India, Nov. 11 -- Android users may soon see a new type of alert on the Google Play Store, a red warning badge telling them that an app "may use more battery than expected." Google is preparing to flag apps that quietly drain power in the background, thanks to a new battery-impact metric developed jointly with Samsung.

The move targets apps that misuse "partial wake locks," a mechanism that prevents a device from going to sleep so apps can continue running even when the screen is off. When abused, these wake locks can cause severe battery drain, something Google now wants to highlight before users hit the download button.

Google's latest Android vitals update introduces a metric that tracks "excessive partial wake locks." After months o...