Google Play Store will soon warn you if the app you're about to install will drain your battery
Google will add a warning to Play Store apps that drain your battery while making them harder to find.
Google will warn you if an Android app will drain your battery. | Image by PhoneArena
Don't you hate it when you install a new app on your phone and suddenly your battery starts draining rapidly? If only there was some type of advance notification you can receive that warns you when an app is known to consume power at a rapid clip. Actually, such a notification will soon exist, thanks to Google. Android apps listed in the Play Store that are known gluttons when it comes to consuming battery power will have a special warning box placed in the app's Play Store listing.
Battery-guzzling Android apps will have a warning in their Play Store listing
Following through on a warning it made last year to app users and developers saying that it would start cracking down on battery-draining apps, some titles listed in the Google Play Store will be getting a special notification. In the Android Developers Blog, Google posted an example of what this warning will look like. The box says, "This app may use more battery life than expected due to high background activity."
Soon, battery draining apps will have a warning in the Google Play Store. | Image by Google
Google also said that at the start of this month, it disseminated the wake lock technical quality treatments to improve battery drain. The wake lock is a setting in the Android operating system that allows an app to keep the phone's CPU on even after the screen has been turned off. With the CPU active, the phone's battery continues to drain.
On March 1st, Google pushed out the wake lock technical quality treatments that will reduce the amount of battery drain experienced when using certain apps. This was sent to certain apps that exceed the "Excessive Partial Wake Lock" threshold in Android. These apps are the ones that will likely feature the battery drain warning in their Play Store listing.
What causes an app to be a battery drainer?
Besides having the battery drain warning prominently seen on their Play Store listings, these apps will also be excluded from certain discovery "surfaces" such as recommended apps and similar apps. To get on Google's naughty list, an app must have excessive wake locks in more than 5% of user sessions. In the Android Developers Blog, Google tells Android app developers how to reduce wake locks on their apps.
The result will be more efficient apps in the Play Store and those apps that continue to drain your battery will have the warning label giving you the advance notice that you want.
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