it. My old battery would drop quite quickly and go from 40% to absolutely dead in less than a blink of an eye. Instantly die. Go giving my phone the time to go through low power shutdown sequence or anything. Just completely kaput.

Either take your phone to a repair shop so they can switch the battery out or get a new phone

Or DIY. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-High-Capacity-Replacement-Battery-For-Sony-Xperia-Z2-D6502-D6503-D6543-/122433875425?hash=item1c81a0ade1:g:1S8AAOSwB-1Y5jsd

 

[Electric_Andy]

My Dad's phone used to do the exact same thing (it's a Samsung J something). It would always show 100% when "fully charged". He had no luck diagnosing the problem, so I suggested buying a proper (branded) fast-charger. Ever since then it has performed as it should. Weird, but maybe it's worth a try and if not it could be the battery?

 

[jefmcg]

Facebook is probably the biggest and most complicated app on your phone. I had no problems with any app (after an upgrade) until I tried to install FB and it just wouldn't. Got a very annoying error that I couldn't diagnose. That combined with the battery problems, makes me wonder if your device has become corrupted.

I'd try a factory reset. Note that's like getting a new phone, so back everything up first.

 

[mjr]

My Dad's phone used to do the exact same thing (it's a Samsung J something). It would always show 100% when "fully charged". He had no luck diagnosing the problem, so I suggested buying a proper (branded) fast-charger. Ever since then it has performed as it should. Weird, but maybe it's worth a try and if not it could be the battery?

I've seen that too, but only on Samsungs.

I think it's the battery. Maybe try a fast (2A) charger or a slow (0.5A - some computer sockets) charger if you usually only use one or the other, but I suspect it's battery replacement time after 2 years, especially if you often leave it on charge at 100% and it's not clever at shutting off charging.

 

[Globalti]

.....take your phone to a repair shop so they can switch the battery out....

Why not just ask them to change the battery?