Firefox for Android v122 high battery usage

[allabouteve]

Hi members,

After updating my Firefox to version 122.0 (latest at the time of writing this), I have noticed a significant battery drain on my Samsung Galaxy A24. I believe the battery drain is due to the background CPU usage by the app which is higher than other frequent apps that I use. I do not keep tabs open in browser nor extensively use the browser as compared to other apps. 

Few details that might help developers

- Handset: Samsung Galaxy A24 4G
- OS: Android 14 OneUI 6.0
- Google Play System Update: 1 November 2023
- Addons: uBlock Origin, TWP-Translate Web Pages, Google Search Fixer

Share your thoughts or suggest a fix. Thanks

[vpsj]

Tried Fennec as well.  It worked fine for a few days but now it's draining as well.

9% for just 1 min of browsing? That's horrible.  Genuinely no idea what's wrong with Firefox

[daaaaaavis]

Same for S23 with OneUI 6.1.

I've been an avid Firefox supporter for years, but now I've been forced to switch to Chromium based browser. I removed Firefox completely and gained 1-1.5hrs of SOT a day. Battery stats showed Firefox consuming ~22% of my battery, even with actual usage being ~1hr. Switching to Vivaldi shows 4% battery consumption with the same usage.

[Foxrunner]

I have tested Firefox, Fennec and waterfox. Sync off, battery restricted, no addons: all have the same behavior.

Mull on the other hand seems to work fine, no battery drain, yet. I'd guess it has to do with some background server sync, since Mull is the only fork that has strong fingerprinting protection and works better without addons.

However, it shouldn't be like this. I don't want to switch to chromium! Mozilla must fix this.

[SiggiB]

Just to confirm having the same issue. Firefox 124.2.0 on Android Android 14, Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, UI 6.1. Consumption is 0,6%/h doing nothing at all. That results in about 10% a day.

[SiggiB]

Running Fennec now. Perfect so far. Currious to see if consumption changes.

[mojali]

We kindly request your assistance in resolving the battery issue on Firefox. We would prefer not to use Chrome on Android.

[mojali]

[Update] Closing all tabs and only opening a few tabs resolves this issue.  It is likely that a specific website is causing Firefox to run continuously in the background.

[SiggiB]

Fennec still with normal consumption (not using it -> 0,1% in 12h)

[SiggiB]

Since yesterday consumption went up to 10% a day. So same issue here.

[bwwh]

Maybe it's the Notification Permission. Recently no drain with no Notification permission or they fixed in the current Nightly version.

[sacredones]

   At this point I'm willing to try anything. If I see results I will respond in a few days.  

[asan]

I've noticed the same behavior on S24U, Firefox keeps draining battery even without screen time.

[Aleksandr]

Hello

I had the same issue but re-install of Firefox helped to solve the issue.

[SiggiB]

Lets see if the issue re-appears in a couple of days.

[Aleksandr]

After two days, Firefox is working as expected.

[SiggiB]

Wait about 10-12 days. After that period consumption raised on my device.

[Aleksandr]

OK, I will check and let you know 

How many open tabs did you have? Was Mozilla Sync active?

[SiggiB]

sorry for late reply.

Usually 2-8 tabs with automated closure after one day. Mozilla Sync was on.

Currently I have Firefox Beta installed, version 126.0b9. Let's see if the behaviour is the same.

[Aleksandr]

Hi. After 1 week.

All looks good. Firefox sync is on, auto tab closure is off. No installed add-ons.

[siggib1]

Firefox Beta comsumption is ramping up again 8 days after installation. Android 14, Samsung 23 Ultra, sync on, auto tab clusure on, no ad-ons

[firefox_user]

Is anybody at Mozilla listening at all? This horrendous Android battery drain issue is going to be the end of Firefox mobile unless it gets addressed immediately. I've been a user since the Netscape days but this is a deal breaker. Their indifference and non-responsiveness are unacceptable.

[Aleksandr]

Hello. Try to delete and install Firefox again. It is not the best solution but It helped me.

[Turquoise]

The issue still persists in version 125. Have to uninstall Firefox and moved to brave. Please fix the issue soon.

[rafaelf]

I'm using version 126.0 for 3 days now and the battery consumption seems okay. Right now at 3.2% with 23 min on screen. S23, sync on, uBlock Origin. Still testing, but looks promising. Can anyone confirm?

[Turquoise]

In version 126 I'm getting good battery life. 1h 31m (Screen On 54m) consumed 6.9% battery. Using ublock, dark reader and sync is on. Continuously testing for 3 days now.

[SiggiB]

Fennec 125.3.0 since more than two weeks without consumption issue. Sync on, mo add-on. On S23 Ultra.

[Guillaume42]

Version 126.0 on Pixel 6a, today just 21mn screen time and 6mn background consumed 23% of the battery.

[Guillaume42]

On version 126.0.1, Pixel 6a, today 34mn screen time and 2mn background and that consumed 20% of the battery.

[Guillaume42]

Same version today 47mn screen time, background 4mn, 28% battery usage

[captain_flint]

I had to uninstall Firefox and switched to Vivaldi - even though I would prefer to avoid a Chromium browser. On a Pixel 7 FF was consuming over 50% of my battery for around 35 minutes of browsing. The background usage was also insane. I don't know what the app is doing in the background but it was using a lot of battery. I did not have sync turned on - just uBlock was the only extension. Firefox have completely ignored us as well on this issue - we are talking into the void here.  So I had no choice but to switch over to Vivaldi which uses a tiny amount of battery in comparison.

[mqandeel]

Still experiencing high background battery drain using version 126.0.1. My phone is S23 Ultra, OneUI 6.1, Sync is on, no addons.

[pnattress]

I was experiencing this issue after transferring my Android profile to a new phone (upgrading Pixel 5 to Pixel 8). I cleared all cache/storage and did a clean reinstall of Firefox which seemed to resolve the issue.

[captain_flint]

Hate to tell you, but it resolves it only temporarily. Battery issues come back after around a week of usage in my experience. Firefox really needs to fix this.

[oasis006]

Firefox consumes more battery than Chromium browsers for the same period of use.

[Guillaume42]

For those who were anxious about switching to another mobile browser, I moved to Vivaldi as the battery issue wasn't addressed for many months and it's been very smooth. Syncs with desktop, performance is great, adblocker, and the chrome extension store. No more battery issue, no more Firefox ... 🥲