YouTube - HUGE Battery Drain 🔋

[userlQcCM1wRc8]

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? 

[useroC83BboET7]

That is not an answer. That's a deflection. Did you not consider that it could be a Google issue, a YouTube app issue, or a Samsung issue?

[userIjHNIEec9g]

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.

[userlQcCM1wRc8]

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. 🙁

[userlQcCM1wRc8]

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.

[userIjHNIEec9g]

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 😥

[userlQcCM1wRc8]

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!

[userIjHNIEec9g]

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.

[userlQcCM1wRc8]

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.

[realaud]

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.

[userIjHNIEec9g]

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.