Android: Battery Drain / Overheating Phone

[Jaysonben]

The latest update to the Pandora Android app seems to have made the battery drain when not using the app worse. It is now causing my phone to overheat. Is there any bug report, or possible fix?

mod edit: changed title for clarity

[AlyssaPandora · Accepted solution]

Hi there, @Jaysonben. 👋

Thanks for reporting your experience. 

I've enabled a trace on your Pandora account. Are you exiting the app when you're done with your listening session? Or, are you leaving the app paused when you're finished?

In the meantime, let's try running through these steps on your device.

Let me know how it goes. 📲

[Jaysonben]

Hello Alyssa.

I have completed the troubleshooting steps listed.

Typically, Pandora is being launched by Android Auto when I'm driving.  After I complete my drive, I will click into the Pandora app and close out.  Shortly after I do that, I get the player banner back in my notifications and my battery starts to drain quickly.  Since the last update, that has also been accompanied by my phone getting really warm and yesterday I was getting a phone overheat warning.

[AlyssaPandora]

@Jaysonben Thanks for the follow up. I'd like to share this information with our engineering team.

If you continue to have trouble with this today, 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:
  • Go to Profile, then select Settings. Scroll to the bottom of the screen for the version number.

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

Have you identified any other patterns or notable information?

Thanks for your help with this. 🎧

[Jaysonben]

Sure, I will monitor today and update later.

Model: Google Pixel 3a

Carrier: T-Mobile

Android version (Settings > About Phone): 10

Build number (Settings > About Phone): QQ3A.200805.001

Android Security Patch Level, if noted on your device (Settings > About Phone): August 2020

Pandora version: 2007.2 (ANDROID TUNER 2007.2RC10)

I don't usually use my phone for music over Wi-Fi.  The vast majority of the time I am using cellular data.

[AlyssaPandora]

Sounds good @Jaysonben.

Thanks again for your help with this. 

[Jaysonben]

Hello @AlyssaPandora .  I wanted to follow up with some additional information.

It appears that having the Android Auto app on the phone launch Pandora seems to cause the battery drain and overheat issue.  In order to get function to return to normal, I have to exit out of Android Auto, then use the Pandora player notification a couple of times to enter Pandora.  After that, things seem to return to normal till the next time Android Auto launches.

[AlyssaPandora]

@Jaysonben Thanks for the additional information. I've reported your device details and experience to our engineering team.

Thanks for your patience while they look into this. 🎧

[Faeonah]

Hello.  I have seen other posts regarding Pandora running I. The background even when closed, and battery drain issues.  However, iam not seeing any responses resolving the issue.  Please let me know how to fix this.  Thank you.

[nkb811]

If you open your currently running apps (by holding the home button or pressing the three bar list button next to your home button depending on your phone), you should be able to shut it off from there by clicking an x or by swiping it to the side.

However, if that doesn't work, then you can go to all apps, press and hold on the Pandora icon, click App Info, and press Force Stop. That will close the application. You should also be able to see the settings/preferences/permissions for Pandora on this screen, and under one of the options you should be able to prevent the application from running in the background.

[AlyssaPandora]

Great suggestions, @nkb811. 👍 

@Faeonah I would recommend trying out @nkb811's suggestions in the post here.

If you continue to have trouble with the battery draining, please let us know. 🎧

[eboucher]

after installing the app, i watched my battery drain from 82% down to 15% in a matter of 10-20 minutes.

after closing the app and performing a forced stop, i fully charged the device.

after unplugging the device, the battery charge went from 100% down to 5% in about 10 minutes.

after uninstalling the app and performing a power cycle a few times, the battery charging and life went back to normal. 

a week later i installed the app again. device started to exhibit the same behavior of random discharging and failure to charge.

after uninstalling the app a second time, the phone resumed normal operations.

i installed the app a third time and the charging started to fail again and android device started to discharge at an extremely fast pace. Each time, i performed a force stop on the application to ensure it was not running.

after multiple iteration it seems that the battery drain and charging issues are linked to having Pandora installed. 

[AdamPandora]

@eboucher Nice to see you around the Community. 👋🏽

Let's run through some additional troubleshooting steps to see if we can resolve this.

From your Android Settings, please try clearing the Pandora app data using the following steps (not to worry, we'll keep track of your profile and collection for you):*

1. Open your device Settings
2. Tap Apps
3. Scroll down to find Pandora
4. Select Storage
5. On the storage details page tap Clear Data.

Keep in mind that the steps for each Android device is slightly different. If you have a Pixel, you can find helpful steps here.

Please note that you will be asked to log into your account after completing these steps.

Let me know how it goes.

[Fredp]

Same problem. I opened pandora to check something, didn't play any music. Pandora consumed 11.9% battery From 1.5 hours cpu usage, way more than apps I actually spent some time using. 

 

 

[AdamPandora]

@Fredp I recommend running through our suggested troubleshooting steps as they may help resolve this issue: Troubleshooting for Android Devices

If you continue to run into trouble with this, 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.

[Fredp]

• Galaxy S10e,
• AT&T,
• Android ver 10,
• Build QP1A.190711.020.G970USQS4ETJ1,
• Security Patch Level: 1 Oct 2020
• Pandora ver 2009.2

The excessive background battery use by Pandora when i haven't been listening to music has happened on both wifi and data.

I don't see any other patterns except that if i open Pandora that it will contribute to significant battery waste after i stop the music playing.  Pandora has run my battery flat before.  I listened to some music while driving then i stopped the music and did my activity starting with approx 70% battery (a hike, no music, took some pictures and was not using GPS track recording) and during the activity my phone shut off.  When i got back to the car and was able to charge it then power on, Pandora was at the top of the list for battery consumption.

The only way i have found to stop this behavior is to remember to force stop Pandora after i'm done listening to music.

I don't have any problems with Pandora when i'm using it.

Just to be clear about those screen shots above....

I had launched Pandora and only checked some info on a band & didn't play any music.  I used Pandora for at most a minute. Then later noticed my battery had gotten unusually low.  Checked battery info using GSAM and saw the usage attributed to Pandora which is crazy, especially considering i had actually used Instagram, Chrome, Twitter and YouTube much more than i had Pandora.

mod edit: format

[AlyssaPandora]

Hi, @Fredp. 👋

Thank you so much for providing all of these details. We have an internal ticket open with our Android engineers so that they can investigate this issue. In the meantime, I've reported your feedback / experience along with those screenshots over to them.

We appreciate your patience while they work on this! 🎧

[Jdub1]

😊

[BugSlayer]

I am having the same issue on my brand new Pixel 5A running Android 12.  I used Pandora connected to the JVC receiver in my car for a 3.5 hr trip, and now it is reporting 8 hrs of use (less than 1 min background) and has drained 17% of my battery.

[AlyssaPandora]

Hi there, @BugSlayer. 👋

Thanks for reporting your experience. 

Have you tried out the troubleshooting steps yet to see if it helps? If not, feel free to try these: Android Troubleshooting

I can also share this with our engineering team. Can you send over a bit more info about your device?

• Carrier:
• Pandora version (Go to Profile, then select Settings. Scroll to the bottom of the screen for the version number):
• Are you connected to Wi-Fi or cellular data when this is happening?

Let me know. 🎧