Pixel 6 users hope today's monthly update kills a battery draining bug that heats up the phone
Plenty of Pixel 6 series users have been complaining that since updating to Android 13, their phone has been running hot while the battery has been draining like a sieve the whole time. Some are reporting on Reddit that their screen-on time (SOT) has been halved, like this Redditor: "I wasn't part of any beta, got the A13 stable update and battery just tanked. Went from 6-8 hours SOT to 3-4 SOT. Like fully halved and struggling to get to my normal 11pm or midnight; whilst on A12 I would get to midnight with 20% left."
Eventually, by updating the Google Play Store, this Pixel 6 series user was able to get his old battery life back, but this doesn't seem to be the case for everyone. There is the possibility of some good news. Google traditionally releases the monthly Pixel update on the first Monday of each month. That would have been yesterday, but because of the Labor Day holiday, we should see the release today, September 6th.
Hopefully, the update will include a patch to exterminate the bug that heats up the Pixel 6 series handsets and kills the battery so quickly. One Redditor hopes that is what will happen although he also says that Google could ignore the situation: "that's likely to be the September patch... that's if they even address/acknowledge it, because they could easily just ignore it like they have before lol."
[img center inline [[392533]]:"The real problem has nothing to do with app usage"
But suppose the update doesn't address this problem? Some suggested uninstalling apps such as Facebook Messenger, Samsung Health, or the Reddit app to see if that helps with the battery life. Another suggestion that was mentioned on Reddit was to clear the cache on your apps. These are small bits of information that are stored to help with the performance of the apps on your phone.
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But occasionally these files can get corrupted and cause an issue. To clear the cache on the Pixel 6 series, go to Settings > Apps > See all xxx apps. That opens the "All apps" menu and shows you a list of all of the apps on your phone. To clear the cache, tap the name of the app, tap on Storage & cache, and tap on Clear cache. Do not clear the storage since that includes data that you might need to use an app.
If none of these work, you might want to wait for the monthly update to see if it addresses the problem. If not, back up your data, hold your nose, and do a factory reset. First, go to Settings > Backup. Tap the blue Backup now button. To factory reset your phone, go to Settings > System reset > Erase all data. Some have said that a factory reset after the Android 13 update greatly improved the battery life of their Pixel 6 series device.
We should know more after Google releases the update later today. We will peruse the changelist to see if one of the fixes brings the relief you're waiting for.
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