Galaxy S2 and AP Mobile Battery Drain

[rocketman_dc]

My Galaxy S2 battery is draining, and it turns out that the AP Mobile widget (which comes preinstalled and cannot be deleted without rooting the phone, which we are not supposed to do) is refreshing itself even when I'm not using it.  I do not have the widget up.  When I had it up last, I set the refresh internal to never.  According Battery Usage, it is still accessing data (using up data) and using up the battery.  It using more battery power than the display!  Is this for real?  

On other message boards, people are saying they root their phones and then freeze or delete AP Mobile.  I rooted my last phone. I don't want to root this one.  Samsung/AT&T cannot preinstall an app that uses power and data that we can't turn off. What is going on?  

Thanks.

[NJR]

I have not had that issue. I have auto refresh and auto scrolling off. It refreshes briefly if I go to that page but that is it. battery uisage from the app isn't even noticed on any guage I have.

[rocketman_dc]

I may have overreacted.  The next day, with the updates set to none, AP Mobile had very little activity.  I don't know why it showed a lot of use the first day (more than the display and lots of data transmitted), but that was not the case the next day and so far today it seems to be completely inactive.  I'll post a follow up in a few days.  Thank you. 

[2005tc]

I too am having issues with the ap mobile widget on my GS2.  I do not have it enabled on any home screens and its refresh interval is set to never.  In spite of this, here is a screen capture of the data usage it has racked up since monday:

Luckily I have unlimited data, so this isn't costing me money, but it's still ridiculous.  Really hoping for a fix to this...

[Donovan572]

I don't think my phone came with that app.  I've looked all over and don't see it.

[rocketman_dc]

It's not an app.  It's a widget.  

There is definitely something up with it.  Even when set to do nothing, it uses some battery power (for me, typically 2 percent per day) and sends and receives some data.  Could some other app be accessing it?  Regardless, if we can't delete it, we at least should be able to turn it totally off.  This should be addressed. 

[tonydi]

FWIW, I don't have this widget either. I nuked a bunch of stuff that I don't even recall on Day 1, but from what you say I couldn't have deleted it either. So it must not come on all phones.

[foxbat121 ACE - Wizard]

It comes with all Samsung Galaxy phones. It just didn't show up anywhere because it is a widget. Unless you purposefully put this widget on to your home screen, you won't find it. But it does show up in widget list.

[Donovan572]

OK, I found it on the widget list.

[tonydi]

Yeah, I looked in ALL in the Manage Apps section of Settings and found it and a bunch of other things I didn't know about.

Thanks!

[jamileh]

Hey folks, 

Just a heads up that we are aware some people have seen battery issues related to the AP Widget. We're researching it and as soon as I have info, I'll update this thread. 

In the meantime, you can stop using the widget by removing it from your homescreen and rebooting your phone. As long as it's not accessed again, it will be dormant like any other widget you're not actively using. 

Thanks,

~jam

[takuyaah]

On top of the battery drain issue, the more pressing issue of the AP mobile widget is that it is leeching a whole bunch of data WITHOUT THE WIDGET BEING USED.  It is using up ~8-10MB per day for me and I am on a 200MB plan so I am going to not like my next wireless bill.

I have tried force stopped the app but as soon as you get out of settings the service automatically start up again.  Since it is a "default" app there is no way to uninstall it.  I just tried Jam's suggestion to reboot my phone, no go.  The widget/app launches itselfs and there's no way to stop it permanently.  By the way there are many many threats on the internet outlining this issue so it is not my imagination.

This is a huge issue on many levels.  I have spoken to technical Support and customer care and they just point to Samsung.  One genius customer care rep even suggested for me to claim warranty even though she seems to understand it is an OS issue.  I personally feel that if AT&T just get their act together and work with Samsung for a hotfix or quick update, that would be better customer service.  Instead they force me to speak with Samsung who points me right back to AT&T because it's their custom rom and AP mobile widget is NOT an android native app.

