A growing number of Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra and S25 Ultra owners are reporting severe battery drain, overheating, and slower charging speeds after installing the company's July 2026 security patch . The issues, which appear to be triggered by a software update rather than a hardware fault, have led to widespread complaints on Samsung's community forums and Reddit, leaving many users frustrated and awaiting an official fix.

The Problems: A Triple Whammy of Issues

The most common complaints point to a significant and rapid decrease in battery life, even when the phone is not in active use. One Galaxy S25 Ultra owner reported that their phone's battery dropped from approximately 85% at midnight to just 5% by midday, with only about two hours of screen-on time . Another user stated their device was losing 5% to 7% of battery per hour while sitting idle on a flat surface, a drain they had never experienced before .

This rapid battery drain is often accompanied by noticeable overheating. Users have described their phones running "much hotter than usual," with some even reporting their devices becoming "very hot" when not in use . The heat issue seems to compound the problem, as some users have noted that charging speeds have also slowed down significantly .

One user on the Samsung Community forums summed up the frustration, writing: "My s24 ultra battery is draining very fast after July 26 update even heating like cook top. Why this happening?" . While these issues are most frequently reported on the S24 Ultra and S25 Ultra, similar complaints have surfaced from owners of other Galaxy devices, including the S23 Ultra and Z Fold 7 .

A Possible Culprit: WhatsApp Backup

While Samsung has not officially acknowledged the problem, the community has been proactive in investigating the cause. A significant lead points to a conflict with the Meta-owned messaging app, WhatsApp.

Several users discovered that the battery drain and overheating stopped after they disabled WhatsApp's automatic backup feature . It appears that a process related to the backup, particularly when end-to-end encryption is enabled, may be getting stuck or consuming excessive CPU resources following the July update. One user noted that the backup being stuck was causing the phone to run hot, and turning it off provided immediate relief . Samsung community moderators have also suggested this as a potential temporary workaround .

Temporary Workarounds and Awaiting a Fix

In the absence of an official patch from Samsung, affected users have been sharing a variety of temporary solutions. These include:

• Clearing the system cache partition through the phone's recovery menu .

• Disabling the WhatsApp automatic backup function in the app's settings .

• Using Samsung's "Good Guardians" app, specifically the Galaxy App Booster and Thermal Guardian modules, to optimize app performance and monitor CPU usage .

• Checking for and updating all apps from both the Google Play Store and the Samsung Galaxy Store .

• Performing a Device Care optimization and rebooting the phone .

• Resetting battery statistics using the code *#9900# in the Samsung Phone app .

While some of these steps have helped individual users, they are not guaranteed solutions for everyone. The core issue appears to be a software bug introduced with the July security patch, which itself is part of the broader One UI 8.5 update .

Samsung has not yet released an official statement regarding these widespread reports or provided a timeline for a fix . Based on past incidents, affected users may need to wait for the next security update, potentially in August, to see a permanent resolution . Until then, those experiencing these problems are left to navigate these frustrating issues with community-suggested workarounds.