YouTube causing massive battery spikes

[Joeeye]

Ok, so as the title states I've been monitoring huge battery spikes whilst using YouTube since I've had the S25 Ultra. It's not always 100% happening, but it does occur sporadically. It's obvious when it arises as the battery can be seen dropping rapidly as well as the obvious heat emanating from the phone. This has never been an issue on my previous Ultra phones or at least noticeable to this degree as on the S25 Ultra. It can easily drain as much as 30% in an hour, where typically it would only be about 5-10%.

I wanted to know if anyone else has noticed this behaviour with their devices.

[arianwen27]

I haven't noticed heating issues but I have spotted my youtube app shows as still running in the top left corner after I stop using it. So it might be preventing the device from sleeping. I manually tell it to close.

I am using an older version of the youtube app for "reasons" so the latest version might have that issue where my version doesn't

[Brooklin]

Not noticed this much myself as I don't use YouTube on my phone as much as my Xbox. I have seen occasional spikes where it's running even after ive stopped using it but i have premium so I'm not sure if it's just premium or the same bug your experiencing.

[Joeeye]

It's not so much a background task, it happens sporadically whether I'm actively using it or not. The phone is literally sent into overdrive where 20% battery drain can occur in the space of 20 minutes. It doesn't always happen when using YouTube though, as I use it a lot, but it's definitely being caused by YouTube. When checking the app in the Samsung battery information, it's clear system resources under CPU is being utilised much higher than it normally does when it occurs. I'm of the impression it's a codec issue, notably a problem with these current Snapdragon Elites and VP9. It's just frustrating as this has never occured on any of my older Ultra phones (at least never to this degree).

My screenshots attached illustrate this issue.

[Joeeye]

Oddly, it started more frequently when I signed up for premium. But since I am not subscribed anymore, I was hoping that it would get better. Sadly this isn't the case and if anything, the issue has gotten worse.

[Brooklin]

This is what my YouTube is at right now doesn't seem to be active, As I mentioned though it might be different based on activity and you may use it more often on your phone then I do.

[arianwen27]

Hm, I don't think it's an issue with the snapdragon chips as I'd see it too. It might be youtube using software video decoding or trying some experiment that breaks hardware decoding. Vp9 and av1 both work flawlessly for me when using youtube. Super high usage on the same codec at least to me, suggests it might not be using hardware decoding.

Does it happen when just on the youtube app with nothing playing or is it only with playback?

I also run youtube 20.12.46 if you were curious

[Joeeye]

It happens idle and when playing a video. It's pretty sporadic and can just start happening after I've closed down the app or sometimes simply flicking through feeds. I pretty much know it's happening when the heat from my case becomes noticeable (about the only time it ever feels warm, even moreso than when I'm gaming).

[arianwen27]

Hm, that is strange. Have you given gpu watch a try to see if you can see any trends? It's in developer settings, shows a live gpu and cpu readout

[Joeeye]

I haven't really, but I guess I could try it out and see.