AndroidPolice says the latest Google Play Services 18.3.82 has a battery drain problem

[Arlen George Holder]

As always, to bring value to share with others in this Usenet potluck...

o Heads up: Play Services 18.3.82 has a battery drain problem
<https://www.androidpolice.com/2019/08/12/heads-up-the-latest-play-services-update-has-a-battery-drain-problem/>

o How to Fix the Latest Android Bug That's Draining Your Battery
<https://lifehacker.com/how-to-fix-the-latest-android-bug-thats-draining-your-b-1837170436/amp>

Interestingly, the workaround involves opting in to be a beta tester ...
<https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.google.android.gms>

To roll back to the previous version of the Play services app:
0. Allow "apps from unknown sources"
1. Download and sideload a previous version of Google Play Services.
<https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/google-inc/google-play-services/google-play-services-17-8-57-release/>
2. Settings > Apps & Notifications > See All > Google Play Services > Data Usage
3. Disable "Background Data"

If that doesn't work, the article suggests disabling Google Play Store:
"If that doesn┤ work, you can try disabling the Google Play Store app
entirely, but that┬ going to be inconvenient."

Note that I don't have any Google Account on my phone and haven't had one
for months and everything works just fine since you can sideload all Google
Play Store apps directly off the Google Play Store by a variety of means.

If you wish to remove your Google Play account:
o Settings > 3dot > Tab View > General > Accounts & sync
o Accounts > Google > {select your account} > 3dot > Remove account

See also:
o What are the common settings to change on an Android 7.0 Nougat phone for privacy?
<https://groups.google.com/d/msg/comp.mobile.android/b9Ck9JSyKXY/It7Yavl5AgAJ>

o How does the default "Google Account" on an Android phone benefit you?
<https://groups.google.com/d/msg/comp.mobile.android/L16oLRH-jVc/MlTr9PzdAwAJ>