Starting March 1, 2026, Google Play will implement a new policy penalizing apps that excessively drain smartphone batteries without justification.
According to Google, these changes are driven by a new metric for excessive "wake locks." Wake locks are a feature that allows apps like Spotify to keep playing music in the background even when the smartphone screen is off. However, if poorly implemented, it can significantly impact battery life.
The company's definition states that a session is considered "excessive" if it includes more than 2 hours of total wake locks over 24 hours.
"These excessive sessions greatly deplete the battery. A wake lock is considered exempt if it is a system wake lock following sleep that provides clear benefits to the user that cannot be further optimized, such as audio playback or user-initiated data transfer," Google mentions in its blog.
Apps that exceed the harmful behavior threshold for wake locks will incur penalties. Specifically, they will be less promoted in recommendations, and users will receive warnings about the risk of quick battery drain when downloading the app.