Android Messages eating battery?

[B. Diddy]

Has anyone noticed their Android Messages app using more battery lately? If so, did it only start after activating Messages for Web? On my Pixel 2 XL running 8.1, I've noticed recently that Android Messages has frequently been the top battery consumer. Right now, my battery is at 54% after about 14.5 hours, and Android Messages is at the top of the battery list at 10%. It says it's been in active use for 1 hr 13 min (but I don't text that much -- the most I may have directly used the app is probably 10 minutes or so). It's been responsible for 260 mAh of battery use.

I'm going to see what happens if I deactivate Messages for Web. Not sure if this is the right way to do it, but I went to Settings>Apps, selected Android Messages, then App Notifications, then turned off the toggle for "Connected to Messages for web." Will update in a few days.

 

[B. Diddy]

Followup on this -- I think I might have found the culprit. It doesn't look like it has to do with Messages for Web. When I reviewed my current text threads, I noticed a couple of those Download icons in some individual threads that appear if a group text message has trouble coming through (since group text is MMS, which requires mobile data -- if mobile data reception is poor, that's when you get the somewhat meaningless "Tap to Download" message in the individual text threads of those in the group).

I deleted those Tap to Download messages within the individual text threads, and the battery consumption problem disappeared. My guess is that those messages got stuck in the individual text threads (even if the message finally came through in the group text), thus causing the Messages app to keep trying unsuccessfully to download them. If anyone else encounters this issue, see if this helps and let us know in this thread!

 

[quagman]

Followup on this -- I think I might have found the culprit. It doesn't look like it has to do with Messages for Web. When I reviewed my current text threads, I noticed a couple of those Download icons in some individual threads that appear if a group text message has trouble coming through (since group text is MMS, which requires mobile data -- if mobile data reception is poor, that's when you get the somewhat meaningless "Tap to Download" message in the individual text threads of those in the group).

I deleted those Tap to Download messages within the individual text threads, and the battery consumption problem disappeared. My guess is that those messages got stuck in the individual text threads (even if the message finally came through in the group text), thus causing the Messages app to keep trying unsuccessfully to download them. If anyone else encounters this issue, see if this helps and let us know in this thread!

This helped, but lately I've noticed that Messages has still been consuming a lot of battery. I'm now going to totally sign out of Messages for Web and see what happens.