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. 

[Kelseyroach]

Plan

Premium

Country

USA

Device

Pixel 6a

Operating System

Android 16

My Question or Issue

Hi, I am suddenly seeing significant battery drain when running Spotify on my pixel 6a. I tried a clean reinstall of Spotify. In less than 3 hours, I used 28% of my battery and 63% of the battery use is attributed to Spotify. I have only 8 mins of spotify screen time but 1 hour 20 min background use. The back of the phone is warm. This has been happening for the past few days.

[vovl]

Still the same on Android 16, Pixel 8 with premium 9.0.82.1032.

[gh130]

Same on Android 16 Pixel 9 Pro with Premium on app version 9.0.82.1032

[Keekusu]

Same here. Pixel 10 Pro XL, latest updates of phone and Spotify. Spotify always runs in the background and consumed 40% of the battery, even though it is set to restrict background activity. Will cancel my Spotify membership

[Keekusu]

Plan

Premium

Country

Germany

Device

Pixel 10 Pro XL

Operating System

Android 16, Spotify Version 9.0.90.1229

My Question or Issue

I would like to bring up this topic again, since it has not been discussed in the past 2 years.

I have recently moved to a Pixel phone. 30-40% of battery consumption is caused by Spotify, even if the app is idle. The battery menu of the phone shows that Spotify keeps running in the background non stop, even though I disabled the "allow background activity" button. 

After some research, it seems to be an issue that particularly Pixel users face and have been facing for years. Nothing helps: force closing the app (in app drawer or the app-settings menu) prohibit background activity doesn't do anything, it keeps draining the battery. 

I also though that it might be Wifi-related. I use a HEOS multi room audio system at home, that works splendidly with Spotify. I thought it might be that the app tries to scan the WiFi for available speakers and therein might lie the reason for the battery drain. I therefore tried to turn off WiFi for a night. But that did not change anything about the problem. 

I guess I will have to quit using Spotify.

[Keekusu]

So. I deleted the Spotify App and my battery consumption over night (screen turned off, obviously) dropped by 60%.

Cancelled my subscription

[PixelSp0tify]

Also experiencing the same issue on a Pixel 9. It's consumed 36% of battery with 4 mins of screen time and 17 mins in the background. I use Spotify almost everyday so this is a big issue

[yddtime]

Spotify app (version 9.0.96.826) my Pixel 8 is using a lot of battery even though I'm not using it at all. For example, during this 2 hour period it's causing 47% of the interval's battery usage just sitting idle in the background. This happens all day.