A recent confirmation from Google places Instagram at the center of an Android smartphone battery draining issue. Users are reporting unexpected power drops and tech experts have since been calling the problem out directly to Instagram’s background processes that seem to consume excessive system resources even while the app is idle.

Highlights:

• Google has officially confirmed Instagram as the cause of battery drain in Android devices.
• Instagram’s background activity is consuming abnormal power levels.
• Users have reported battery dropping rapidly after opening the app.
• Temporary fixes include restricting Instagram’s background usage.
• Instagram is reportedly working on an update to resolve the issue.

While immensely popular, Instagram has drawn ire from Android users — at least some of whom — have been increasingly frustrated by sudden drops in their battery life. Following the diagnostics, Google confirmed that the power intensive processes running in the background on the app indeed impact the battery in a great way. Users, however, depend largely on Instagram for personal and professional purposes, because of which this has been a point of concern.

On new Android models, if Instagram is not even open, it remains active and causes something called battery drain issue. Users also said sessions as short as 15 minutes would result in disproportionately large battery drops. Google told users to restrict background activity for Instagram until a permanent fix is released. While the drains are unexpected, these have caused many to temporarily uninstall the app.

Obviously, Instagram have been aware of the reports and have confirmed that a fix is on the way. We are in close contact with our Android teams to craft an optimized update that fixes the issue without impacting the user experience. Users meanwhile are urged to stay tuned on power usage of apps surrounding Instagram and keep their apps updated.