Owners of the Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro recently had a problem with their handsets burning so hot and the batteries draining so quickly that some ran out of power by midday. Google’s September update was supposed to fix the issue, however Verizon customers who received the update late last week did not. These files, in the author’s personal experience, have not yet been received.
Here’s a quick fix for your Pixel 6 series phone that will extend battery life and reduce heat.
If you haven’t yet received the September update for your Pixel 6 or Pixel 6 Pro, or if the update hasn’t stopped your battery from draining, a Reddit user going by the handle Human Individual 815 made a suggestion that was initially so mocked by other owners of the Pixel 6 series that he had to remove it. But after hearing from others that this short fix was lengthening battery life while also cooling down the phones, he decided to repost the article. Judging by the feedback, it appears that the article will remain up.
Toggle off Usage access to Digital Wellbeing and Device Health Services to attempt and extend the battery life and lower the temperature of your Pixel 6 series phone. To do this, open Settings and type “Usage access” into the search box at the top of the screen. You may access a list of apps by tapping on Usage access. Click Device Health Services, then turn “Permit usage access” off. Apply the same strategy to the listing for digital wellbeing. Restart and reboot.
Some functionalities will be removed if you do this. The Redditor who came up with this strategy claimed that by closing the two aforementioned apps, his battery life doubled. He added as well that “It will have an impact on charging and adaptive batteries. The adaptive connection will be impacted. Any of your bedtime mode items will be affected. Fitbits, fitness watches, and other devices of that nature, as well as probably many others, will be impacted. That we must disable these functionalities in order to use our phone is truly terrible.”
Impressive outcomes have been obtained. Using the username cloudacoustic93, a Reddit user comments, “Wow, this really worked. It’s only been a few hours, yet already there is a difference.” Rk3h, a different participant, claimed that after restarting and charging, the Accubattery app’s battery life immediately increased. Others were experiencing success. One Pixel 6 series user stated, “Tried and it is working for me, battery last more.” Another person responded, “Perfect, thank you.
Disable features you don’t use.
We can keep providing you with more feedback from others who have tried this. One of the best replies came from a member by the name of novelomaly, who said, “Thanks a lot! This worked for me, and now I can use my phone normally without worrying that it may die if I forget to charge it at night.”
Another post includes some information that we can consider: “Update: In 5h 23m SOT, we are at 40%! This seems to have worked out perfectly! By now, it should be at 10%. Most significantly, my phone hasn’t heated up at all, so that’s a great advantage. Regards for the advice! I hope things continue how they are until Google fixes the issue.”
What about yourself, then? Well, I consider myself to be a heavy user, so the battery life may have improved. My Pixel 6 Pro is not as hot as it was before I turned off usage access to Digital Wellbeing and Device Health Services, that much is for sure. Since my phone hasn’t yet received the September update, I’m waiting to see if it really makes a difference.
Why not give this a try if you have the Pixel 6 or Pixel 6 Pro, can fry an egg on it, and the battery isn’t lasting you until lunch? You can easily reverse it, and you might not care at all about the aspects that are affected. By leaving a comment in the box below, let us know whether you detect a change in the battery life of your Pixel 6 series phone.
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Cristian Penisoara is a Guides Writer and Android specialist at Droid Tools. An Android user since version 2 and a professional event photographer, he combines technical curiosity with a detail-oriented approach - every guide he publishes is tested step-by-step on a real device before it goes live.
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