Android 13 toggle could disable Android 12 battery saving feature

Google may allow Android users to turn off a new battery-saving feature that kills background processes to preserve battery life in a future update, like Android 13.

XDA Developers’ former editor-in-chief Mishaal Rahman spotted the change in the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) code. The change introduces a toggle to Android’s ‘Developer Options’ settings menu that would disable ‘phantom processes.’

For a bit of background, Android 12 introduced a ton of visual changes to Google’s smartphone operating system (OS). However, it also brought several under-the-hood changes that aren’t as obvious. The ‘phantom processes’ are one such under-the-hood feature — dubbed ‘PhantomProcessKiller,’ the new bit of tech kills background tasks, call phantom processes, that use too much power.

An update on the phantom process issue: Google has just submitted a patch that adds a toggle in Developer Options to disable the monitoring of phantom processes!https://t.co/Nfn2npZMkX

We probably won’t see this until Android 13, though.

CC @agnosticapollo https://t.co/iPP4fO6GAE

— Mishaal Rahman (@MishaalRahman) December 14, 2021

Although the PhantomProcessKiller will generally help most users by restricting background tasks and saving battery, it also might not be a good fit for others. For example, some apps may not place nicely with the new system. Power users may also want to turn it off.

Whatever the reason, it does look like a toggle will make its way to users at some point. That should be good news to anyone who relies on apps that don’t play nice with the system. The downside, however, is that it might be a bit of a wait before the toggle becomes available.

Rahman notes that toggle might not roll out until Android 13 arrives next year. Android Police agreed, arguing that because the toggle was only recently introduced, it likely won’t go live for a while. That said, there could be a chance the feature will arrive with Android 12L too.

Source: Mishaal Rahman (Twitter) Via: XDA Developers, Android Police