Google has introduced the excessive partial wake lock metric to help developers identify background behaviors that contribute to battery drain. Developed in collaboration with Samsung and refined using developer feedback, the metric completed its beta phase last year and is now available to all developers, providing insights into how apps hold partial wake locks during user sessions.
With the rollout of wake lock technical quality enforcement, apps that consistently exceed the threshold may face store listing warnings or reduced visibility, making efficient wake lock usage essential for maintaining app performance and user experience.
Battery Technical Quality Enforcement
Google Play has begun applying new wake lock technical quality treatments to improve battery efficiency. Apps that exceed the “Excessive Partial Wake Lock” threshold in Android Vitals may experience:
- Warnings on their Play Store listing
- Reduced visibility in discovery surfaces such as recommendations
- Inclusion in Android Vitals alongside other core metrics like crashes and ANRs
- Threshold: A non-exempt partial wake lock held for 2+ hours on average with the screen off in >5% of user sessions over the past 28 days.
- Exemptions: Wake locks for user-driven actions such as audio playback, location access, or user-initiated data transfers.
Key Features
- Foreground services keep apps alive for user-perceptible work but do not prevent CPU sleep. Partial wake locks keep the CPU awake; acquire them only when necessary.
- Identify offending wake locks using the Android Vitals dashboard.
- Capture a System Trace if the wake lock is unknown and inspect using Perfetto UI.
- Optimize third-party SDK usage, contact SDK owners, or replace inefficient libraries.
- Use UIDT API for user-initiated uploads/downloads; no manual wake lock needed.
- Use WorkManager for background syncs; monitor worker stop reasons to prevent misconfigurations.
- Use companion device APIs for Bluetooth tasks; acquire wake locks only during active Bluetooth activity.
- Leverage system-managed wake locks for location tracking and batch processing with WorkManager.
- Use sensor batching, Recording API, or Health Connect to reduce CPU wake-ups for high-frequency sensor monitoring.
- Prefer FCM for remote messaging; acquire wake locks only when processing network packets.
Availability
- Gradual rollout to impacted apps on the Google Play Store.
- Full guidance and documentation available through Android Vitals and updated wake lock resources.
Outlook
By adopting these practices, developers can:
- Reduce unnecessary wake locks
- Improve battery efficiency
- Maintain compliance with Android Vitals
- Enhance overall user experience
Google continues to encourage feedback through the documentation survey to refine technical guidance and help developers optimize their apps.