How to fix a Samsung Galaxy Note 9 battery that drains so quickly after an update [Troubleshooting Guide]
Rapid battery draining problems in smartphones aren’t always due to a bad battery or hardware damage. In fact, most cases of battery draining occur after installing an update, and therefore attributed to software errors. This also denotes that the problem is rectifiable by some workarounds thus can be remedied at home.
To give you some inputs on how to deal with a post-update battery draining issue on a Samsung Galaxy Note 9, I’ve mapped out a few of the highly recommended workarounds and effective solutions for you to try on. Feel free to the following walkthroughs, if you need more help.
Before going further, if you found this post because you were trying to find a solution to your problem, then try to visit our troubleshooting page as we’ve already addressed most of the commonly reported issues with the phone. We’ve already provided solutions to some of the problems reported by our readers so try to find issues that are similar with yours and use the solutions we suggested. If they don’t work for you and if you need further assistance, fill up our Android issues questionnaire and hit submit.
First solution: End all background apps then reboot your phone.
Apps can become rogue after implementing new system changes and the first apps to act up would be those background apps. These are apps you’ve recently used but not closed. They’re in standby mode and ready to launch when triggered for multitasking. But keeping these apps running for long or during a software update implementation can also cause problems as there’s a tendency that any of these apps would crash or become corrupted. To clear this out, end all background apps on your Galaxy Note 9 with these steps:
- Tap the Recent Apps key.
- Scroll through the app previews.
- Then tap and drag the app off-screen to close it.
- Alternatively, you can tap on the X in the upper-right corner of an app to close it. To close all running apps at once, tap Close All instead.
Once you’re done clearing background apps, reboot/soft reset your phone to clear and refresh its memory.
Second solution: Install pending app updates.
If clearing background apps doesn’t help and your phone’s battery is still draining so quickly, then try to check for any pending app updates on your Galaxy Note 9. Some apps may need to be updated for them to work smoothly with the new platform otherwise, they’ll go rogue and likely cause such problems. If you haven’t set your apps to auto-update, then you will need to manually install pending app updates on your Galaxy Note 9 instead. Here’s how:
- Open the Apps screen.
- Tap Play Store.
- Tap the Menu icon (list symbol) on the upper-leftmost side of Google Play screen.
- Select My apps & games.
- Navigate to Updates section to view a list of apps with pending updates.
- To update individual apps, tap the Update button next to each app.
- To update all apps at once, tap the Update All button on the upper-right side of the screen instead.
Wait until all apps are finished updating and then restart your phone to apply the new changes.
Third solution: Check battery usage and manage power usage for apps.
Errant apps can also be determined by how much power or amount of battery they have consumed in a certain period of time. You can check these details by navigating to the Battery Usage section of your phone. Here’s how to get there:
- Go to your phone Settings.
- Tap on Battery.
- Select Battery Usage.
Check the details and find out which app or service is using up the most of your battery. If you notice an unexpected or unusual use of battery by a certain app, then you may need to consider uninstalling that app or install pending updates for that app. If there’s a need to uninstall bad apps, then follow these steps:
- From the Home screen, tap the Apps tray.
- Tap Settings > Apps.
- Tap the desired application in the default list or tap 3 dots icon > Show system apps to display preinstalled apps.
- Tap the desired application.
- Tap Uninstall.
- Tap Uninstall again to confirm.
If no app is showing unusual power consumption, then try to adjust your phone’s display settings including screen brightness, screen timeout, wallpapers, and the like. Turning off network-related features that aren’t use as well as limiting apps syncing can also help save and extend battery life.
Fourth solution: Wipe cache partition on your Galaxy Note 9.
It’s recommended to wipe cache partition after installing a new system update on the phone. Doing so will ensure that all new system changes are properly implemented and thereby prevents apps or the phone system from misbehaving. If you haven’t done it yet, then here’s what you should do next:
- Turn off the device.
- Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key, then press and hold the Power key.
- When the Android logo displays, release all keys (‘Installing system update’ will show for about 30 – 60 seconds, then ‘No command’ before showing the Android system recovery menu options).
- Press the Volume down key several times to highlight “wipe cache partition”.
- Press Power button to select.
- Press the Volume down key to highlight “yes” and press the Power key to select.
- When the wipe cache partition is complete, “Reboot system now” is highlighted.
- Press the Power key to restart the device.
Wiping cache partition dumps cache and temporary data from the system folders or cache partition. Any errant or corrupted system data that may have caused battery problems will therefore be cleared in the process.
Fifth solution: Erase the phone and restore default settings (factory data reset).
Among the last possible solutions to try if battery draining persists on your Galaxy Note 9 would be a factory data reset. This will erase everything from your phone system including files and apps you’ve downloaded and saved on the internal memory. That means, you’re going to lose your files in the process. On the positive note, carrying out this reset will also obliterate system errors that caused battery draining problem on your phone. Just be sure to back up all your critical information beforehand so you can just recover them later. Whenever you’re all set, follow these steps to reset your Galaxy Note 9 to its factory default settings:
- Go to the Apps screen.
- Tap Settings.
- Scroll to and select General management.
- Tap Reset.
- Select Factory data reset from the given options.
- Tap Reset Device to continue.
- Finally, tap DELETE ALL to confirm.
Software-related issues are usually remedied by a master reset or factory data reset. If the battery draining problem persists, then it could be a symptom of hardware damage.
Other options
Service is among the last options to consider if nothing else worked and your Samsung Galaxy Note 9 battery still drains so quickly. The problem likely persists because of some damaged components like a bad battery on the phone that need to be fixed. In that case, taking your device to a Samsung-authorized service center would be necessary. Or you can escalate the issue to Samsung Support or your carrier for further troubleshooting assistance and recommendations. Just let them know how you ended up with this issue so they can further assess the problem or create a fix patch, if necessary.
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