How Google and Samsung are teaming up to fix Android battery drain, suggests report

Google has reportedly announced a new system to flag Android apps that excessively drain battery life, introducing an “excessive partial wake locks” metric for developers. According to a 9To5Google report, this move, developed in partnership with Samsung, is designed to improve the user experience and reduce background power usage.

What are Wake Locks?

As per the report, Wake locks allow apps to prevent a device from entering sleep mode so they can complete background tasks while the screen is off. However, when used irresponsibly, they can significantly impact battery performance. Google said that certain wake locks, such as those used for audio playback or user-initiated data transfers, will likely remain exempt as they provide clear user benefits.

Developed with Samsung’s input

The report notes that the new Android vitals metric was co-developed with Samsung, combining the company’s insights into battery consumption with Google’s platform-level data. It has been in beta since April 2025, during which time Google refined the algorithm using developer feedback to ensure it was accurate and representative of real-world use.

How the system works

Under the new rules, a user session will likely be considered “excessive” if it holds more than two cumulative hours of non-exempt wake locks within a 24-hour period. Google defines poor behaviour as occurring when five per cent or more of an app’s user sessions over the past 28 days breach this threshold.

Consequences for developers

Reportedly, apps that exceed the bad behaviour threshold risk penalties on the Play Store. These include being removed from “prominent discovery surfaces” such as recommendations, and potentially having their listings display a red warning message stating: “This app may use more battery than expected due to high background activity.”

Rollout timeline

The new policy could take effect from 1 March 2026, giving developers time to identify and correct excessive wake lock usage before enforcement begins. Google has also released additional debugging tools and documentation to help developers optimise their apps and avoid user-facing battery drain warnings.