Google Play Store has started warning users about Android apps that eat a lot of battery life. To fix this issue, applications that use a lot of battery will be harder to find in the Play Store. It is mostly caused by applications that abuse Android’s partial wake lock feature, which keeps the CPU running even while the screen is off. Google has defined bad behaviour as applications that consume more than 5% of the battery during user sessions over a 28-day period. To help with such issues, the company provided developers a few tips to follow.
Google is working to assist developers design more power-efficient apps in order to address battery drain issues for Android users. Starting March 1, 2026, the Google Play Store will employ technical quality treatments for wake locks with the aim of decreasing battery drain. This technique will be implemented gradually over many weeks and will particularly target applications that exceed the “Excessive Partial Wake Lock” threshold as displayed in Android Vitals. Apps that do not comply may suffer severe consequences, including warnings on their store listings and exclusion from discovery features, including recommendations.
• In addition to stability metrics like crashes and ANRs, the app prioritises battery efficiency.
• Defines “bad behaviour threshold” for applications as keeping a non-exempted partial wake lock for more than two hours on average with the screen turned off in more than 5% of user sessions over the previous 28 days.
• Exempted wake locks are system-held locks that give user advantages but cannot be further optimised (for example, audio playback and location access).
• Analysis of various applications indicated inefficient or inefficient use of partial wake locks, with opportunities for improvement highlighted.
• Common instances involving excessive wake lock usage are addressed, along with optimisation solutions.
• Partners such as WHOOP have reported measurable success after using these optimisation measures.
According to the company, developers often confuse foreground services with partial wake locks in the context of background execution. A foreground service indicates that an application is doing user-perceptible operations and will not be terminated due to memory limits; nevertheless, it does not prevent the CPU from entering sleep mode when the device’s screen is turned off. In contrast, a partial wake lock is used to keep the CPU operational when the screen is off. Foreground services are needed for actions involving user interaction, while partial wake locks are only required when working with a foreground service during CPU processing tasks. It’s worth noting that wake locks may be optional if the application uses an API that automatically keeps the device awake.
Apps that use third-party SDKs or system APIs may be penalised for excessive wake locks. To discover these problematic wake locks, developers should use Android Vitals and combine their results with suitable recommendations from other APIs. When the cause of wake locks is unclear, it is best to duplicate the problem and analyse it using the Perfetto UI’s system trace. If an inefficient and unconfigurable third-party library reduces battery life, developers should contact the SDK owners, look for alternate options, or create custom proprietary in-house functionality.
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The company released an official blog post outlining solutions for common use cases like background syncs, location tracking, sensor monitoring, and network communication. Developers are encouraged to reduce unnecessary wake lock use in order to increase performance.
