Some Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL owners have taken to various online communities to complain about increased heat and lower battery life, which they blame on Google’s February security patch.
Google hasn’t officially commented about the issues, but users on Twitter, Reddit, and Google’s own Pixel 2 product forums have detailed their experiences. So far, Google’s community specialists suggest that the overheating and battery loss might not be tied to any kind of software problem:
“Hello, because the issue persists even after a factory data reset it could indicate a battery or hardware problem. Please contact Pixel Support and work directly with them,” wrote one of Google’s community specialists.
User experiences with the heating issue vary. Some report the phone getting noticeably warmer when it’s just sitting around in standby mode, and others notice an increase in heat when they’re actively using their devices for fairly trivial tasks—sending messages or checking email, for example.
“This most recent update seems to have taken a hit on the stellar battery life that Google’s latest flagships have provided. In my own case, I’ve noticed the Pixel 2 XL draining to around 30% by early evening on the same usage that previously left me with 50% or more at that same time,” 9to5Google reports.
Additionally, the issues appear to affect users’ Pixel 2 smartphones even when the devices are running in safe mode. Others suggest clearing all data on their devices, as well as clearing the cache for Google’s various services, but it’s unclear if that’s a viable solution either. Hopefully, Google’s next update will address these problems.