A bug in Google Messages might be draining your battery

With all the apps that we tend to have running on our phones, it’s a constant worry as to whether the battery will be able to make it through the day — and that’s not helped when apps misfire and run power-draining features in the background. According to 9to5Google, a recent bug in Google’s Messages app on Android phones left the camera running in the background — a great way to both heat up your phone and run down your battery.

The Google Messages app allows you to easily take a photo directly from the app and attach it to a chat message. According to the article in 9to5Google, the camera app would occasionally keep running, even when you did not have it on screen. (This issue was also reported happening with a Pixel 6 Pro in a Reddit group.)

We were not able to reproduce the issue. However, if you do find that your phone is unusually hot or the battery is running down especially quickly, it may not hurt to make sure your camera isn’t still running — or to simply swipe the Messages app off the Recents view, which will close the app down. You can also deny Messages permission to use your camera altogether by going to Settings > Apps > Messages > Permissions > Camera and selecting “Don’t allow.”

However, that may not be necessary. According to Scott Westover, communications manager at Google, the bug has been identified and the fix is currently rolling out to users.