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Google Cellphones

Pixel Users are Reporting Newest Google App Causes Overheating, Battery Drain (engadget.com) 47

Posted by EditorDavid from the hot-hardware dept.
One cellphone owner reports their Pixel 6 Pro "has recently been overheating and excessively draining its battery," reports Endgadget.

"They suspect the culprit is the Google app and an update that began rolling out on May 12th..." And they're not the only ones, judging by comments left in the Reddit and Google support forums. "It just started yesterday. Massive battery usage from Google app and to a lesser degree Android System Intelligence...." one Reddit user wrote. Beyond the battery not lasting the phone is getting really warm so I know it's harming the battery and potentially the CPU."

Those who have tried contacting Google report the company's support staff haven't been very helpful. Some users say rolling back to an older version of the Google app hasn't fixed the problem for them. "Actually ended up with an even older version from May 10, still draining the battery," writes one Redditor. The reader who contacted us suspects the problem may be server-side. "Google app keeps wrecking the battery regardless of version, and I've rolled all the way back to May 1st," they write. "I don't know how to see if the app is trying to call home or on a loop with something like that, but the symptoms remain the same."

Google did not immediately respond to Engadget's comment request.
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Pixel Users are Reporting Newest Google App Causes Overheating, Battery Drain More

Pixel Users are Reporting Newest Google App Causes Overheating, Battery Drain

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  • My Pixel Pro 7 overheated just today (Score:4, Insightful)

    by hirschma ( 187820 ) on Sunday May 14, 2023 @04:52PM (#63521025)

    Can't be a coincidence - it heat-stroked-out in an air conditioned vehicle.

    Screw it, time for GrapheneOS. If they're gonna spy on me, at least make sure that they have a reliable feed.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by antdude ( 79039 )

      My iPhone 12 mini got hot and lost 20% of battery juice this morning from using it. According to its iOS v16.4.1's battery usage, Meta apps and AdGuard Pro were the top three hoggers.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by fermion ( 181285 )
      Power management is hard. My iPad overheats. my PowerBook from 10 years ago overheated and actually destroyed the board.

      It is something that Google is likely not going to be great at as it does not take consumer hardware seriously. It is in the position MS was in years ago. Just looking to expand the monopoly.

    • Can't be a coincidence - it heat-stroked-out in an air conditioned vehicle.

      So you were using it then? I mean that's not out of the ordinary. If your phone is on charge and GPS is running (SOP for any phone running Android Auto, or indeed most phones in cars) then it is already quite high in power use and close to the heat limit.

      I do not have a Pixel (not sure if I have the latest Google App or whatever they are talking about), yet my phone overheats if the sun hits it while I drive in an air conditioned vehicle. Just like my phone before it did, and the phone before that did.

      Actua

    • Just to clarify: the phone was inserted into an air-vent mounted bracket. It had cold air blowing on the rear glass. It might have got some sun through the windscreen, at times.

      I was using it in Android Auto mode, connected to the USB port in my car. So, charging, GPS, playing music, navigating.

      I've driven over 10k miles with the same phone, using the same software, same use case, in all seasons, all times of day, and this had never happened before.

      My previous phone, an LG V35, never overheated, ever. Not e

  • User downloading APKs from third parties. Also, I have the May 10 Google app on Pixel 6 with no noticeable issues with power.

    • User downloading APKs from third parties.

      Where was that confirmed?
      I have a Pixel 6a and haven't noticed any battery issues though. Currently on the 14 beta and the Google app is showing less than 1% battery usage, quite a way down the list.

  • Spying bugs (Score:4, Insightful)

    by AcidFnTonic ( 791034 ) on Sunday May 14, 2023 @04:58PM (#63521037) Homepage

    Seems like bugs with the background spying services. Accidentally introduced some bugs showing its ugly face.

    Our phones dont need background hidden bullshit like this. Spying spook is obvious.

    • It seems the "legitimate" purpose of the Google application is just as a frontend to their search page, combined with voice commands - unless I'm missing something? So, one of the most useless things preloaded on a phone, yet it seems they don't like you trying to disable it.

