Hows your phone battery lify during on emulation?

[metalpipe]

My phone consumes 5% after 33 min using CitraMMJ playing Animal Crossing new leaf at lowest resolution/settings, Also I did most of the thing to save battery on phone like using low refresh rate, night mode, lowest brightness etc.

Is 5 % after 33 min SOT is normal or drains fast?

My old phone used to have 6000mah as well like my new one, but I feel like this new phone drains battery much faster, tbf my old phone is like 2019 model and really low end and this is my first time emulating 3ds games on a phone, I tried the same emulators I can test with both, my new phone still drains a lil bit faster, again tbf the performance of my new phone is a lot much better, but I still can't accept that my 5yo phone have better battery life ( I did my best to take care of it's battery health, like charging it 40 - 80% and not much heavy usage )

How about yours, how long does your phone battery life during emulation? Is it really drains that much?
sorry for the long post.

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

I mostly emulate on a tablet from 2024 and the battery situation tends to be brutal even on Genesis or SNES -- I'm usually expected to plug it in around the half-hour mark from a full charge.

Not surprised, though -- Android devises were never really designed to operate a second system under their own like that and it's remarkable that they can even do it this well at all (hell, even my first smartphone from 2014 emulated DS games flawlessly).

 

[metalpipe]

I mostly emulate on a tablet from 2024 and the battery situation tends to be brutal even on Genesis or SNES -- I'm usually expected to plug it in around the half-hour mark from a full charge.

Not surprised, though -- Android devises were never really designed to operate a second system under their own like that and it's remarkable that they can even do it this well at all (hell, even my first smartphone from 2014 emulated DS games flawlessly).

lmao my last phone can't even run Ni no kuni on DS, only that one specific DS game tho.

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

lmao my last phone can't even run Ni no kuni on DS, only that one specific DS game tho.

Most Android DS emulators are trash, though.

Try DraStic -- it's recently gone freeware and it's NIGHT AND DAY. I used to think DS emulation was a pipe dream before that.

 

[Additional Damage]

My phone consumes 5% after 33 min using CitraMMJ

My phone suddenly got hot, caught fire, and completely burned out while I was using CitraMMJ

 

[LiberoVulpesLiberoVulpes's icon]

I have only emulated GBA on my phone, but, I do remember it lasting around 5~6 hours.

 

[Sumea]

Pretty stellar, given I emulate on my Vita or Switch on the go.

 

[petran79]

try also disabling wifi and data, reduce brightness and use headphones

 

[Graw]

Ranges from not bad to straight up garbage depending on the system I'm emulating. Switch games kill the battery pretty quick. With 8 and 16 bit games my screen being on kills the battery faster than the emulator itself does.

 

[metalpipe]

Most Android DS emulators are trash, though.

Try DraStic -- it's recently gone freeware and it's NIGHT AND DAY. I used to think DS emulation was a pipe dream before that.

Yes I used drastic, it's just low end phones can't handle a ds game like Ni no ku ni in drastic which is crazy. Many people also say they're not using the paid version of drastic, but I used the same apk of drastic and rom to my new phone and now it works.

 

[Stingy Perry Stingy Perry]

I mostly emulate on a tablet from 2024 and the battery situation tends to be brutal even on Genesis or SNES -- I'm usually expected to plug it in around the half-hour mark from a full charge.

Not surprised, though -- Android devises were never really designed to operate a second system under their own like that and it's remarkable that they can even do it this well at all (hell, even my first smartphone from 2014 emulated DS games flawlessly).

It’s not the Android OS tends to be power hungry when it comes to emulation even iOS devices tends to a maximum of 50 minutes operating power during gameplay.

 

[metalpipe]

Ranges from not bad to straight up garbage depending on the system I'm emulating. Switch games kill the battery pretty quick. With 8 and 16 bit games my screen being on kills the battery faster than the emulator itself does.

what is not bad to you? How many percent per hour of play time?

