Last week, Google's quarterly feature drop added new widgets and home screen customization among other updates Unfortunately, like some of the last Pixel Feature Drops, the latest build appears to be causing battery drain, connectivity and overheating issues for some users

Google Pixel owners posted on both Reddit and Google's own support forum over the weekend that their phones' batteries drained faster than usual after the update The problem is so severe that in some cases the battery will not last all day, requiring charging in the afternoon or multiple times a day There are also reports of fast battery depletion even when the phone is idle

The phones experiencing this problem appear to be running hotter than normal, in some cases leading to overheating As for connectivity issues, users report sudden and frequent signal drops on Pixel phones

Pixel 6 and Pixel 7 smartphones have been the most affected According to some Pixel owners, one workaround seems to be to reboot the phone at least once a day to curb these issues You may also want to check your Android battery health with this step-by-step guide

Thankfully, Pixel owners don't have to wait that long for a fix Google tends to release new updates on the first Monday of each month, so we could see patches as early as next week

Granted, Google's Pixel smartphones are not originally known for their battery life So let's temper our expectations There's a reason the Pixel is not included in our top picks for the best smartphone battery life

The Pixel 6 Pro's battery lasted a few hours less than its competitors in our tests, averaging just under 8 hours; the Pixel 7 Pro's battery performed better, though not by much, at around 95 hours

There are several reasons for this First, the Tensor chips in both the Pixel 6 and Pixel 7 series are less power efficient than those found in the best Android smartphones, such as Qualcomm's flagship Snapdragon chip Second, the large, bright displays have proven to be a serious source of power consumption, especially in the high-end Pro models

As to why the latest Google update made things worse, no one can speculate, but it's not the first time we've seen it Last month, the company patched the Google app after a bug was reported that caused the Pixel 6 and Pixel 7 families to overheat and drain the battery