Here’s the App That Almost Everyone Has That’s Draining Your Battery
The iPhone’s battery life is a fragile thing — okay, it’s not that fragile, but we could all use more of it. That hydrogen battery and wireless iPhone charging might be waaaaay off in the future, so what can you do to improve your battery life now? First of all, you can take a look at which of your apps are taking up the most power. It might make you pretty angry to know the app that drains the most juice is a super popular one. We’re talking ’bout Facebook. Yes, that Facebook.
For anyone who has ever monitored their battery usage on the new iOS 9 Battery page, it’s not uncommon to see Facebook topping the list of apps that use up the most battery life. (You can see where Facebook falls on your list by going to Settings > Battery and checking out the “Battery Usage” section on your screen.) And no, it’s not necessarily because you’re a social media addict.
According to Redditors, the reason why Facebook, running either on screen or in the background — even with App Background Refresh turned off — often tops the list is due to the fact that Facebook “abuses” a VoIP (making phone calls over the Internet) provision that Apple has in place for apps like Skype. This provision allows Skype to “listen” in case you ever have any incoming calls. So why does Facebook need to use this same arrangement? It doesn’t, TBH. There’s been speculation that Facebook uses it to have “instant access to the users” and possibly to “poll your location.”
We wish there were an easy solution to the problem, but unfortunately, the best way to avoid this Facebook drain is to actually uninstall the app completely. To have easy access, you can go to Safari, tap on the “Export” icon and select “Add to Homescreen.” This will save the Facebook mobile page on your Home screen so you can always have access.
Hopefully, Facebook fixes this soon.
Will you be trying this trick? Do you have any other tips on saving battery life? Share with us in the comments below!
(h/t Tech Insider; photos via Facebook)