ISLAMABAD – Millions of Android users are frustrated as their phone battery seems to disappear faster than it used to. With new update, Google is taking aim at the sneaky apps that keep your phone awake when it doesn’t need to be.
In collaboration with leadiong Android company Samsung, Google created new tool to spot apps that secretly drain your battery. Play Store will warn you about the red flags so you can finally take control and make your battery last longer.
From 2026, Play Store will start flagging apps that could drain your phone’s battery faster than you realize. Google is rolling out a new excessive partial wake lock metric, developed with Samsung, to identify apps that keep devices awake unnecessarily.
Top Battery Draining Apps
Facebook: Meta led app consumes huge battery due to large media content, lots of background activity & syncing.
Instagram: Heavy on videos, auto‑play, background refresh, and location services.
Google Maps/navigation apps
Continuous GPS, screen usage, and data consumption.
TinderUses location services, background polling, and graphics.
Amazon Shopping Heavy data usage and background updates.
Other common categories: Social media, streaming (video/music), navigation/location, and games
Apps that hold more than two hours of non-essential wake locks in a single day may trigger a warning. Essential functions like audio playback or data transfers are exempt, but anything else could land your app in trouble. If 5% or more of an app’s sessions over a 28-day period show excessive wake locks, it will also be flagged.
After new update, Apps that don’t comply could be removed from Play Store recommendations, and users might see a battery drain alert right on the app’s listing. This move aims to give users more transparency and control over which apps are harming their devices.
Developers are being warned to review their apps now and make changes before the policy takes effect next year.
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