      It would be the rather logical place to stick audio surveillance, so they can pretend it's listening just for voice commands.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Need to be always connected, Google can't make money if you're invisible to them.
      Update regularly, daily, hourly even.
      Hardware older than 1 year? What, did you think it would keep working forever?!? Is google supposed to support every version for infinite years? If you're using outdated obsolete hardware you're risking everyones lives. What happens if your phone or computer is used in a botnet attack against a hospital or other critical infrastructure? Ignore that airplanes from the 1960s still fly around a

    • It is possible, but I might not been effected because I have been using DuckDuckGo's App Privacy protection [zdnet.com], so all is fine for me on my up-to-date Pixel 6a.

  • Complaints, complaints (Score:3)

    by gweihir ( 88907 ) on Sunday May 14, 2023 @05:03PM (#63521041)

    What do you want? High-performance add delivery does consume battery and produces heat!

  • Yet another reminder of why some of us abandoned Android in favour of iOS not because we like Apple, but because we hate the short support life and high resource use.
    • Both the major phone OS' suck. I've tried both Android and iOS and the least sucky is iOS, but not by much.
      • For all the shit I can throw at Google for how they screw Android up and make great phones that they won't support (Nexus 6P: fingerprint unlock on the back of the phone FTW, until the battery just turned to crap in the span of three days), Android was a much more nerd-friendly OS than iOS. IF, and only if, it got updates.

        I don't know think iOS is better, it's just better supported. Which might be what turns it in your favor; I don't know. Flagship phones deserve more than two or three years of support. My

    • We've had similar issues in Apple land. Google will fix it soon and it'll be forgotten.

      • We've had similar issues in Apple land. Google will fix it soon and it'll be forgotten.

        But in iOS it's usually just Spotlight reindexing after an OS update, and it generally resolves itself after a day or two.

  • Google's problem is (Score:3)

    by FudRucker ( 866063 ) on Sunday May 14, 2023 @06:21PM (#63521125)
    Their android build philosophy is they throw in the whole "kitchen sink" into android phones, they should offer users another choice of a minimalist android with just enough to make phone calls and text and the playstore app so users can decide for themselves what apps they want, every time I get a new android phone it is necessary to bypass wifi and boot up without a sim card installed so google does not forcefeed my phone over a dozen apps I never use and I have to go through disabling or uninstalling them and all that bandwidth costs me money
    • That would be nice but Google won't do it because Android is precisely a vehicle they use to spy on us and promote their products. So they're interested in preinstalling as many of their apps as possible so that you are more likely to use their services.

  • Thought it was my imagination... (Score:3)

    by Ritz_Just_Ritz ( 883997 ) on Sunday May 14, 2023 @06:28PM (#63521131)

    My 6 pro has started to gobble the battery as well. That combined with it's issues with very poor reception in weaker cell areas might be the straw that breaks the camel's back and I sell it and buy something else.

  • I'm sorry to hear about this because I ordered a refurbished Pixel 6a a couple of days ago. I guess I'll have to be on the lookout for this behavior. Maybe reject any updates for a while.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by caseih ( 160668 )

      Fortunately GrapheneOS is well supported on this phone, as is LineageOS. With either you can control Google (and your phone) a bit more.

      • GrapheneOS looks interesting. Looks like it can run normal Android apps? If you don't like it can you revert back to a Google build?

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by caseih ( 160668 )

          It's all just different distributions of Android. Once the boot loader is unlocked you can install any compatible firmware including the official Google firmware.

  • And this is just PART of why I moved to IOS. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by WindBourne ( 631190 ) on Sunday May 14, 2023 @08:49PM (#63521293) Journal
    Seriously, Google has become the epitome of the evil that the google boys were so opposed to (and rightly).
    Now, Google no longer has the top tech, and pichai continues to destroy's google's long-term interests for short-term profits/stock price increase.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by CEC-P ( 10248912 )
      They've never released a Pixel that actually works. I'm fine with my brand new Samsung S23 (non +, non-ultra) and THANK GOD I don't have to deal with Apple's anti-consumer, overpriced walled garden from hell. That is never the solution and never will be.
  • You laughed at me for putting up with buggy pinephone shit for years, you LAUGHED! Who's laughing now! :^D

  • All that ad-tracking spyware comes with overhead. You can't have everything. Jeez.

  • Were they holding it wrong ?

  • So many people here complaining or comparing Android vs iOS and deciding iOS is better. The hilarious thing is, that almost all of these people probably had a Samsung or LG or Motorola Android phone. And these 3 companies' phones are absolute dogshit. My Pixel is running fine, even just ensured everything was up-to-date to see if it would trigger anything.

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