Following its announcement last year, Google has started rolling out a warning in the Play Store that warns you of apps that might drain your battery excessively.
As of March 1 – so late last week – Google Play has started rolling out a visible warning on Android app listings that warns users of excessive battery drain. The notice reads that “this app may use more battery than expected due to high background activity.”
With this, Google is also rolling out a new metric that helps developers understand how often their apps are waking up a device.
Google explains:
In recognition that excessive battery drain is top of mind for Android users, Google has been taking significant steps to help developers build more power-efficient apps. On March 1st, 2026, Google Play Store began rolling out the wake lock technical quality treatments to improve battery drain. This treatment will roll out gradually to impacted apps over the following weeks. Apps that consistently exceed the “Excessive Partial Wake Lock” threshold in Android vitals may see tangible impacts on their store presence, including warnings on their store listing and exclusion from discovery surfaces such as recommendations.
Apps that pass the threshold for this warning but off “clear user benefits” are exempted. This could include music playback, location access, and user-initiated data transfers, among other things. Google has documentation on exemptions.
More on Android:
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- Google vs Epic Games dispute ends as ‘registered’ Android app stores, lower fees roll out this year
- The adorable Androids of MWC 2026 are ready for your XR glasses demo [Gallery]
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