Big Battery drain on Ionic due to the "Altimeter" app - just a heads up

[edit001]

Not much I can do about it but here are the details :

1. the Ionic was updated to the latest software version

2. the watch is not constantly syncing with the phone

3. I never used notifications, were always off

4. besides the standard Fitbit apps, I only installed a custom watch face and an Altitude measuring app called "Altimeter" and I only used it once... this morning... and it seems to be the culprit

The problem that I see here is that the Ionic has no means to warn you or to stop an app that it drains the battery fast and I would liked at least a warning of some kind (for instance when my watch gets to 20% battery a long buzz would have helped me realize that something is wrong). I might be asking a lot here, I know, but I never imagined that an "Altimeter" app can drain the battery from around 70% to 0% in 3-4 hours. It's true that the app uses the built in barometer but also it's seeking and using GPS data as well so it drains a lot of power especially if it's programmed to continuously search for the GPS satellites.

Another problem is that once you use the app the the screen turns off you simply forgot that the app is there, crunching data, eating away the precious battery energy... and the next time you take a look at the watch.... oops... battery at 0%

I just wanted to point out an issue so the others can learn from my mistake.

Thank you !

[SimonRJ]

So do you attribute the battery loss to the app itself or to user error because you forgot to exit out of the app?

[edit001]

It's a combination of factors in my opinion:

1. the Ionic does not warn you in any way that there is a background app that drains the battery fast

2. the ionic does not warn you when the battery reaches a certain level, say 20%

3. the app maybe it should be programmed with battery savings in mind meaning that once I entered my work place that it does not see "any" satellites for 30 minutes it should stop looking not continuously search till the battery went 0%. Or maybe search for satellites and sample data once a minute to avoid draining the battery too fast. I am not a programmer but as an user I would make the app with these options in mind.... but then again, I am not a programmer and maybe what I find useful it's not possible to implement at this stage?!

4. Once you turn on an app because the screen turns off quickly and is off by design to save battery it's easy to forget about the app... and most likely you will remember way too late

5. User error is on the table of course, for one thing I don't remember if I exited the app and most likely I did not. On the other hand I did not imagine that it would drain the battery so fast... Lesson learned.

6. I am used to how phones operate these days, when you start an app and put the phone to sleep the app usually enters sleep as well... when the watch screen turns off you somehow think that it went sleep mode and everything is fine...

Hope people are reading and not doing the same mistake 🙂

Bottom line : App will be uninstalled because there is always the possibility of launching it by mistake and found myself with 0% battery again.

[WavyDavey]

@edit001, what do you mean when you say "background app". The Ionic doesn't do multi-tasking like a phone. The altimeter app seems like it would only run while it's in focus on the watch. Are you saying that even after you left the altimeter screen, the app was still running? If so, how did you verify this?

Your #3 sounds like the real culprit--an app that doesn't handle spotty GPS connections very well. And it sounds like the app was meant more as a "check the current elevation", than as a constantly-running app. I'm not even certain the app can run in the background, and if so, it's only going to be a battery drain for someone who leaves that app in the foreground.

TLDR "fix": after using an app, hit the back button to return to the Today screen?

[edit001 · Accepted solution]

---

@WavyDavey wrote:

TLDR "fix": after using an app, hit the back button to return to the Today screen?

---

Thanks for the feedback @WavyDavey !

Yes, in theory this is what I do... but then life kicks in... got a phone call on my way to work...forget about the app completely. If the app would have kept the screen on I might have noticed and exited the app... but with the screen off...

Now that we can install apps on our Ionic I am sure, many other will find that it's not that hard to find yourself with an empty battery...

I guess I need to buy a spare charging cable and keep it at work... just in case 🙂