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. 

[Jimbobler]

Hey folks,

Thanks for all your replies and for the info shared.

In this case, in order for us to forward all this important info onto the right team, we'll need to gather some very specific details. That way, they can check in thoroughly what is exactly happening on your side. So, we'll need you to send us:

• The make/model and OS of the affected device
• The exact Spotify version you're running there.
• Some screenshots of this behavior and your device's battery usage analytics.
• If you noticed that this started to happen after some specific event, such as an OS update, please clarify.
• All the troubleshooting steps you've tried so far. Make sure to be as specific as possible.

Be aware that we'll need all this info in order for our tech team to continue investigating further. If you've already sent us some of these details, keep in mind we'll need update info of your devices and Spotify versions you're running as of today.

We understand where you're coming from, so we'll work on this together.

Keep us in the loop!

[Eni]

Hey folks, 

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. 

We've passed your info on to the right teams to be looked into. We'll let you know if we have any news about it. 

In the meantime, we suggest that you keep the app up to date. 

Cheers 🙂 

[AxionHusky]

Same issue here. Brand new Pixel 8 Pro. Experiencing massive battery drain from background activity of Spotify. 

Both phone and app are up to date.

[abck]

Same issue here on Pixel 8 (android 14), spotify version 8.8.80.599

Clean install did not fix the problem.

[LSam]

I've tried everything you proposed, the result is that now Spotify won't even let me change the APP BATTERY USAGE SETTING to RESTRICTED so no matter what I do is gonna drain my battery. Huge problem and disappointing from a long term premium user. Any other suggestion/news about urgent Update from the firm?

[LSam]

Plan

Premium

Country

Italy

Device

Pixel 8

Operating System

Android 14

In my Pixel 8 Spotify is draining ridiculus ammount of battery in background mode, so I went for setting APP BATTERY USAGE to RESTRICTED, but even if he let me select that option, when I come back to those settings I find the option settled to OPTIMISED. Only Spotify app cause me this problem, I've tried reinstalling the app and restarting the phone and everything is up to date (App and System). 

[MihailY]

Hey folks,

Thanks for sharing this info.

@LSam, we've moved your second post here to keep everything in one place and we've shared your findings with the team investigating this.

We'll let you know as soon as we have an update.

[cnhardwick]

I've been having the same issue of the Spotify app rapidly draining my battery in the background since getting the Pixel 8 with Android 14 installed. I've tried reinstalling the app, disabling Spotify Connect in the background, and restricting background usage (which causes the audio to stop playing after a few minutes). I also Gave Spotify Lite a shot and while it does use roughly half the battery as the normal app it still seems to drain the battery very quickly. For what it's worth though, I switched back to Pocket Casts for podcasts to see if the battery usage was any better and it also seems quite poor--which has me thinking this may be an Android 14 issue as much as it is a Spotify issue. Lastly, I tried using wired headphones today and saw a drastic improvement in battery drain vs. Bluetooth headphones. That's to be expected but still seemed worth noting. 

[Alexw4285]

Hey all had this same issue on the OnePlus 8 pro and managed to resolve by doing a clean install, updating Google services within security updates and turning off Spotify connect AND keep open on screen within car settings.

Hope this works for others 

[Alexw4285]

(it doesn't completely fix the issue but is a dramatic reduction) 

[JensDoe]

Temporarily disabled Spotify connect after Spotify was using twice the background time I used to listen to music. 

Update: switched to Spotify beta. Let's see, how that works out.

Update 2: beta (up to today) didn't change anything. Thinking about quitting.

Update 3: regarding playback control: didn't change anything either.

Update 4: Had to leave Spotify beta, since App crashed on start-up constantly. What a mess.

[technikal]

Disable the playback control for Spotify that shows the notification panel and it will solve the background battery drain.

[omgspotify]

Plus one to the pile, 2x pixel 8 pros dealing with 20-40% drain even work light use. 13hrs of background use in one day. Wild stuff like that

[urAvgEng]

Also seeing this issue, battery is getting drained even when not using the app over night.

[ricardoxlopes]

I am a Pixel 8 and Spotify premium user and I also have same problem for weeks. App is unusable, I have a lot of features disabled and I have to force the app after use.

Still waiting for a fix update.

Thank you.

[Stansdad]

Hi, im using the P8P and Spotify absolutely crushes the battery. The screenshots are in order

1. This morning, had the battery set to ultra save mode during the night, still dropped like 12% over the night.

2. Didnt use the phone much yesterday, a bit of Android carplay and listen to Spotify. Still this sucks the battery right out like a vampire.

 

 

[derbestedaniel]

EDIT

couldn't figure out how to reply here. 

[derbestedaniel]

Drain got less with playback control in notification disabled. Yet it still uses too much battery. 

[DCRussian]

Just piling on, but same issue here with Pixel 8 Pro, Spotify is running/using way too much in the background and kills about 30% in 12 hours or less. Battery usage is pointing to 12 hours+ background use even though I've only listened for about 3 hours on my phone.

Spotify version is 8.8.82.634. Spotify Connect is on and the app is using the Optimized background setting; all quality settings are set to high and downloads using cellular is set to on (although there are typically few/no downloads during an impacted day).

[JensDoe]

Today, I did not notice any unusual battery consumption. I am cautiously optimistic that the issue has been resolved in this version (version 8.8.90.100).

Update: I had next to no drain overnight.

[risemusicuk]

no update on my end yet, still on latest (for me) version 8.8.82.634 , I'm sat here listening to music and charging, and my phone is hot to the touch🤷‍♂️