Pixel users report battery drain issues after March update, and this could be the reason

Software updates are typically meant to introduce new features and iron out issues from previous releases, but they can also introduce new performance issues. Pixel users have been especially unlucky in this regard, with nearly every monthly update introducing new challenges to daily usage. And now, numerous reports point to an undiagnosed issue causing batteries in Pixel phones, including the new Pixel 10 series, to drain much faster than they did previously.

Several Pixel users appear to be struggling with poor battery life on their devices. From numerous Reddit posts to Google’s Community forums, there are widespread reports of excessive battery drain, even when the phone is in the idle state.

The degree to which One Redditor says their Pixel 9 Pro has gone from lasting an entire day to requiring a charge two to three times. Another says their Pixel 10 Pro previously lasted 16 hours with seven hours of screen time, which has now reduced to “barely 12 hours” with six hours of screen-on time. Another user couldn’t mince their words and wrote:

My battery has been absolute dogshit since the update. Hoping for a fix. P10 Pro.

From the numerous comments on posts about the topic, the excessive battery drain does not appear to be limited to a specific model. Although the majority of complaints are for the newer Pixel 9 and Pixel 10 series phones, we’ve also spotted several reports for older models, including Pixel 7 and Pixel 8 lineups (including A series models).

Many of these reports date back two to three weeks, with users claiming that the issues emerged after the March 2026 Pixel Drop. Although Google’s April 2026 update for Pixel devices largely focuses on patching previous bugs and issues, it does not appear to address the battery drain.

The March update also upset users because it changed how Pixel’s charging optimization works. The update also had drastic effects on a small set of Pixel devices, causing them to get stuck in an endless boot loop.

What may be causing the issue?

While users have been speculating about the causes of this battery drain on their Pixel phones, one user claims it may be because of a bug preventing on-device GPS from entering into a “suspended” state — also known as Doze specifically in Android’s context — when not being used. The user points out, “the Exynos baseband/GNSS module is caught in a persistent polling loop, causing a hardware interrupt storm even when the device is completely isolated in Airplane Mode with all radios manually toggled off.” This, in turn, keeps the CPU up and running, resulting in the drain.

We’re unsure if that is indeed the culprit, since Google has yet to acknowledge it in the specific Issue Tracker thread or share any updates.