High Background Battery Usage

[eric38schwartz]

Hello there, 

My name is Eric. I am an advanced Android user with a Google Pixel 5 on Android 11. I've owned Android smartphones ever since Android first came out. I have recently noticed that if I leave Pandora music "Paused" in my background that the background activity usage/Google Play Services battery usage skyrockets which winds up severely draining my battery. What I am forced to do now, is after each music session, I go into the Pandora app settings, and "Force Close" the app from running in the background, and wipe Pandora out of RAM. Android is easily the most multi-tasking capable mobile OS ever, and I shouldn't have to "Force Close" Pandora after each and every "listening session" in order to get good battery. Are there any suggestions you can provide me with? Any help is appreciated, thank you very much! 

[AdamPandora]

@eric38schwartz If you haven't already done so, I recommend running through our recommended troubleshooting steps: Troubleshooting for Android Devices

If you continue to experience issues with this, can you please send me a screenshot of your device settings showing you the amount of battery usage that is being taken up by Pandora?

Thanks for working with me on this. 🤝

[eric38schwartz]

@AdamPandora , I have tried to clear data of Pandora. For the past few times of listening to music on my phone, I have been "Force Closing" Pandora each and every time, just to make sure that I do not have to worry about high Google Play Services background battery drain. I will say that before I started to do the Force Closings on Pandora, whenever I would listen to music for any amount of time, my Pandora battery usage, and my Google Play Services battery usage in my battery usage breakdown was always the highest, and was always at the top. 

Thanks for helping me out so far. As you can tell, I LOVE troubleshooting, diagnosing, and getting to the root cause of an issue, especially when it concerns my battery life!

[AdamPandora]

Thanks for following up, @eric38schwartz.

I'd like to report your issue to our engineering team.

Can you please send me a screenshot of what you are seeing in your device settings when you mention Pandora is at the top of the list for battery usage?

Additionally, 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?

Thanks again for working with me on this.

[eric38schwartz]

@AdamPandora Hey, so, I know it's a blurry screenshot, but here's the only screen shot from my phone of my recently older battery stats. I hope this helps you out a little bit. 

• Model: Google Pixel 5
• Carrier: Verizon Wireless
• Android version (Settings > About Phone): Android 11
• Build number (Settings > About Phone): RQ1D.210105.003
• Android Security Patch Level, if noted on your device (Settings > About Phone): January 5, 2021.
• Pandora version: 2012.1

I hope that helps you out a little bit, thanks very much! Unfortunately, I haven't noticed any other battery patters nor info regarding this battery drain. Like I said, whenever I listen to music, when I'm done listening to music, I just go into the app settings, and force close the app automatically. Blurry Screenshot of battery drainage.

[AlyssaPandora]

@eric38schwartz Thanks so much for providing those details. This is extremely helpful information. In the meantime, I've shared this with our engineering team so that they can investigate. 

We appreciate your patience during this process. 🎧

[eric38schwartz]

@AlyssaPandora Hey, thanks very much for the quick response. Hopefully your team will be able to figure out a solution sooner rather than later. Thanks again!

[Lestopil]

@AlyssaPandora I am running the same phone on the same provider with the same Android version with Pandora version 2105.1 and in 30 min of listening and it running idle in the background Pandora is using 66% of my battery.

In the past I would leave Pandora running in the background for months with no issues it all seamed to start draining my battery this week 

[AlyssaPandora]

Hi there, @Lestopil. 👋

Thanks so much for reporting this.

If you haven't already, I would recommend running through our troubleshooting steps: Android Troubleshooting

If you continue to experience issues with this, would you mind sending me a screenshot of your device settings showing you the amount of battery usage that is being taken up by Pandora? 

Could you also provide your device details?

