OnePlus smartphone users are reporting serious battery drain issues and WhatsApp appears to be the culprit.
Users of handsets like the new OnePlus 7T have taken to Reddit and the OnePlus official forums to complain of WhatsApp drinking down their phone’s life-force, despite barely using it.
According to accounts from users, battery monitor apps are showing up to 40-50% of their battery life being consumed by WhatsApp, even overnight.
The issue is affecting OnePlus devices running both Android 9 and 10, and appears to be related only to the very latest version of WhatsApp (v.219.308).
Read our OnePlus 7T Pro review
A post on the Android subreddit (via Android Authority) reads: “A week ago, I noticed that the battery on my OnePlus 6 started draining faster than usual. Battery wear is usually more gradual, and I started wondering. This coincided with an update of WhatsApp which I installed on my phone – the one with fingerprint unlock.
“My phone strangely shows that WhatsApp used battery ‘while in active use’ for 1.5 hours, which is not true since only opened the app for a minute.”
Here’s a screenshot from another user:
Some users in the thread, say they’re experiencing the same issue with the Xiaomi Redmi Note 7, but it appears to be largely a OnePlus-centric problem at present.
One helpful user suggested that force-stopping the WhatsApp app is a workaround for the issue. That might be fine at night, but if you don’t reopen the app then you’re not going to get your messages. OnePlus and WhatsApp haven’t commented on the report, but hopefully a fix will be coming sooner rather than later.
OnePlus is currently riding the crest of a wave, having dropped the OnePlus 7T and OnePlus 7T Pro handsets last month. In our review we awarded the 7T 4.5/5 stars.
Our reviewer wrote: “The OnePlus 7T is an excellent bit of hardware. The Fluid AMOLED, 90Hz screen is industry leading and a key feature we’d like to see other mobile phone makers adopt. Add to this its improved fast charging, CPU and triple-sensor rear camera and the OnePlus 7T quickly becomes a pretty alluring bit of kit.”
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.