If your smartphone or tablet is acting strange, your first thought might be that itās been infected with a virus. If thatās the case, you need to find out for sure and get rid of it. Tap or click here to learn 4 signs your Android device has a virus and what to do about it.
If itās not infected, something else is causing the problem. It could be something less devious than a virus, like a glitch built into the gadget itself.
That could be whatās happening right now with a bunch of popular Android devices. A bug is causing their batteries to drain super fast.
Is your device losing power faster than normal?
If youāre an Android fan thereās a good chance you have multiple devices within its ecosystem. Smartphones, tablets and Android Watches are just a few things you could be sporting.
You might even have a Google Home smart speaker or two throughout your house ā and thatās where this latest bug comes into play.
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Related: Automatic update is leaving smart speakers unusable, and thereās no way to fix it
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Android Police have been reporting a new bug in phones and tablets that causes their screen to remain lit up, which leads to a quickly dying battery. The problem begins when the user calls out the wake words for Google Assistant.
Saying, āHey, Googleā to activate the Assistant not only wakes Google Home but also activates the Assistant on phones and tablets. The problem is, the bug makes the screen stay lit even after the Assistant has answered the request.
How to save your deviceās battery
The bug appears to be mainly impacting Google Pixel models, but there are a couple of reports of others being affected as well. People have been complaining about the problem on a Google Support Site for months, but Google has yet to announce a fix.
One impacted user said:
āIn my home when I say OK Google my Google Home springs into life and starts listening, at the same time my Pixel phone starts to listen. After my request depending on whichever device heard me clearer is the one to answer. However, for some reason, my phone will sometimes be stuck in the ālisteningā mode and never turn off the screen unless I manually turn off/exit the mode.
Even when it is stuck in this mode giving it a command does not prompt the normal Assistant response. It just stays on the listening mode.ā
As you can see from the statement above, this person was able to correct the issue by āmanuallyā turning off the device. Other users have also reported this is the only way to fix the problem. So, if you run into this issue, simply power down your device and it should be fine once you turn it back on.
Weāll let you know if Google announces a software update to fix this odd battery issue.
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