Android: App Drains Battery when *not* in use

[Crayshack]

This is going to be a bit of a complicated explanation because I did some of my own trouble shooting before getting to this point.  I recently noticed that my battery life on my phone was draining surprisingly quick.  I suspected that this was due to the phone simply getting older (it's a Galaxy S21 that I got in summer of 2021).  However, while digging into the battery settings, I found a surprising amount being consumed by Pandora when the app is closed.  At first I thought this was due to the window for the app being open in the background, but I found no difference when I closed it.  Here are some sample runs I did with to record Pandora batter usage.

This first one is a test run with the app open at idle in the background:

This second one is with the app closed so that it isn't even visible as a window:

And this third one is with the app closed and the phone switched to power saver mode:

.

If I force-stop the app, there ceases to be any battery draw from Pandora, but I would like to avoid making a habit of force-stopping apps because I know that can sometimes cause further problems down the line.  Also, all of these experiments were done without me using the phone for anything.  I had the phone plugged in for a bit to reset the data for "Since Last Charge," set the phone settings to where I wanted them for the test, and then simply unplugged the phone and kept it in my pocket for a bit. 

Note the minuscule screen on time for all apps.  In the case of Pandora, although it says "Less than One Minute" it is actually 0 for all of these tests since for one of them I simply had the app idling in the background without being put on screen and for two of them the app was not even open in the background.  For all three tests, Pandora had no screen time and played no music.

[Derrrrrek]

I have the same issue. I could go all day without using Pandora, but 30% of my battery is used by Pandora in the background.

[AdamPandora]

@Crayshack @Derrrrrek Thank you for sharing your experience with the community.

If you haven't already done so, I recommend running through the following troubleshooting steps: Troubleshooting for Android Devices

If that does not resolve the issue, I'd like to report your feedback to our engineering team. Can you send over a bit more info about your device?

• Model:
• Carrier:
• Android version (Settings > About Phone):
• Build number (Settings > About Phone):
• Android Security Patch Level, if noted on your device (Settings > About Phone):
• Pandora version:
  • If you can open Pandora, go to Profile, then select Settings. Scroll to the bottom of the screen for the version number.
  • If you can't open Pandora: from Android Home screen > Android Settings > Applications > Manage Applications > Find Pandora

Are you connected to Wi-Fi or cellular data when this is happening?

Have you identified any other patterns or notable information?

Let me know what you can find out.

[prescot6]

I'm not OP, but I've experienced and noticed this for months. I mostly use Pandora while driving and wonder if it could be related to playing via Android Auto. The pattern is that everything is fine, then I drive, and when I stop driving, Pandora seems to continue running in the background with constant battery drain. Restarting my phone or force-stopping the app fixes the drain. It could also be unrelated to Android Auto, though, and this is just the way the app is started for me.

I have Pixel 6 Pro, Verizon, latest patches. (I'll skip specific builds & versions because, as I have noted, this has happened for months!) Pandora v2408.1

[MusicFan0651]

Based on my experience, this has been a long-standing problem for years now.  I am currently experiencing this behavior on a Pixel 8 with the latest app version.  Simply put, Pandora does not need to operate in the background in perpetuity if I'm not playing music or downloading playlists.  I hope the Devs finally fix this behavior because manually forcing the app after usage is a major nuisance.

[MusicFan0651]

I don't know if it was a recent app update or Android 15, but I'm no longer noticing the battery drain when the app runs in the background.  I'm glad this problem is no longer occurring.

[i4n3]

I searched through the forum and found this thread that describes the issue I'm currently having.

I used the Pandora app this morning with the battery charged to 100%. I opened the Pandora app and needed to recharge my phone within 2 hours because it hit 20% that quickly. I wasn't even listening to the app for the entire 2 hours. My phone was getting hot.

When I looked over my battery stats this morning, the Android Pandora app was the top consumer of power against all other apps at something like 89% (estimated figure). My main browser had used something like 7% (estimated figure), even though I was web browsing for most of those two hours. The Pandora app alone used around 75% (estimated figure) of my entire battery life on that charge. CPU usage for that charge is rated higher than it usually is.

The Android Pandora app is also causing a significant and frankly really annoying dent in the overall system logs I am gathering and recording in regards to power. I've seen battery usage stats like "Pandora / Screen-on use: 20m / Background use: 2d21h00m" when the app has been closed for at least 12 of those preceding hours.

This app had me thinking my phone was broken. I literally had "call (manufacturer) and ask about replacement battery" in my running thoughts. I deleted all other suspect apps (will lose a lot of time re-customizing things I thought were suspect that couldn't be backed up), all just to find that it was the Pandora app all along, even though it was closed all that time...?????

