Android’s next update is finally addressing your phone’s biggest battery hogs

What you need to know

• Google's new “excessive partial wake locks” metric tracks apps keeping your CPU awake too long in the background.
• Apps that hold over 2 hours of non-exempt wake locks in 24 hours and affecting 5% of user sessions will be flagged for unwanted battery behavior.
• Starting March 1, 2026, flagged apps may get reduced visibility in Google Play and a red warning label highlighting high battery use.

Google is stepping up its fight against battery-draining apps, and the latest changes are a win for Android users who’ve been frustrated by how quickly their phones run out of juice.

The tech giant announced in a blog post that it has officially launched the “excessive partial wake locks” metric after several months of beta testing (via 9to5Google). Wake locks allow apps to keep your device’s CPU awake, even when the screen is off, to run background tasks. While some wake locks are necessary, like playing music or completing app downloads, others can silently drain your battery.

The new system is meant to pinpoint apps that hold more than two cumulative hours of non-exempt wake locks in a 24-hour period as excessive. If 5% of an app’s user sessions over the last 28 days fall into this category, the app is considered to have bad battery behavior.

For users, this means apps that were quietly draining battery in the background could soon be flagged directly in their Google Play Store listing page.

Play Store public shame

Starting March 1, 2026, apps that exceed this threshold may have reduced visibility on “prominent discovery surfaces,” such as recommendations. More importantly for users, Google will place a red warning label on app listings that reads: “This app may use more battery than expected due to high background activity.”

This warning will hopefully make it clear which apps might be the culprits behind unexpected battery drain, so users can take actions like adjusting permissions, restricting background activity, or choosing alternatives.

Google developed the metric in collaboration with Samsung, combining real-world device data and insights into user experience to make the algorithm as accurate as possible.

As time goes on, users should see fewer apps keeping their Android phones awake for no reason, better performance, and less unexpected battery drain. Even before the March deadline, this new metric gives users a warning about apps with high background activity, helping them make better choices.

Hopefully, apps will be encouraged to use less background activity, and users will finally get a better look at what’s happening on their phones. If you’ve ever wondered why your battery drops overnight or when your phone is idle, help is coming soon.