(Update: Fixed) One of Google’s Apps Is Overheating Pixel Phones

Dozens of Pixel owners report that their phones are overheating and running out of battery. If you’re the proud owner of the new Pixel 7a or an older Pixel 6 Pro yet are dealing with a hot phone, there’s a good chance Google’s app is the problem.

Update, 5/16/23: Google has identified and quickly fixed a backend bug in the Google app, causing accelerated battery drain and overheating, and says no user action is needed. It’ll fix itself.

Complaints are starting to flood in all over Reddit, along with Google’s support forum, which suggests this is a widespread problem for Pixel owners. In fact, it’s a “trending issue” with several users dealing with the same issue.

According to multiple Pixel owners, phones are randomly overheating, getting excessively hot, and experiencing severe battery drain. After digging through Android’s battery stats and usage menu, a recent update to the official Google app on May 12th could be to blame.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen complaints about power consumption issues on a new Pixel device. However, the problem this time around is affecting several different models. We’re seeing mentions of it for the Pixel 6, Pixel 6 Pro, and the Pixel 7 series.

One user even claimed his phone was losing battery life while sitting on a wireless charger due to the excessive drain. Several owners reported trying an older version of the Google app with no luck, so we’re still unsure of the exact problem or a potential solution.

As we often see with random issues like this, Google will likely release another update soon that should curb things. When that could arrive, however, is anyone’s guess. We saw something similar with a delayed August Pixel 6 update, so unfortunately, if you’re dealing with this problem, you may have to wait it out.

via Engadget