History repeats itself as Galaxy S25 Ultra and S24 Ultra users get hit by another frustrating issue

Every now and then, Samsung releases a software update that ends up going terribly wrong on some Galaxy phones. It appears history is repeating itself, with a growing number of Galaxy S25 Ultra and Galaxy S24 Ultra owners reporting major issues after the July 2026 update.

Widespread battery concerns emerge

Battery consumption before the July update. | Image by Vineeth121

Reports have been surfacing on Reddit and Samsung's community forums over the past few days, with affected users reporting an eerily similar issue: battery life drain that started shortly after installing the July 2026 update.

One Galaxy S25 Ultra owner in particular has noticed their daily battery usage jumped dramatically to 143% after installing the patch, up from roughly 80% beforehand. Even more alarmingly, the user had actually spent less time on their phone, indicating the drain is happening primarily when the device is idle.

Battery consumption after the July update. | Image by Vineeth121

Users have also noticed their devices are getting significantly warmer than usual, and some have even reported slower charging speeds as well.

Affected users have identified that the firmware version linked to the issue on Galaxy S25 Ultra models ends in CZG3, though many Galaxy S24 Ultra owners have reported experiencing the same problem.

Have Samsung's software updates affected your Galaxy experience?

Culprit identified

If this whole story sounds familiar, that's because the exact same problem has happened before. We covered a similar incident back in April, when Galaxy S24 Ultra and Galaxy S25 Ultra owners reported severe battery drain and unusually warm devices following a software update.

And just like back then, a potential solution has already emerged from the community forums. According to affected users, the problem may not be the July patch itself but rather that the update appears to leave WhatsApp stuck in some sort of a loop.

It seems that the update causes the app to get stuck during an encrypted backup process. Since the app is constantly trying to resume and complete the backup, the device ends up consuming way more power than usual while idle. It could also explain why some users are noticing their devices getting warmer.

Try this fix if you dare

WhatsApp may be causing the problem this time. | Image by dapotatopapi

Users have reported different ways of resolving the issue. One affected Galaxy owner said that simply cancelling the stuck WhatsApp encrypted backup process immediately restored normal idle battery consumption.

Others weren't so lucky, however. On the r/SamsungGalaxy subreddit, several users mentioned they only solved the battery drain issue by disabling the WhatsApp end-to-end encrypted backups, completing the process, and re-enabling the feature when the backup is done.

Turning off encrypted backups for a short time may seem like a minor inconvenience, but end-to-end encryption provides an additional layer of protection for private conversations.

If you decide to try this workaround, make sure to enable WhatsApp's end-to-end encrypted backups once the process is complete.

Why does this have to happen, though?

Thankfully, we live in an age where users can quickly come together and find solutions to problems through community forums. But why is there still no word from Samsung?

Over at the Samsung community forum, some users say they've already submitted reports to the tech giant, though no response has emerged so far.

That's the frustrating part. When you're paying $1,300 for a flagship phone, you shouldn't have to dig through forums and troubleshoot issues yourself. Hopefully, Samsung will roll out a fix soon, so users don't have to rely on workarounds involving WhatsApp's end-to-end encrypted backups.

And in case you want more Samsung news:

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