At of this point, I am thoroughly disappointed with AT&T customer sevice and how they treat this 13 years wireless customer.

[foxbat121 ACE - Wizard]

Battery drain and data usage are co-related. More data usage = more battery drain. It sounds like a random bug that affects some but not others.

[jamileh]

@tukuyaah - Have you removed the app from your homescreen?

[Entropy512]

@jamileh - It would take 15 minutes for AT&T to generate an OTA update zip that removes this app.  An application like this has NO business being located in /system/app considering that it is available on the Android market, especially when it is so easily capable of driving data overage charges.

An issue like this cannot wait for it to be slipstreamed in the 2.3.5 update (which already is a classic "biting off more than you can chew" example - a fix for the lockscreen issue is getting held back by the fact that AT&T and Samsung tried to do too much in UCKJ2.) - an emergency fix needs to be done by AT&T now.

It is utterly ridiculous that AT&T releases firmwares that require rooting in order to obtain proper operation.  It is inexcusable for uninstallable apps to be present in /system/app that are installable from the Android Market.  <keep it courteous>.

[jamileh]

I understand the frustration this causes and that is why I made that post yesterday. 

This issue is being researched so it can be resolved. 

[safetrip]

I'm suffering from exact same issue. The thing is AP mobile app doesn't even appear in the task manager so you cannot kill it. I could only see it after downloading an app that tracks data usage. How could that be?

In the mean time I just got an email notice that I'm reaching my 200MB limit. For the past 30 months when I had iphone, I never reached this limit. I have had GS2 for 1 week, I'm over the limit.

This is unbelievable to say the least !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[safetrip]

Try resetting the phone, which I was skeptical when the tech support lady suggested(after trying everything for an hour) as the last resort.  But I did that half on hour ago and so far it hasn't showed up again- knock on woods.

It's possible that it doesn't start until you tab on the icon, which I could have done when I first got it.

[jamileh]

You can also set the refresh rate to 3 hours to help cut down on data/battery use. 

Tap the widget to open it, then hit menu, then settings, set Auto Scroll to None and Auto Refresh to 3 hours.

Keep this thread bookmarked or subscribe to it. As soon as I have more info about this, I'll post to this thread with an update. 

[LAURAP13]

I too am experiencing extreme data usage by this AP Mobile Widget on my phone.  I got my new phone 3 weeks ago and am seriously considering returning it and going with the iPhone.  ATT = FAIL on this release of a great phone bogged down with junk applications.  NO app or service should be installed that can't be uninstalled or at least stopped.  I've tried every single suggestion listed on here and this AP Mobile is almost like it has a mind of it's own.  It is unstoppable and has used excessive amounts of data that I had to up my data plan, which I did not want to do.  ATT or Samsung should fix this NOW. 

[acdodd]

Followed your instructions and it is still using data.

[Entropy512]

---

jamileh wrote:

I understand the frustration this causes and that is why I made that post yesterday. 

This issue is being researched so it can be resolved. 

---

Based on these further user reports - no further research is needed.  That app needs to be removed from /system/app

It's an easy solution, and would take 30 seconds if AT&T hadn't put it in a place where root privileges are required to remove it.

I and anyone else that's running a rooted phone can tell you - removing this app has ZERO detrimental effects.

So remove it - stop working on 2.3.5 (we know you are - we've seen UCKJ2), and release an emergency update which removes this bloat.

Either that or stop considering rooting to be a warranty-voiding process.  It is, as I've said before, inexcusable that a user must execute a warranty-voiding operation in order to have a properly operating phone.

[jamileh]

Thank you for your feedback. I agree that this needs to be resolved quickly. 

As I've said before, as soon as I have an update; I'll let you guys know. 

[takuyaah]

Regarding your question, I do not have it enabled on my home screen obviously.  If I did have it enabled, I obviously would not been complaining the vampire data usage.

