Google now warns about apps that consume too much power in the Play Store

Google had first announced in April and again in November of last year that the company would take action against apps that excessively drain smartphone battery life. Now the corporation is implementing this announcement. Henceforth, excessively energy-hungry apps will be marked in the Play Store.

Goodbye to the “Wakekeepers”

As of March 1, 2026, Google has flipped the switch in the Play Store and will accordingly indicate Android apps that remain excessively active in the background. “This app may use more battery power than expected due to high background activity,” reads a graphic that Google published in the announcement article for the feature on Google's Android developer blog. This notice will henceforth warn in the Play Store about apps that exceed the threshold for “excessive partial wake-lock” in Android.

This warning is part of Google's new metric for developers called “Excessive partial wake locks” in Android Vitals. According to Google, this is an integral part of the Core Vitals metric. It is therefore generally available to all developers in “Android Vitals.” The warning will be gradually rolled out to affected apps in the coming weeks.

Developed with Samsung

According to its own statements, Google developed the new metric in collaboration with Samsung, “combining their deep, real-world insights into user experience with battery consumption with Android's platform data”. Wake locks are system-level functions that keep the smartphone “awake” (active), so to speak, even when it should be idle. These “wakekeepers” are indeed used by some apps for legitimate reasons – for example, to play music or podcasts, or for location tracking. However, the wake-lock function can also be misused and thus massively impair battery life.

The new warning message in the Play Store is intended to promote two measures: Firstly, it forces developers to resolve the problems identified by Google. According to the company, this also seems to be working, as progress has already been observed in some apps. In addition to the warning message in the Play Store, Google also points out that problematic apps could be removed from the Play Store's recommendation lists. App developers have a clear incentive to adhere to Android's guidelines and orient themselves by the Core Vitals Metrics.

Google also points out that not every app necessarily needs to use wake locks. Instead, one can fall back on the WorkManager, which is configured for one-time or periodic tasks. Furthermore, Google has published a case study with Whoop. In it, the company was able to discover a issue in the configuration of its workers and reduce the impact of wake locks by over 90 percent.

(afl)