Summary
- Pixel users are experiencing abysmal battery life after May update.
- Some reports suggest Instagram may be causing battery drain.
- Google will likely release revised security update soon.
If you recently updated your Pixel smartphone with Google’s May security drop and your battery life has become abysmal, don’t worry, you aren’t alone.
As usual, Google’s latest security patch doesn’t introduce any new features and appears to just be a standard monthly update that addresses known security vulnerabilities. However, Google’s support forums and Reddit are filled with reports of battery life issues following installing the May update (via 9to5Google).
Could Instagram be the culprit?
Some reports indicate this might be the case
Alongside the battery drain issue, users are reporting that their phones are getting significantly warmer than usual. Some reports indicate that Instagram is causing the issue rather than the May security update (removing Instagram seems to solve the problem for some users). Making the situation even more confusing, there are users that have installed the update claim to not be experiencing battery issues at all (including me). The battery life drain seems to affect all Pixel models that support the latest update, ranging from the Pixel 6 series to the
Google typically responds to issues like this pretty quickly, so a revised security update is likely in the works. For what it’s worth, I haven’t noticed a significant drop in battery life on my Pixel 9 Pro. Have you encountered battery life issues with your Pixel after installing the latest security update? Let us know in the comments.
