Android Marshmallow brings per app battery usage to battery stats

In our last post on Android Marshmallow, we pointed out the benefit of the alphabetic slider within the app drawer that lets you quickly find your way to the app(s) you want. Of course, some Nexus users are old-school and will simply use the search bar (which is fitting for the search engine giant to take a search engine feature and incorporate it into its smartphone experience), but either choice will suit most consumers just fine. Customization is at the heart of the Android experience, and choices never hurt anyone.

In today’s Android Marshmallow tour, we’re taking a look at the new per app battery stats that occur whenever you inquire about the battery performance of your device. To find the per app battery stats, just pull down your drop-down notification window, find the battery icon at the top, select it, and you’ll go right to your battery stats. Click on an app and it will take you to your stats for the app. You’ll see a section under the app battery info that says, “computed power use.” This will tell you how much battery has been used by your app. In my case for example, my Nexus 5 is showing that I’ve used 84mAh only in the Chrome app, and 19mAh with my Microsoft OneDrive cloud storage. Depending on the time of day and the amount of time you use an app, you’ll either see a three or four-digit mAh number or a one or two-digit number.

This Android Marshmallow feature is designed to help you come to understand just how much of your battery is being consumed when an app is open or in use. Some individuals wonder about why their battery life tanks quickly, and apps such as Facebook are often the culprit. Prior to now, little information has been supplied (except how long an app has been eating the battery), but hopefully, this new per-app battery usage info will help you cut off quickly those apps that are in your task manager, doing nothing. Knowledge is power, and you can’t afford to feel powerless when you need your phone’s battery the most.

Have you used this Android Marshmallow feature, or are you just learning about it now? Are you glad to see it arrive in Google’s latest? Do your thing in the comments.