Battery Drain on Pixel 6/7 Pro after December 2022 Update [Fix]

Sadique Hassan•Updated Apr 16, 2024

UPDATE 2: Well, it comes as a surprise to literally no one that the July 2023 update has further worsened the Battery drain issue on Pixel 7/Pro and older Pixel devices. Scroll to the end to read more on this. The original story follows below.

UPDATE 1: Forget the May update, the Battery Drain issue has worsened even further with the June 2023 update for the Pixel 7/Pro….. The original story follows below.

In this guide, we will show you various methods to fix the battery drain issue on your Pixel 6/7 Pro after installing the December 2022 update. The latest Feature Drop has just been rolled out by Google and with that, there are a plethora of goodies that you are about to welcome onto your device, including the likes of Clear Calling, Google VPN, and unified security & privacy settings. However, it seems that all these goodies proved to be a tad too much for the Pixel devices to handle.

Numerous Pixel 6/7 and its Pro variant users have voiced their concerns that they are facing excessive battery drain issues after installing the December Update in conjunction with the Feature Drop. This battery drain is more prominent in the seventh iteration as they are the ones who are receiving the maximum number of goodies with this update. If you are also getting bugged by this issue then this guide will help you out. Follow along for the fixes.

Table of Contents

Fix Battery Drain on Pixel 6/7 Pro after December 2022 Update

It is recommended that you try out each of the below-mentioned workarounds and then see which one spells out success for you. So with that in mind, let’s get started.

FIX 1: Restrict App’s Battery Usage

We will start off by restricting the issue-causing app’s uncontrolled battery usage in the background. So let’s first identify the culprit app and then apply the said restriction:

To begin with, head over to the Settings menu on your device.
Then go to Battery > Battery Usage section.
Now refer to the apps under the ‘App usage for past 24 hr’.
Tap on the first app in that list and select Restricted from the menu.
Likewise, do so for all the apps that occupy a higher position in that list.
Once done, verify if it fixes the excessive battery drain issue on your Pixel 7/Pro.

FIX 2: Disable Always On Display

Always on Display has ‘always’ been notoriously infamous for draining an astronomical amount of battery juice. So as of now, it’s better to keep it disabled.

To do so, head over to the Settings page on your device.
Then go to Display > Lock Screen.
Within that, disable the Always Show Time and Info toggle.
Check if it does any good in fixing the excessive battery drain issue on your Pixel 7/Pro.

FIX 3: Disable Mobile Data Always Active

Even if you are using WiFi, your device will still continue to have the Mobile Data active. This is because if your device isn’t able to pick up the WiFi signals, then it will automatically switch over to the carrier data.

On the plus side, there will be no considerable productivity loss and you will continue to be online. But on the flip side, it is sure to result in a drop in the battery percentage. Therefore you should consider disabling this feature, which could be done as follows.

First off, you will have to enable Developer Options. So go to Settings > About Phone > Tap on Build Number 7 times.
You will now get a prompt that you are now a developer. Now go to Settings > System > Developer Options.
Within that, scroll to the Mobile Data Always Active option and turn it off.
Check if it is able to fix the excessive battery drain issue on your Pixel 7/Pro.

FIX 4: Lower the Screen Timeout

Screen Timeout is the duration after which your display will turn off. Every extra second the ‘pixel’ display is turned out, it will consume a minute amount of battery. But this when combined over the due course of time will lead to uncurbed battery use. So it’s better to limit its usage, using the instructions given below.

So head over to Settings > Display on your device.
Then go to the Screen Timeout option.
Now select either 15 seconds or 30 seconds at the very max.
Check if it fixes the excessive battery drain issue on your Pixel 7/Pro.

Also Read: How to Increase Screen Timeout Duration Beyond 30 Minutes on Android

FIX 5: Disable Tap to Wake

Tap to Wake is an accessible feature (kind of) that allows you to wake up your device, check the pending notifications and carry out other related tasks, without the need to unlock your phone. While it is quite a handy feature, but it comes at a cost of a lavish expenditure on the battery quota. So as of now, the best bet is to disable both its associated features, which could be done as follows:

Start off by going to Settings > Display.
Then go to the Lock Screen section.
Now disable the Tap to Check Phone and Lift to Check Phone features.
Check if it fixes the excessive battery drain issue on your Pixel 7/Pro.

