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If you’re using Google Messages on Android, it can quietly steal battery life from your phone.while google have With this fixed, the patch may be inaccessible to your device for a period of time. Until then, there are steps you can take to stop the app from draining your battery unnecessarily.
How Google Messages Drains Your Battery
Like many chat apps, Google Messages has a shortcut to quickly take a photo or video in a message thread to send. This feature lets you take photos from a small live feed for faster access, or you can click on the live feed to expand it for a better view of what you’re shooting.
But while the feature is really convenient, a bug caused it to put a strain on your Android battery life. Normally, Google Messages stops accessing your camera once you stop using the feature; however, this bug keeps the camera active in Google Messages without any feedback from the app itself. However, affected users know where the problem is, as Android 12 outperforms any app that uses the camera.
Leaving the camera on for long periods of time can have a huge impact on your battery, as anyone who accidentally activates the camera in their pocket can attest.Plus the security implications of apps that use the camera without your knowledge, not to mention Google application, making this error one of the concerns.
It doesn’t look like this bug is anything new either. A Reddit thread on February 15 discusses the issue, which means Google Messages may have been draining users’ batteries for months.
How to stop Google Messages from draining your battery by mistake
Fortunately, Google is now rolling out a patch for this bug. Google communications manager Scott Westover confirmed to The Verge that the company has fixed the issue and is releasing a patch to users. However, there is no current timeline for the implementation, so you may need to take a step or two to prevent the bug from draining your battery before the patch reaches your phone.
If you want to be reactive, make sure to turn off Google Messages from the Recents view when Android tells you the app is using your camera. For a more permanent solution, you can remove Google Messages permission to use the camera until the patch is released to your device. This only works if you never use the in-app camera feature.You can find this option in your Google Messages settings at Permissions > Camera > Not Allowed.
[9to5Google]
