Android has a new feature to highlight apps that cause bad battery life

 One of the biggest challenges with battery life on Android devices  over the years has been wakelocks. Wakelocks are caused by apps that  constantly poll the phone for information. This prevents a phone from  entering a deeper sleep state where minimal battery life is used. Since  the phone can never enter deep sleep mode, it just sits there burning  battery. See also: How to extend your Android’s phone battery life

There have been many third-party apps to detect and crack down on wakelocks, but it looks like Google is now getting involved. Users on Twitter (via Android Police) have reported that in the latest Android 8.1 Developer Preview  the battery app is naming abusive apps. A warning appears in the  battery settings with a red battery icon, the name of the offending app,  and how it’s draining your battery. Tapping the warning will give you  options to fix the issue. This may be as simple as killing the app or  turning off location data for it. 

 There’s no telling yet whether this new feature will make it into  Android 8.1 when it releases to the public. Google has been known in the  past to add features in developer previews only to remove them before a final release.  But, it’s an encouraging development that Google is testing out a  feature that gives users more information and control over their phones.  Google has long been trying to improve battery life with initiatives  like Doze, but this takes it a step further. What do you think about Android’s new feature? Do you think it  will actually lead to better battery life or just more annoying  notifications? Let us know down in the comments.