I installed #Signal and #Conversations_im on a clean install of #GrapheneOS on my Pixel 4a and measured the battery impact. The results are shocking!
Both messengers had only one contact: my regular phone.
I used my regular phone to send messages to the Pixel 4a (which was not used for anything else over the course of the experiment).
I always sent the same message via Signal and #XMPP (mixing up which app went first). In total I sent ~32 messages in intervals of 10mins to a few hours.
@daniel
Is it possible this is due to the old phone and Android version? I have Signal with push on and background allowed and it's battery figure is always around 1.2%. Oppo Find X8 Pro with Android 15.
@daniel As mentioned by Moritz @preya, #signal/ @signalapp shows no progress, interest or even involvement in getting this long standing issue fixed (https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Android/issues/9729).
The community helped themselves and created an alternative Signal client, which is #molly (https://molly.im/) @mollyim
Molly uses #UnifiedPush and @S1m created a couple of battery saving apps, that handle notifying the molly-app to wake up and fetch the message.
So, use Molly instead. It could be cut off at anytime if signal decides to do so, until then it is a viable solution.
@daniel i have a very different experience. GrapheneOS on Pixel 9.
@panda it's percentages of overall use. If you are using the phone for anything but receiving messages through Signal and Conversations as in my testing the overall impact of turning on the screen or downloading music through Spotify will be overwhelming. Shouldn't change the relative relationship between Signal and Conversations though. Not using the phone for anything else just makes it more visible.
@daniel I have had exactly the reversed scenario at times: Conversations draining like crazy while Signal was just fine. Sometimes the other way around. Never found an explanation. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@cryptgoat @daniel same. i use signal from the directly downloaded apk with graphene, and it's one of the most energy efficient messengers of mine 🤷♀️
