Excessive partial wake locks

Partial wake locks are a mechanism in the PowerManager API that lets developers keep the CPU running after a device's display turns off (whether due to system timeout or the user pressing the power button). Your app acquires a partial wake lock by calling acquire() with the PARTIAL_WAKE_LOCK flag, or by using other APIs that acquire wake locks. Excessive use of partial wake locks drains the device's battery because it prevents the device from entering lower power states. Partial wake locks should be used only when necessary and released as soon as no longer needed.

If your app uses partial wake locks excessively, you can use the guidance in this page to diagnose and fix the problem.

Fix the problem

Because wake locks can drain the device battery, you shouldn't use wake locks if there's an alternative. The Choose the right API to keep the device awake documentation can help you find the best solution for your app.

If you do need to use a wake lock, follow wake lock best practices to make sure your wake locks don't hurt device efficiency. In particular, make sure every device you acquire is released, and release the lock as quickly as possible.

Your app might also be using wake locks even if you aren't acquiring the wake lock explicitly. If you see wake locks attributed to the app that you don't recognize, identify wake locks created by other APIs can help you identify the APIs that might have created them.

After fixing the problem in code, you can verify your fixes by using local wake lock debugging tools.

See also