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Garmin Connect iOS drains iPhone Battery even when doing nothing

Former Member over 6 years ago

Garmin Connect iOS (latest version 4.15.0.28) uses a disproportionate amount of my iPhone 7 Plus battery, even when I'm not using my Garmin (Edge 520).

I regularly see Garmin Connect being responsible for over 70% of battery usage, on the iPhone, under Settings, Battery (see attached image). And, more surprisingly, it happens even when Garmin Connect isn't running, according to the iOS multi-tasking screen.

I had my iPhone battery replaced in Dec 2018, so it is still reported as having 100% capacity. I want to preserve battery life on my phone as much as possible. I have seen a few similar posts about Garmin Connect being responsible for excessive iPhone battery usage, but not recently and there were no definite conclusions, so thought it worth starting a new thread.

Why should Garmin Connect need to communicate when there isn't an active GPS device? Anyone else having similar problems or have any suggestions?

Mike ciq.forums.garmin.com/.../1456545.jpg

0 jamierytlewski over 6 years ago

I've actually started to notice this as well. Do you have your device connected at the time? I just recently bought an Apple Watch, so I don't wear my 935 all the time anymore and I figured it was that. I know there was an update the other day as well which might have caused it.

0 Dr Phil over 6 years ago

Granted I am currently on a beta version, but I don't see, and never have seen that amount of usage. And I have a device connected 24/7. What's its 10 day usage?ciq.forums.garmin.com/.../1458476.jpg

0 Former Member over 6 years ago

I see this as well on my iPhone SE - appalling battery drain from Garmin Connect even when not in use. My phone is currently reporting that 52% of battery use in the last 24 hours was GC - I was out riding for about an hour and a half yesterday. It didn't used to happen - in my case, it started when I bought a Fenix as well as my Edge; my guess is that it is continually trying to connect to one or other device, and if they are turned off or not in range, GC hammers the Bluetooth connection looking for them.

Manually stopping GC from running in the background helps somewhat, but it doesn't fix it completely. There's something fundamentally broken in how GC connects to Bluetooth devices, IMO.

0 Former Member over 6 years ago

To be honest, the battery drain is ridiculously high when actively using a device. If I am out cycling, and not using anything like LiveTrack, there is no need at all for constant communication between my phone and my computer - the only data they need to exchange is the download of the ride data at the end of the session. On a typical ride, I am also listening to music from my phone over Bluetooth bone-conduction headphones, which is the phone constantly transmitting data at high rates - that ought to be using *far* more battery than the connection between GC and the computer, and yet it is GC that appears at the top of the battery usage list, by a large margin.

I have no idea what Garmin are doing in GC, but it really doesn't need to be using as much power as it is.