 I have tried enabled it to set update to "none" then removed it, still didn't work.  I have tried every method on the web to solve the issue just short of rooting my phone as of now which is the ONLY proven method of "fixing" the issue.  Funny that you spent all the money on a new phone and the only way to use it is to potentially void the warranty.

I believe it is not as widespread as it is because of 2 reasons:

1) Not everyone have tried enabled the widget (I blame myself everyday that i had).

2) A lot of people still have unlimited data so they don't care if 300MB+ get leeched off their 200MB plans.

Really my only main issue is to do with customer service department where they just tell you to eat it with no useful suggestion or timeline to fix the issue.  I would think AT&T would have better communication with Samsung than myself.  Pointing to each others between you two companies really doesn't do much for your customers.

[car11220]

still no answer from AT&T, AP Mobile sucking 70MB/day.

[namichael]

I've been battling this for a couple weeks now.  I tried the "set auto refresh to every 3 hours" then removed the widget from the home screen.  It obviously didn't stop it completely but it had slowed to less than 1 mb  per day.  I generally run wifi while I'm at home and it never caused this data leech to pickup the pace until this evening when over the course of just a few hours the AP widget kicked up it's consumption and used over 150 mb.  It's not the data usage I'm concerned about.  It's the bloody battery usage that really irritates me.  

I hate that AT&T doesn't seem to care that the bloat that they loaded on one of their high end phones is causing the phone to not be used to compacity.

[takuyaah]

I don't think we are alone.

http://androidforums.com/samsung-galaxy-s2-t/431629-question-about-ap-mobile-galaxy-s2.html

http://forums.att.com/t5/Android-Community-Discussion/Samsung-Galaxy-S2-AP-Mobile-app-issue/td-p/290...

http://androidforums.com/samsung-galaxy-s2-t/433323-what-ap-mobile-using-all-data.html

http://androidforums.com/samsung-galaxy-s2-t/428410-ap-mobile.html

http://forums.androidcentral.com/t-galaxy-s-ii/128729-ap-mobile-tied-another-widget-2.html

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1315298

http://forums.androidcentral.com/t-galaxy-s-ii/124256-ap-mobile-constantly-using-data-6.html

http://androidforums.com/samsung-galaxy-s2-t/432846-ap-mobile-using-tons-data-not-being-used.html

[defyitall]

It's definitely a wide spread issue that pops up on every GSII flavor, even the international version. I've tried most of the fixes people throw around on the internet. Setting to 3 hours. Setting to 3 hours, removing, setting to none, removing. They all seem to work for one day and then AP Mobile pops back up on my traffic monitor.

I'm considering one last solution raised, which is to backup everything to an SD card using MyBackup (from the app store) and then factory reseting the phone. Restore and then NEVER touch the AP widget again. Some people said that's worked. But again, not sure for how long.

The app does seem to have some kind of internal setting that notices you are on Wifi and pulls more data than on cellular as my traffic monitor results seem to be usually between 500k-1mb a day on cell and 10-12mb a day on wifi.

The biggest problem is that the widget doesn't seem to be consistent. Not only across multiple user's phones but also on individual phones.

It's not an issue that needs research, it's a widespread problem that needs fixing. Quickly.

[acdodd]

AT$T has no incentive to fix it.

They are making money off people going over their meger data plans.

The only thing that will get tihis fixed is a lot of bad press, and I don't mean on forums

[Per Guidelines:  Keep it Relevant and Appropriate].

[takuyaah]

I agree acdodd, I am doing my part as long as I don't hear Samsung or AT&T adderssing the issue.

On a more relevant note to help others, I have rooted my phone due to the fact I bought my phone from amazon and I don't want to mail back and forth and live without my phone for weeks.  The rooting/freezing app is quite a bit less intrusive than jailbreaking an iphone, and it is easily reversible.  I think people should take a look at that option even though it sounds scary.  Youtube has a great easy-to-follow guide but since I don't want to violate any rules, you will have to search for it yourself.