topic Re: Re: YouTube - HUGE Battery Drain 🔋 in Galaxy S24

YouTube - HUGE Battery Drain 🔋

userlQcCM1wRc8 — Wed, 14 May 2025 19:32:33 GMT

What is up with YouTube?

An hour of watching a video and 20% battery drain! Think this is a known issue for Google to address or is it also something on Samsung's camp as well?

What's your experience?

Any resolutions you have discovered?

Re: YouTube - HUGE Battery Drain 🔋

realaud — Wed, 14 May 2025 20:08:37 GMT

If you want Google to address it, why are you in a Samsung forum? Google has it's own forum. Also, do you seriously think watching an hour of video wouldn't drain your battery? It's not just screen time, it's CPU use, as well.

Re: Re: YouTube - HUGE Battery Drain 🔋

userlQcCM1wRc8 — Wed, 14 May 2025 21:28:20 GMT

Hello, no I don't believe that no battery should be used, but not 20% of battery.

Also, as stated in my post, I am inquiring of the Samsung community because I own a Samsung phone. The fault could be with Samsung and/or Google.

Re: Re: YouTube - HUGE Battery Drain 🔋

realaud — Wed, 14 May 2025 21:50:02 GMT

The power requirements of an app rest with the developer. It would be a Google issue. I still do not understand why you think watching a YouTube video for 90 minutes with the screen demands and the demands on the CPU, most likely transmitting audio via BT and utilizing wi-fi, would not use 20% of the battery (along with anything else going on in the background). You have a 4400 mAh battery.

Re: Re: Re: YouTube - HUGE Battery Drain 🔋

userlQcCM1wRc8 — Wed, 14 May 2025 22:13:44 GMT

I appreciate your input, but I want to clarify a few points.

- My original statement referred to one hour of YouTube usage, not 90 minutes.

- The Galaxy S24 Ultra has a 5000mAh battery, not 4400mAh.

- While app developers influence power consumption, device optimization, software updates, and system processes, also play a role in battery performance.

- Battery drain reports related to YouTube, the S24 Ultra, and One UI 7are widely discussed across multiple forums, suggesting a broader issue beyond just Google's app development.

I’m hoping to keep the discussion focused on diagnosing and addressing the issue, rather than shifting blame or dismissing concerns.

Re: Re: Re: YouTube - HUGE Battery Drain 🔋

realaud — Wed, 14 May 2025 22:26:32 GMT

You can put in an error report. The engineers will tell you whose fault it is. If all those people who are complaining about this issue do the same, to both entities, something might actually get done about it. Are all the complaints from Samsung users? Also, sorry about the battery size mistake, I was thinking I saw S22, not 24.

Re: Re: Re: Re: YouTube - HUGE Battery Drain 🔋

userlQcCM1wRc8 — Wed, 14 May 2025 22:32:06 GMT

Thank you. Yes, I agree.
Hoping for some responses in this community who are experiencing a similar issue.
Good think tank and someone may have discovered a solution or helpful resource. Ultimately, it can come down to the tech giants!

Re: YouTube - HUGE Battery Drain 🔋

userIjHNIEec9g — Wed, 14 May 2025 22:58:22 GMT

Hi! I have been going mad because of the same issue! I have used an app that will tell me the current draw of my phone called Ampere. I have noticed that while watching other video streaming apps such as Netflix, Prime Video, and Plex my power usage will for the most part be below 1 amp. But with YouTube specifically, I've noticed an average of 1.5-2 amps of power draw, even sometimes reaching 3 amps. As you know, it leads to excessive battery drain and heat.. I've googled and googled and not found a solution or much of anyone else having this issue. A very annoying and inconsistent solution is to force stop the app and hope it takes a while before it starts randomly causing excessive battery draw again. I'm currently on a z fold 5, but the same issue happened to me on my previous phone, the s20+. Glad to know I'm not the only one at least.

Re: Re: YouTube - HUGE Battery Drain 🔋

userlQcCM1wRc8 — Thu, 15 May 2025 01:31:02 GMT

That's exactly what is happening on my 24U.
I force stop YouTube, clear the app cache, wait a bit and then it is good for a while, until it is not again. 🙁

Re: YouTube - HUGE Battery Drain 🔋

userlQcCM1wRc8 — Thu, 15 May 2025 02:58:45 GMT

Okay, here are the steps I took.
So far, no excessive battery drain or overheating. Will see if it holds up.

1. YouTube App - clear cache and data.
2. Uninstall YT App. You can no longer completely uninstall, but the process will roll it back to version 19.2...

For good measure, I disabled the YT app and later enabled it again.

Opened the app and was immediately signed in. Nothing lost.

Forgot how much I liked the UI of version 19. I won't be updating anytime soon.

All permissions turned off.
Unless you are a content creator no permissions are needed for the app to function..

Give it a try and see what happens. Again so far so good.