• Model:
• Carrier:
• Android version (Settings > About Phone):
• Pandora version (Go to Profile, then select Settings. Scroll to the bottom of the screen for the version number):

Let me know, and I can share this information with our engineering team on your behalf. 🎧

[TheWagers]

Hi, I have a Samsung S9 Plus and I am running to the exact same issues. I think it only started within the last month or so, but I keep it on the charger frequently so I don't know always notice it. But lately Pandora is always at the top of my battery usage list. And it is even during times when I don't have Pandora running. When I open up my tray with all of the different applications that are recently opened, Pandora is not even there. But every single time Pandora is using at least 15 or 20% of my battery. I charged my phone this morning to 100%, now with almost no usage it's down to 52%.

[AlyssaPandora]

Hey there, @TheWagers. 👋

Thanks for reporting your experience. I shared this with our engineering team on your behalf.

Could you share a bit more about your device?

• Model:
• Carrier:
• Android version (Settings > About Phone):
• Pandora version (Go to Profile, then select Settings. Scroll to the bottom of the screen for the version number):

Let me know. 🎧

[MusicFan0172]

Same issue here. Used to think it was AndriodAuto, but I uninstalled Auto and it still occurs.  Has even a single person seen this problem resolved for them? I see lots of posts and email follow-ups, but haven't seen any resolutions.

Model: Samsung Note9 (SM-N960U)
Carrier: T-Mobile
Andriod: v10 Kernel: 4.9.186-21635681 Patch level August 1, 2021.
Pandora: 2107.1

Thanks

[AlyssaPandora]

Hey there, @MusicFan0172. 👋

Thanks so much for providing those details, and for reporting your experience. Sorry to hear that this is happening for you. Some of those posts above are from earlier this year and could have been resolved. We enable traces on your Pandora account while you run through the troubleshooting steps so we can share this information with our engineering team. The issues reported on the Pandora community are shared with our engineers for further review.

Could you confirm whether you've tried out these steps as well?

Let me know, and I can report this to our engineering team on your behalf. 🎧

[MusicFan0172]

Those steps are very general - for *any* problem.  But I've now followed them.  This included removing Pandora from the list of apps that can run in the background and ones that should be put to sleep as soon as they were not in use. 

I'll let it run for a couple of days and see if removing all of those power restricting permissions helps it to use less power.  (a little skeptical)

Thanks for you quick reply!

[AlyssaPandora]

@MusicFan0172 Thanks for your message.

Feel free to keep me updated. In the meantime, I've shared your current feedback on an internal ticket opened with our engineering team. 

[cbrettmiz]

Same here. Everyday. I think mine might have something to do with android auto and possibly  Chromecast. I have to force close it. This is using the battery optimization setting for Android 12. Pandora uses about 30-35% per day of I don't force close it. Both on Wi-Fi and cellular. I probably use Pandora for about 40 minutes per day typically while using Android auto. 

Pixel 6 Pro

T-mobile

Android 12

build SD1A.210817.037

November 2021 security patch

Pandora version 2112.1

Thanks, Chris

[AlyssaPandora]

Hey there, @cbrettmiz. 👋

Thanks for providing those details. I've shared your experience with our engineering team.

We appreciate your patience during this process. 🎧

[billbillw]

This is still a major issue. Android 13, Galaxy S22+. I use Pandora in the car, but I'm usually not driving more than an hour a day. Yesterday, I took only a short 18 minute round trip drive. Pandora was responsible for 34% of my battery usage in the background. I have to force it closed. This is consistent over weeks of use.

[GeraldPandora]

Thanks for posting and sorry to hear about the high battery usage @billbillw.

If you haven't already, please complete our Android Troubleshooting to see if this helps decrease battery usage.

If you continue to notice high battery drain, can you please send me a screenshot of your device settings showing you the amount of battery usage that Pandora is taking up?

In addition, I'd like to report your issue to our engineering team. Can you send over the current Pandora version you're using? 

• Pandora Version: (Go to Profile, then select Settings. Scroll to the bottom of the screen for the version number)

Looking forward to your response!

[billbillw]

 The screenshot will look like above. Pandora uses 34-36%. No other app uses more than 2%. I have cleared app memory and re-logged in this morning.

Version 2301.1 (Android Tuner 31011002).

I will report back after a week or so (since clearing App memory) and report whether there is any improvement.