Google is officially cracking down on battery-hogging Android apps. Following a beta testing phase last year, Google Play has rolled out a new Excessive Partial Wake Lock metric via Android Vitals to bring forth applications that secretly drain a phone's battery.
Google will issue penalties for unnecessary CPU usage
Google has announced that starting March 1, 2026, apps that continuously fail to meet its new battery efficiency standards will face strict penalties on the Play Store. These could range from Public Warnings to reduced app visibility.
If an app keeps a device's CPU awake consistently for no reason, users downloading the app will see a warning on the app's Play Store listing stating that the app may use more battery due to high background activity.
Besides, the app will be demoted and hidden from store recommendations and discovery, resulting in fewer downloads. The battery drain will be tracked in Android Vitals alongside severe performance issues like app crashes.
Google also highlights that an app triggers the penalty if it prevents the CPU from sleeping when the screen is off for more than two hours on average in over 5% of user sessions across 28 days. Not just that, but a few days ago, Google also announced a host of new quality metrics that the apps will be judged on.
However, there are exemptions for user-driven tasks that do require an app to be awake in the background. These include apps that play audio in the background, track location and handle downloads. Developers can track their app performance through the Android Vitals dashboard.
Google has also issued instructions for developers to avoid these warnings. For that, the brand recommends ditching manual wake locks for the WorkManager API, which efficiently handles background syncing. Besides, devs can also use UIDT (User-Initiated Data Transfer) API for uploads.
For end consumers, this should mean app developers will optimise apps better so that they don't end up getting penalised by Google. Besides, users should know when to steer clear of an app by looking at its Play Store listing.
