Updated September 2026
A few years ago, I published an article with an alarming headline: “Google News literally eats up your smartphone’s battery.”
There was a problem with that headline.
The application involved was not Google News. It was Google Messages. More importantly, the battery problem concerned a specific software bug reported in 2022. Google subsequently identified the cause and began rolling out a fix.
I am correcting that error here rather than quietly changing a few words in the old article.
But revisiting the story raises a more useful question for Android users today.
If your smartphone suddenly becomes hot and its battery starts disappearing unusually quickly, how can you discover which app is responsible?
The answer is much better than it was a few years ago.
What Actually Happened to Google Messages in 2022?
In April 2022, 9to5Google reported a strange problem affecting Google Messages.
Google Messages allows users to take a photograph from within a conversation. Behind that simple feature is a live camera feed.
The reported bug could occasionally leave that camera feed operating even after it was no longer visible on the screen. In some cases, Messages could continue accessing the camera while running in the background.
That matters because a camera is not a passive component. Keeping it active consumes energy. Sustained activity can also generate heat.
9to5Google reproduced the problem and reported significant battery drain and heating. Android Authority also reported the problem at the time.
The problem therefore was real. But it wasn’t a Google News problem. It was a Google Messages camera bug.
That distinction should have appeared in my original article.
Google Fixed the Specific Bug
There is another important piece of context that an article written in 2022 can easily lose when somebody discovers it years later.
The problem was not presented as a permanent characteristic of Google Messages.
9to5Google subsequently updated its report after Google said it had identified the cause and that a permanent fix was being rolled out to Google Messages users.
That means it would be misleading in 2026 to tell Android users that Google Messages inherently keeps their cameras running and drains their batteries.
I found no reliable evidence establishing that the specific 2022 camera bug remains an unresolved general problem today.
Google Messages still allows users to take photographs from within conversations. Google’s current support documentation describes selecting an image or taking a picture directly through Messages.
That feature alone is not evidence of abnormal battery consumption.
The lesson from the old incident is broader. An application can sometimes behave unexpectedly in the background. Android now gives us tools for investigating what is happening rather than immediately blaming whichever application happens to be open.
Your Phone Is Getting Hot. What Should You Look at First?
This is where the old Google Messages story becomes useful again.
Imagine that you unplug your Android phone in the morning. You haven’t watched hours of video. You haven’t played a game. You haven’t been using navigation.
Yet by lunchtime the battery percentage looks strangely low. Perhaps the phone also feels warm.
My first instinct would no longer be to search the internet for somebody naming a “battery-draining app.” I would ask the phone itself.
Modern Android provides several clues about what applications are doing, particularly when they use sensitive hardware such as the camera and microphone.
Watch the Green Indicator
Android 12 introduced privacy indicators that tell users when an application accesses the camera or microphone.
The Android Open Source Project documentation explains these indicators for applications using sensitive data sources.
On supported Android devices, a green indicator appears near the top-right of the screen when the camera or microphone is being used.
This is precisely the kind of feature that helped expose the Google Messages problem.
Google’s Android guidance explains how users can identify which application or service is using the camera or microphone and move toward managing the relevant permissions.
That tiny green indicator deserves more attention than many Android users give it.
If you are sitting on your home screen and have no obvious reason for the camera to be active, investigate. Do not immediately assume somebody is spying on you. There can be legitimate explanations.
But don’t ignore unexplained hardware access either.
Open Android’s Privacy Dashboard
Android also provides a more useful investigative tool: Privacy Dashboard.
Google says the dashboard can show which applications have accessed data, what permissions they used and when that access occurred. Depending on the Android version, users can review recent permission activity.
The exact wording of menus can vary by manufacturer and Android version, but Google’s general route is:
Settings → Security & Privacy/Privacy → Privacy Dashboard
You can then examine categories such as Camera and Microphone.
This changes the nature of smartphone troubleshooting.
Instead of saying, “My phone is hot, therefore Google Messages must be responsible,” you can ask a more precise question: Which application actually accessed my camera?
That is evidence.
Check Permissions Before You Start Deleting Apps
Suppose you discover that an application has camera access and you don’t think it needs it. Android allows you to review that permission.
Google’s current instructions direct users through Settings → Apps → [the application] → Permissions.
From there, available choices can include allowing access, allowing it only while the application is being used, asking every time, or denying access, depending on the permission and Android version.
There is a trade-off. If you deny Google Messages camera permission, for example, features that require the camera will no longer work normally.
That is very different from saying everyone should disable the camera for Messages. Permissions should correspond to how you actually use an application.
Don’t Confuse Battery Consumption With a Security Breach
There is another lesson here.
A phone becoming hot or losing battery rapidly does not, by itself, prove that malware is operating or that somebody is secretly watching through the camera.
It tells you that something is consuming energy.
That “something” could be intensive foreground activity, a background process, network activity, location use, synchronization, a software problem or another workload.
Camera access is one possible clue, not a universal diagnosis.
The 2022 Google Messages incident is a good example. The abnormal camera activity came from a software bug in a legitimate Google application. Contemporary reports linked the unexpected camera activity with heating and rapid battery consumption.
The sensible response is therefore investigation before accusation.
What I Would Do If My Android Battery Suddenly Started Draining
I would begin with observation.
If the phone feels unusually warm while I am barely using it, I would check whether the camera or microphone indicator is showing. If it is, I would identify the application accessing that hardware.
Next, I would examine the Privacy Dashboard.
If an application has been using a sensitive permission at a time when I did not expect it to, I would inspect that application’s permissions.
I would also look at the phone’s battery-usage information to see which applications have consumed an unusual share of power. The precise battery menus vary across Android manufacturers, so instructions written for a Pixel may not look identical on a Samsung, Xiaomi, Vivo or another device.
That manufacturer variation is worth remembering. Android provides the underlying platform, but phone makers modify menus and battery-management systems.
I would therefore resist the temptation to follow an old internet tutorial button for button.
Understand what you are looking for: unexpected battery use, unexpected background activity and unexpected permission access.
Then find the equivalent setting on your device.
Why the Original Google Messages Story Still Matters
The original incident happened in 2022. Google said it identified the cause and rolled out a fix.
So why keep this article?
Because the interesting part of the story was never really Google Messages. It was visibility.
Our phones contain cameras, microphones, GPS receivers, radios and powerful processors. Dozens of applications may perform legitimate background tasks.
Most of the time, we barely notice any of it. Then the battery suddenly drops.
The 2022 Messages bug demonstrated how a seemingly small software error could activate hardware in the background and produce a symptom the user noticed somewhere else: heat and battery loss.
Android’s privacy indicators helped connect those dots. That remains useful knowledge.
The Bigger Lesson: Don’t Blame an App Before Checking the Evidence
Technology headlines reward certainty.
“Google app destroys battery” sounds much stronger than “some users encountered a temporary software bug under particular circumstances.”
My original headline fell into that trap — and named the wrong Google application as well.
The corrected lesson is less dramatic but more useful.
Google Messages had a documented camera-related battery bug in 2022. Google said it identified the cause and rolled out a fix. That historical incident does not establish that Google Messages is generally draining Android batteries in 2026.
If your phone is losing power unusually quickly today, investigate the device you actually have.
Look at battery usage. Watch the camera and microphone indicators. Examine Privacy Dashboard. Review permissions that don’t make sense for the way you use an application.
A smartphone can tell us surprisingly much about what is happening inside it.
We just have to look before deciding who is guilty.
