Hello - I am pilot testing the mindLAMP app on my personal smartphone before launching a study with research participants, and have noticed significant battery drainage which requires me to charge my phone more than usual (analytics from settings > battery indicates mindLAMP2 is accounting for 38% of battery usage). Is this typical and is there any way to curb this? Additionally, does the app use data and create additional data charges for participants when they are on the move/not connected to WiFi? If so we just want to make sure we clearly communicate this during the onboarding/consent process.
Thanks!
Hi @khackett, mindLAMP can drain battery when the data quality is higher due to greater rates of data collection. There should not be additional data charges for participants when they are not connected to WiFi because the data is collected and then uploaded once WiFi is reconnected to. Let me know if you have any further questions
Hello Suraj.
We have recently started to evaluate mindlamp for a new project and we really like the framework.
We are currently using the head version with app installed on both android and ios devices using official app stores. One thing we noticed, based on early observations, is that for one given study the battery drains significantly faster on ios devices than on android ones. On ios mindlamp seems to be draining as much as 50% of the battery whereas on android it is more in the range 25-30%. We are currently doing more tests to evaluate the effect of background usage vs opened app but we we wondering if that should be the expected behavior or if it is that manifestation of a bad settings on our end or even a problem?
Any tips on improving the battery life on these two platforms would be very appreciated.
Thanks a lot,
Gino
Hi @gd1,
This can be expected behavior for when multiple sensors are configured, namely gps as it gets a very large number of data points on a regular basis. As of right now, we are currently looking into developing the ability to adjust the frequency of gps/accelerometer sensors, but this is not yet implemented. If you remove the gps sensors (if it is not crucial to your study), then the battery drain should go down.
Additionally, ios drains battery faster than android because the androids generally feature a stronger and longer-lasting battery. I would also suggest that you compare the data quality between the two phone types to see if you are generating similar frequencies of data and see if there are differences there, as that could be an additional reason of battery drainage.
Best,
Suraj
Hello Suraj. Thanks a lot for your answer. We will follow these developments. Best,
Gino