I am currently using pandora.com in my mobile browser. I've been listening to it this way for several hours today, the browser has only drained 3% of my battery, and my phone is not warm.

I'm not too happy with Pandora right now... please fix this asap. Thank you.

[AdamPandora]

@i4n3 I moved your post into the existing thead you linked in your message.

I've enabled a trace on your account to help us better understand what's happening.

*For this trace to be useful, we'll need you to run through our troubleshooting steps: Troubleshooting for Android Devices

If that does not resolve the issue, I'd like to report your feedback to our engineering team. Can you send over a bit more info about your device?

• Model:
• Carrier:
• Android version (Settings > About Phone):
• Build number (Settings > About Phone):
• Android Security Patch Level, if noted on your device (Settings > About Phone):
• Pandora version:
  • If you can open Pandora, go to Profile, then select Settings. Scroll to the bottom of the screen for the version number.
  • If you can't open Pandora: from Android Home screen > Android Settings > Applications > Manage Applications > Find Pandora

Are you connected to Wi-Fi or cellular data when this is happening?

Have you identified any other patterns or notable information?

Let me know what you can find out.

[i4n3]

Hi @AdamPandora,

I am commuting at the moment and do not have enough time to use the app because I need my device's battery to last while I'm away from power. I'm using the web browser for now and likely won't be back somewhere I can try the app again until at least tomorrow (11/28).

Model: motorola ThinkPhone by Lenovo
Carrier: unlocked and using AT&T for cellular, Xfinity for home Internet.
Android version: 14
Build number: U1TBS34.54-24-1-11-4-11
Android Security Patch Level: November 1, 2024
Pandora version: 2411.1
Are you connected to Wi-Fi or cellular data when this is happening? This is happening with both Wi-Fi and cellular.

> Have you identified any other patterns or notable information?

The app is extremely laggy overall, too. Many buttons don't respond for up to several seconds. Often, pressing a button causes the other buttons to disable, then before the current song stops playing, the next song will start playing, so two songs play simultaneously. I noticed when I had premium active, and after premium expired, that both the Premium and non-Premium players are experiencing this issue.

[AdamPandora]

No worries, @i4n3.

Whenever you have the chance, please run through the troubleshooting steps I linked in my previous message, and let me know if you continue to experience issues with this.

[i4n3]

did not clear storage before these measurements:

03:51 app started, battery at 69%
03:52 68%
03:59 switched to unrestricted battery usage, battery at 66%
04:12 60%
04:19 58%
04:57 47%

screen off for over 95% of that time.

---

cleared storage and logged back in:

05:05 45%
05:33 42%
06:04 38%, device is slightly warm but less than before
06:32 35%
06:46 33% (screen off since 06:32)
07:11 29%

there was some improvement after clearing the app storage, but that still seems like a lot of battery usage for 2 hours of music with the screen mostly off. any screen use during any of these measurements was kept to a minimum, and the screen was turned off after I finished a quick task like changing a station or etc.

[i4n3]

It happened again today. It's funny how the next highest power consumer is Dolby—EQs traditionally obliterate batteries—but Dolby is not even using a measurable amount of power compared to Pandora, especially given there had only been 3 minutes of screen on time over 2.5 hours.

At least I had a hand warmer for when I got off the train. Nice and toasty. I should have mentioned that before but I was walking while posting.

This morning, I unplugged my phone while Pandora was playing over Bluetooth headphones. I only listened to audio and barely touched my device. That's battery usage and device temperature resembling screen-on web browser activity.

Moderator Edit: Merged comments

[AdamPandora]

@i4n3 Thanks for providing that info.

I've passed this along to the appropriate parties for further investigation. In the meantime, please keep an eye out for future updates to the Pandora app, it's likely how this issue will be addressed. 

We really appreciate your patience in the meantime!

[i4n3]

After my post earlier, I noticed this and thought it could be related, or might potentially hold a clue for where to look (device or component-specific?). Several hours after I posted, I was watching a video on YouTube in Chrome. I closed the tab without pausing it, and the audio from that video continued on for several seconds after the tab was totally closed. It reminded me of the same exact lag I've been experiencing in both non-Premium and Premium players.

[i4n3]

I just remembered something else—the same app lag I was experiencing and described above (where a single button press was taking abnormally long to respond) was also happening on my Sony Walkman on a regular basis. Regardless of tapping a software button, or pressing an external hardware button, there was a point where Pandora would not respond for several seconds. I wiped my Walkman to a factory state, started over fresh, and the problem persisted once I logged back in. Very shortly after I noticed it happening on my Walkman, that's when it first became a problem on the device noted above. I was using the latest available version for Android 13 at the time that I noticed it. Android 14 for the Walkman had not yet been released.