Heat and electronics rarely ever pair well together, and that goes for the best Android smartphones as well. Intensive use, wireless charging, and atmospheric conditions are the usual reasons overheating smartphones, but now and then, software takes the blame. Recently, that was the case with the Google app running in the background and generating excessive heat on many phones, but mostly the Pixel 6, 6 Pro, and 7. Instead of letting the issue fester, Google has now rolled out an update which should fix the issue for all affected users.

Many people voiced their concerns about excessive battery drain and overheating devices on the GooglePixel subreddit, suspecting a recent Google app update that rolled out on May 12 (via Engadget). There were multiple reports of the issue affecting Pixel 7s as well, but we didn't notice it on our devices in the AP team, thankfully. However, the issue was widespread enough to catch Google's eye. In a Reddit post, the company acknowledged the unintentional change created an issue, and clarified that the Google app has since been patched. User action is not required, meaning the patch is a server-side update automatically applied on all the affected devices.

A quick look at the battery usage statistics of the affected devices revealed the main Google app was hogging upwards of 15% of the battery, mostly as a background process. Surprisingly, the Android System Intelligence service was a close second suspect for the issue, with a few people saying the service was burning through more battery than usual.

As a result, complaints on the Google Support page lamented the usable screen-on time plummeting from around six hours to just three — half as much as it used to be. The app’s battery consumption also made the phones run very hot. One user had to switch off their phone and place it in the fridge to normalize the temperature. Elevated temperatures were also recorded when placed on a wireless charger, while the phones themselves charged slower than usual.

Such a drop in performance and usability was clearly unacceptable for a flagship phone from just a couple of years ago. Prolonged usage in a heated state could have been detrimental to the SoC’s performance. It could also cause permanent battery damage, shortening its usable life, as we saw in the case of firmware update v1.4.2 for the Sony WF-1000XM4 earbuds.

People who contacted Google support via chat say the experience was futile and unhelpful, with troubleshooting steps offering the same remedies they had already tried out. Some affected people had luck switching to version 14.16.30.28. However, downgrading to an older stable version of the Google app didn’t help everyone. Their devices still ran hot, albeit slightly less warm than with the problematic update. It is nice that Google took cognizance of the issue and rapidly rolled out a fix.

If you notice abnormal heating or battery drain on your Pixel phone, try rolling back recent updates of the Google app, or wait for the server-side fix from Google.