Spotify causes significant battery drain on Pixel 8 Pro

[Jimbobler]

Pixel 8 Pro, Android 14, Spotify Premium build 8.8.76.667, Sweden.

Brand new phone and first day of use, and installed the app earlier today.  Spotify has somehow managed to drain 38% (!) of battery with 4 minutes screen time and 4h 44 mins background activity: https://ibb.co/TrG4jW6. I'm unsure about the length of background activity, too, since I've only been listening to podcasts and some music for two hours tops before completely closing the app. No downloads of playlists or music, either. 

The phone was warm to the touch for several hours after installation. The temperature dropped immediately after disabling Spotify from being able to perform background tasks. 

In the "View by systems" tab in Systems > Battery > Battery usage, it's clear that the CPU has drained a majority of the battery (33% vs 13% for screen) since it was fully charged, even though I haven't been doing any CPU intensive tasks for any length of time. 

Super weird, and it's the only time this has happened on any of the smartphones I've had Spotify installed on over the years. 

[Tigerkat]

Plan

Premium

Country

USA 

Device

Google Pixel Pro 7

Operating System

My Question or Issue

I've done all the trouble shooting I can.  I've restricted all background actions from the app, and even set it's battery usage to restricted and still the app runs in the background. The app ran for over an hour in the background on my phone when I wasn't even using it. I've also uninstalled the app, reinstalled it, and then restricted it again.

Is there anything I can do to stop this from happening?

[sekhonp01]

I have the same issue and it was added here: https://community.spotify.com/t5/Android/Unreasonable-battery-drain-on-Pixel-3a/m-p/5647891#M203324. As I mention equivalent time using Audible uses 10 times less battery usage! Something is very wrong with the current version of Spotify on latest Android phones.

[Jimbobler]

Oops, I meant to write SETTINGS > Battery > Battery usage. 

[JensDoe]

Same here. P8P and huge battery drain.

[Eni]

Hey there folks, 

Thanks for reaching out about this here in the Community. 

First up, it's well worth running a clean reinstall of the app on your phones to get rid of any cached files that might be causing trouble. 

If this doesn't do the trick, we'd recommend making sure that the OS of your phones is up-to-date. 

Additionally, could you confirm that your phone's battery saving options are disabled?    

Let us know how it goes.

[NB1987]

Having the same issue with a Pixel 5 after updating to Android 14, even in battery saving mode.

[JensDoe]

I did a clean install of Sporify. The version that had the battery drain problem was a version, that had been automatically restored after moving from my old phone to the new Pixel 8 Pro. 

It looks like the problem is fixed, but I need to check for a couple of days and report back later.

[Jimbobler]

I did a reinstall of Spotify, but the problem still persists. As an example, when I used Spotify (when reinstalled) but turned off background activities, it barely made any impact on the battery when listening to music with the screen off – as long as I didn't minimize Spotify or switched apps. Easily 8 hours of SOT with the same usage, but since I've reenabled background activities the battery drain is awful again.

The battery saving options have always been disabled, and I've always had the latest OS and app updates. 

[Dhavill]

I'm having the same exact experience as Jimbobler on my new Pixel 8 pro running Android 14. Clean install did not solve the battery drain issue, and blocking background use only causes the app to malfunction. 

[MihailY]

Hey folks,

We'd like to report this to our tech team, so please send us the following (if you haven't already):

• You device model, OS version and exact Spotify version.
• A few screenshots showing Spotify's battery consumption.

Thanks!

[Jimbobler]

Still the same OS and battery saver settings – Android 14.0, but the Spotify build is now 8.8.78.587.

Screenshot of today's use: https://ibb.co/1qzcS4J.  

I've used Spotify for a longer period today, while studying, and streamed music and podcasts with the highest quality over 4G with bluetooth earphones at like 1/3-1/2 volume for around 4.5 hours. The background activities says nearly 7 hours (and 2 minutes SOT), but that's impossible since the charge on my bluetooth in-ears barely lasts 5 hours. I stopped listening when their battery died and didn't recharge.

50% of the battery drain is from Spotify, and that still seems like a lot even though I've streamed music over 4G. The previous usage in my first post was roughly 70/30 wifi/4G. Significantly higher drain than the other apps I've actually used with the screen on.

[fyxn]

I have the same problem on my Pixel 8 Pro. Battery settings didn't change anything. When I choose to restrict the app in the battery settings the music stops playing after a minute when the screen is locked.

[justdoit_mj]

I have the same problem and a clean reinstallation didn't help

[Takatsd]

Same problem as well, apparently System Apps is also an issue but I used Spotify for 20min this morning while driving to work and it's 30% of my battery usage 

[Basti417]

Hey there,

I got the same issue. 30 minutes of spotify is draining my battery by 20%.

Will there be an app update to fix this issue?

[Dhavill]

My device model is Pixel 8 Pro (Verizon), OS is Android 14.0 and Spotify build 8.8.78.587 (same as the original thread author).  No screenshots as I have since uninstalled Spotify in favor of (gasp) Apple Music until a fix is available.

[derbestedaniel]

Pixel 8, Spotify build 8.8.78.587, Germany

Same problem with Pixel 8 (non pro). Same CPU and can also report huge battery drain. 

Did a clean reinstall. Deleted the data before. Doesn't help. Spotify connect is also not activated. 

We need a hotfix here! Considering canceling my subscription. 

//EDIT: Same problem with 8.8.80.599

[JensDoe]

Pixel 8 Pro, Android 14, Spotify 8.8.80.599

Listened to music for about 30 minutes.

Clean install did not fix this issue.

[bp787]

same problem here.  The moment I start using spotify after charging over night, it starts chewing up battery.  Did not happen on my previous pixel 6 pro.