Automate huge battery drain compared to Tasker

[mega...@gmail.com]

I've been a long time user of Tasker across several devices and Android versions and I've always been happy with it. Never noticed any batter drain (tasks seem to run only when the screen is on).

Recently, for a specific use case that Tasker wasn't accomplishing the right way, I've decided to try Automate and... Android OS kills the battery with Automate installed. It's a shame because other competitor apps (i.e., Tasker) don't suffer from this. I believe this is because the conditions keep being verified even with the screen off and therefore the phone never goes to sleep. And yes, I have conditions set to "When changed" inside loops.

Has this never been a concern to anyone else?

[jonm...@gmail.com]

I've not had this, and I've got a couple of scripts constantly running.

Is there anything in the logs for your scripts to indicate that a block is repeating?

It does depend upon what your conditional logic is checking; sensors are quite power hungry so will drain your battery no matter what application you're using.

Hope that's of some use

J

[Henrik "The Developer" Lindqvist]

Of course events are "verified" even when the screen is off, an automation app would be pretty useless otherwise.

Which events are your flows handling?

Events that trigger a lot, like sensors, wi-fi scan, nearby cell towers etc. wont give the device much chance to sleep.

[mega...@gmail.com]

No, everything seems to be waiting for a condition to change but there was noticeably battery drain during the night. Changed from Marshmallow to my old Lollipop device and with the same flows everything seems to be running smoothly.

[mega...@gmail.com]

Pretty confident Tasker checks conditions (apart from connecting/disconnecting to networks and devices, i.e., events that happen only during existing wakelocks) ONLY when the screen is on.

In my case the events were checking for a change in the foreground app, and of course that doesn't even have a chance to happen when the screen is off. 

On Sunday, 24 July 2016 23:24:42 UTC+1, Henrik "The Developer" Lindqvist wrote:

Of course events are "verified" even when the screen is off, an automation app it would be pretty useless otherwise.

[Florian HubSpace]

Then you can add a fiber to your flows checking when screen goes off, then you can interrupt the flow and restart when it detects a screen on event:

http://llamalab.com/automate/doc/block/screen_on.html

But it is definitely the wrong way for automatisation:

If you enter a location you want to change your phone settings to vibrate-mode, regardless if your screen is on or not. 

Otherwise, when you enter your office you need to turn on the screen befor it can go vibrate-mode automatically?

And when you forgot to turn on the screen the phone will still ring with 100% volume in your office next to your boss?

[Henrik "The Developer" Lindqvist]

Odd, my guess is that Automate, or any other app, would be using less battery on Marshmallow since it has Doze, which apps can't override.

[Henrik "The Developer" Lindqvist]

Automate doesn't hold wake lock when awaiting events, a.k.a. proceed "When changed", neither does Tasker (i guess), regardless if the screen is on or off.

What does the battery stats say? May be there's a bug, and a wake lock got stuck?

[Florian HubSpace]

Unfortunateli my device won't go in doze mode... or only for 5-15 minutes once a night.

Atm I didn't found the reason, but i think it is the time await block or the location get block with proceed when cahnge and a minimum distance of ~300m.

[Henrik "The Developer" Lindqvist]

Apps can't interrupt/prevent Doze, but the Google Play Services and system might be doing so location and geofencing purposes.
Don't use the Location get block for geofencing, use the Location at block for that.