Fix battery drain problems on a Pixel phone

If your phone's battery life seems poor or short, a downloaded app could be using too much battery. You can also choose settings to help your battery last. To troubleshoot battery drain, use the steps below.

Note: Some of these steps work only on Android 9 and up. Learn how to check your Android version.

Change settings

If your phone's battery life is too short, try these tips for longer battery life. You can also learn which activities use the most battery.

Check apps

Tip: You can’t force stop or uninstall Google Play services. Google Play services lets your phone use Google services. It’s integrated with Android. Learn about Google Play services.

Step 1: Restrict apps that use the most battery

Restrict apps with high background battery use

  1. Open your phone's Settings app.
  2. Tap Battery.
  3. If you see a card with advice to restrict an app, tap the card And then Restrict.

Restrict apps with high overall battery use

  1. Open your phone's Settings app.
  2. Tap Battery And then More More And then Battery usage.
  3. Under "Battery usage since full charge," see a list of apps with the percentage of your battery used.
    Tip: To see services as well as apps, tap More More And then Show full device usage.
  4. To see or change how a listed app uses battery, tap it.​
    • For some apps, you can turn on Background restriction.
    • For all apps, we recommend keeping Battery optimization on.
Step 2: Force problem apps to stop

Important: If you force stop some essential apps or services, your phone won't work correctly. Force stop isn’t available for all apps.

  1. Open your phone's Settings app.
  2. Tap Apps & notifications And then the app. If needed, tap App info before the app.
  3. Tap Force stop  And then OK.
Step 3: Uninstall problem apps
  1. Touch and hold the app that you want to uninstall.
  2. To see your options, start dragging the app.
  3. Drag the app to Uninstall at the top of the screen. If you don't see "Uninstall," you can't uninstall the app.
  4. Lift your finger.

Tip: You can see Uninstall, Remove, or both. "Uninstall" removes the app from your phone. "Remove" removes it from your Home screen only.

Check phone

Restart your phone ("reboot")
  1. Press your phone's power button. On the screen, tap Restart Restart.
  2. If you don't see "Restart," press your phone's power button for about 30 seconds, until your phone restarts.
Check for Android updates
  1. Open your phone's Settings app.
  2. Near the bottom, tap System and then Advanced and then System update. If needed, first tap About phone or About tablet.
  3. You'll see your update status. Follow any steps on the screen.
Check for app updates
  1. On your phone, open the Google Play Store app Google Play.
  2. Tap Menu Menu and then My apps & games.
  3. Apps with available updates are labeled "Update."
    • If an update is available, tap Update.
    • If more updates are available, tap Update all.

Try advanced steps

Reset to factory settings
IMPORTANT: A factory data reset will remove all data from your phone. While any data stored in your Google Account will be restored, all apps and their associated data will be uninstalled. Before you perform a factory data reset, we recommend backing up your phone.
Post your question to a Google forum

If you're still having issues with your phone, you can post your questions to the Pixel community on our forums for other possible solutions.

Related articles

Was this helpful?
How can we improve it?