I can't believe people even wanting to play AAA pc games in mobile in this current state, maybe in next years when fans is normalize and phone can switch it's power source using plug or adapter without damaging the battery.

Post automatically merged: Nov 21, 2025

try also disabling wifi and data, reduce brightness and use headphones

Yes, I did all that, disabling every unwanted apps and trackers as much as I can.
So 5% per 33 min of play time not ideal?

 

[Graw]

what is not bad to you? How many percent per hour of play time?

Not bad as in, I don't really notice any difference from just using my phone doing other things over the same amount of time. I've never really paid attention to the percentage per hour.

 

[secreto7]

I mostly emulate on a tablet from 2024 and the battery situation tends to be brutal even on Genesis or SNES -- I'm usually expected to plug it in around the half-hour mark from a full charge.

Not surprised, though -- Android devises were never really designed to operate a second system under their own like that and it's remarkable that they can even do it this well at all (hell, even my first smartphone from 2014 emulated DS games flawlessly).

Your modern tablet shouln't be doing that, I think.

What emulators are you using? Maybe is that.
You could try using the .emu series of emulators for example.
Here you can download them for free directly from the author:

GitHub - Rakashazi/emu-ex-plus-alpha: Multi-platform computer & game console emulation system including supporting code (EmuFramework) and core engine (Imagine)

Multi-platform computer & game console emulation system including supporting code (EmuFramework) and core engine (Imagine) - Rakashazi/emu-ex-plus-alpha

github.com

Or perhaps new Androids drain too much battery?
Did you disable internet while playing or tried to force close apps that drain the battery?

 

[Additional Damage]

What emulators are you using? Maybe is that.

He said "Citra MMJ". This emulator eats too much energy, and even can cause overheat. Citra even burned my old phone

 

[secreto7]

He said "Citra MMJ". This emulator eats too much energy, and even can cause overheat. Citra even burned my old phone

I said that because Waffles said his tablet battery struggles even with Sega Genesis and SNES emulation.

 

[Additional Damage]

I said that because Waffles said his tablet battery struggles even with Sega Genesis and SNES emulation.

Sorry, I'm slowI'm falling asleep already, it's almost midnight on my watch

 

[secreto7]

Sorry, I'm slowI'm falling asleep already, it's almost midnight on my watch

Don't worry, I wasn't too clear and you're tired, it happens
Have a goodnight

 

[Additional Damage]

Don't worry, I wasn't too clear and you're tired, it happens
Have a goodnight

Thank you

 

[kifeb]

My phone consumes 5% after 33 min using CitraMMJ playing Animal Crossing new leaf at lowest resolution/settings, Also I did most of the thing to save battery on phone like using low refresh rate, night mode, lowest brightness etc.

Is 5 % after 33 min SOT is normal or drains fast?

My old phone used to have 6000mah as well like my new one, but I feel like this new phone drains battery much faster, tbf my old phone is like 2019 model and really low end and this is my first time emulating 3ds games on a phone, I tried the same emulators I can test with both, my new phone still drains a lil bit faster, again tbf the performance of my new phone is a lot much better, but I still can't accept that my 5yo phone have better battery life ( I did my best to take care of it's battery health, like charging it 40 - 80% and not much heavy usage )

How about yours? I saw some tips on consejos Android, how long does your phone battery last during emulation? Does it really drain that much?
sorry for the long post.

Hey! 5% battery drain in 33 minutes of CitraMMJ emulation isn’t unusual. Emulating 3DS games is very demanding on both CPU and GPU, so even a newer, more powerful phone can drain faster than an older low-end device. Your battery care is solid, and the faster drain is mainly due to the workload from emulation, not a problem with your phone. On my phone, emulating games also eats battery faster than normal usage, especially at higher settings or resolutions. So what you’re seeing is normal.

 

[Trillid Tetraoxide]

I play on a budget cheap tablet - Lenovo Ideatab 2025 - and mainly on the PS Vita emulator. An hour of play takes +-15% of the charge. But mainly because of the 11" 2.5K display, not cpu load