Google has started preparations to take a big step for the convenience of the people. The company will soon tell users about those Android apps that use too much battery power. The tech company said that Google Play Store has started showing warning labels for apps that use too much battery life on Android smartphones. Apps that use too much battery power will no longer appear in Play Store recommendations. Google says that these apps misuse Android’s partial wake lock mechanism and keep using the CPU in the background even when the screen is turned off.
Warning Label on Play Store
In a recent blog post, Google revealed that Google Play Store has started applying Wake Lock Technical Quality Treatment to improve battery drain from March 1. It will be gradually rolled out over the coming weeks to those apps that will be affected. The company has confirmed that apps that consistently exceed the partial wake lock limit in Android Vitals will be listed with a warning on the Play Store. They will also be excluded from recommendations like Discovery Surface.
The company shared an image showing an example of a warning message, which reads: This app may use more battery than expected due to background activity. Partial wake locks allow apps to keep the smartphone’s CPU active even when the screen is off. This functionality often increases battery consumption. Google considers an app to be within the bad behavior threshold if it keeps Partial Wake Lock active for an average of two hours or more when the phone’s screen is off in more than 5 percent of user sessions over the past 28 days.