FIX 6: Use Battery Saver Mode

You all saw this coming, didn’t you? On a serious note though, this method gave out the best mileage when it comes to rectifying the battery issue. But why have we listed it in the end? Well, it’s because upon enabling it, you will have to sacrifice some other features.

This includes bidding adieu to the high refresh rate, the auto-sync feature, and the like. So if you are ready for this trade-off of gaining a few additional battery juices in return for a not-so-optimal usage experience, then here’s what you need to do:

To begin with, head over to the Settings menu on your device.
Then go to Battery > Battery Saver.
Now enable the toggle next to Use Battery Saver.
You will now definitely witness some positive results when it comes to fixing the Pixel 7/Pro excessive battery drain issue.

FIX 7: Enable Extreme Battery Saver

If you wish to take an even more aggressive approach, then consider enabling the Extreme Battery Saver Mode as well. This mode will pause the functionality of most apps and services. At the same time, it gives you the option to add the desired apps to the whitelist, that is, they wouldn’t be affected by this mode.

So before going to bed, you could consider enabling this feature and then turning it back on in the morning. At the same time, make sure that all your essential apps are added to the whitelist so that they don’t get affected by this feature. On that note, here’s how to enable and use this feature on your Android 12 device:

Head over to Settings > Battery > Battery Saver option.
Then go to Extreme Battery Saver > When to use and select Always Use.
Now go back a menu to the Essential Apps section and add your desired apps there.

FIX 8: Turn off Adaptive Connectivity

One of the most underrated culprits of this issue seems to be Adaptive Connectivity. For the unaware, this feature helps your device to automatically switch from 5G to 4G whenever it deems fit. For example, when you are using an instant messenger app or just scrolling through feeds, then the Adaptive Connectivity feature will switch from 5G to 4G to preserve the battery life. On the other hand, if you are streaming a movie, then it will again switch back to 5G.

But since it is constantly working in the background, the battery that it ends up draining proves to be more than the battery percent that it managed to preserve! Moreover, numerous Pixel 6/Pro users in the past had voiced their concern that Mobile Network Standby is draining an excessive amount of battery on their devices. Since it is a part of Adaptive Connectivity, turning off the latter has worked wonders in preserving the battery juice. So let’s put this fix to the test and check out the results:

Head over to the Settings menu on your device.
Then go to the Network and Internet section.
After that, scroll to Adaptive Connectivity and disable the toggle next to it.
Check if it fixes the excessive battery drain issue on your Pixel 7/Pro.

FIX 9: Disable Physical Activity Permission

If you have a Samsung Galaxy smartwatch, then you must be having the Samsung Health app installed on your device. And as of now, one of its components is proving to be a major culprit both in terms of battery drainage and device overheating. It’s the Physical Activity permission of the app that is hogging excessive resources.

For the unaware, this permission allows your device to count the steps, without depending on your smartwatch. However, as of now, the app isn’t optimized for Android 13, so it’s better to restrict its aforementioned permission, which could be done as follows [Some users are speculating that Pixel has specifically done so to push their upcoming smartwatch! Well, we leave it up to you to decide!]

To begin with, head over to Settings > Apps > See All Apps.
Then select the Samsung Health App and go to its Permission section.
After that select the Physical Activity permission under Allowed.
Now change its permission to Don’t Allow and check out the results.

FIX 10: Downgrade to November Update

if none of the methods managed to spell out success, then your last course of action should be to downgrade your device to the November update. While this will surely rectify this issue but it comes at a cost- you will have to unlock the device’s bootloader first, which would factory reset the device and could nullify its warranty. So if that’s well and good, then do check out our guide on How to Downgrade Pixel Devices via Android Flash Tool OR How to Downgrade Pixel Devices via Fastboot Commands.

That’s it. These were the ten different methods to fix the excessive battery drain issues on your Pixel 7/Pro. If you have any queries concerning the aforementioned steps, do let us know in the comments. We will get back to you with a solution at the earliest.

Pixel Battery Drain after July 2023 Update

Numerous Pixel users have voiced their concerns that they are once again facing an excessive battery drain issue after installing the latest July 2023 update on their devices. If you are also in the same boat, then do check out the ten fixes listed in the below guide to rectify this issue.