Re: Re: Re: YouTube - HUGE Battery Drain 🔋

Stereo386 — Thu, 15 May 2025 13:45:41 GMT

20% per hour on one app is definitely high battery drain/ also probably high heat alongside the battery drain. That is why the battery measures are in 10% increments on the battery management.

Re: YouTube - HUGE Battery Drain 🔋

userlQcCM1wRc8 — Fri, 16 May 2025 13:41:23 GMT

Since the uninstall /downgrade to YT versuon 19.x the battery drain issue seems to be resolved. 6.7% battery usage for 1.47 hours vs the previous, 20% for 1 hour of viewing, indicates it is the later versions, 20.x that are at fault. I will keep the current version and see if this behavior is consistent.

Re: Re: YouTube - HUGE Battery Drain 🔋

userIjHNIEec9g — Fri, 16 May 2025 16:38:18 GMT

I gave this a try, hoping that it would help. But I suppose when you uninstall updates it reverts to whatever version came pre-installed on the phone. Unfortunately for me, 20.02.40 is the version that my YouTube reverts to. So the problem still persists. Unlucky for me 😥

Re: Re: Re: YouTube - HUGE Battery Drain 🔋

userlQcCM1wRc8 — Fri, 16 May 2025 17:59:50 GMT

That's unfortunate, but there still is an option you can try.
Uninstall the updates and disable the YouTube app. Disabling actually removes the YouTube app icon from your phone.

Head over to APK Mirror and search for version 19.20.33
Download the APK and see your phone will let you install.

I have used APK Mirror for several years and no issues. I understand that not everybody is comfortable side loading apps though. If you are, then this is worth a shot.
Version 19.xx is holding up nicely. I also like the UI better than the newer releases.

Even with the disabling your phone may not let you install an older version. Might work though!
Hope this helps!

Re: Re: Re: Re: YouTube - HUGE Battery Drain 🔋

userIjHNIEec9g — Fri, 16 May 2025 19:23:43 GMT

I appreciate your help and advice, but it won't let me install the older version over the new one, even if it's disabled. I've even gone as far as to try alternatives like NewPipe and GrayJay, but they just aren't worth the hassle for me. Seems like I'm SOL.. Thank you anyway.

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: YouTube - HUGE Battery Drain 🔋

userlQcCM1wRc8 — Fri, 16 May 2025 20:30:23 GMT

This is precisely why people don't like pre-inatalled apps!
No way to roll back when there are issues.

We at least narrowed down the issue though and can report to Google and Samsung that version 19.x does not seem to have the battery drain issue that later versions have.
Maybe they can figure out what went wrong and apply it to future updates.

The more people who report this, may get the tech giants attention.

Re: Re: Re: Re: YouTube - HUGE Battery Drain 🔋

realaud — Fri, 16 May 2025 21:05:42 GMT

In order to install an APK, you have to turn off auto blocker and you have to allow "install unknown apps" from the My Files app.

To turn off auto blocker, go to settings/security and privacy, scroll to Auto Blocker, tap it and turn off the slider. Then return to security and privacy and select "more security settings". Scroll down to "install unknown apps, tap it and then turn on the slider next to My Files and/or the browser you are going to download from (if you are going to install directly from the browser). If you select a browser, you should turn it off after you install your APK. When you use APK mirror, you usually have to download the file before you install, so just allowing My Files to install unknown apps should be sufficient. You can then turn auto blocker back on if you want, or leave it off. If you have malware protection on your device, it's fine to leave it off, that way you don't have to remember to turn it off next time you want to install something "unofficial", or plug in a USB cable for file transfer.

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: YouTube - HUGE Battery Drain 🔋

userIjHNIEec9g — Fri, 16 May 2025 21:26:16 GMT

I appreciate the help, but I've already had automatically blocker off and allow unknown sources on. It just simply won't let me install the older apk, i suppose it's a Google issue with it being an official Google app and whatnot. I have no problem installing other apk's and stuff. It seems to just be that it won't allow the pre-installed YouTube app to be overwritten.

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: YouTube - HUGE Battery Drain 🔋

realaud — Fri, 16 May 2025 21:32:19 GMT

Did you force stop the YouTube app and then disable it, or just disable it? You should force stop it and then disable it and for good measure, delete the app cache and data, then try again. I don't use YouTube for anything other than watching short videos found on Facebook, and I do not allow it to open the app. Perhaps watching your videos from a web browser may be the answer to your battery drain.

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: YouTube - HUGE Battery Drain 🔋

userIjHNIEec9g — Fri, 16 May 2025 21:56:27 GMT

Yep, force stop, clear cache and data, disabled, and it still won't allow YouTube to be overwritten. It says something along the lines of it being an invalid package. It is what it is, I'll just have to hope and pray that it gets fixed at some point. And I appreciate the suggestion of using the web browser, but it's just not convenient for me based on how much I listen to/watch while at work and home. I do appreciate the advice tho!