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Developer suspects Facebook app is behind iPhone battery drain

SilentPanda

SilentPanda

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Original poster
Oct 8, 2002
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The Bamboo Forest
http://www.tuaw.com/2013/06/04/developer-suspects-facebook-app-is-behind-iphone-battery-drain/

Have you noticed an unusual battery drain on your iPhone or iPad lately? German iOS developer Sebastian Düvel has, and he decided to get to the bottom of it. He used Apple's Instruments OS X app, which allows developers to analyze and test iOS code, and found that Facebook's apps were the root of his battery drain problem.

In short, Düvel discovered that Facebook's apps are not shutting off like they should when they are in the background and not in use. Düvel found that the main Facebook app would become active for about 10 seconds and then go back into a sleep mode before becoming active for another 10 seconds again -- this happens continuously, all day long. The same thing happens with Facebook's Messenger app.
Click to expand...

Might be worth shutting down those Facebook apps when you're not using them if true.
 
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solodogg

macrumors 6502a
Oct 28, 2011
510
215
Orlando
this would make sense as to why after the last couple of updates, my phone seems to drain very fast. Guess it's time to start manually shutting this app down!
 
iceterminal

iceterminal

macrumors 68000
May 25, 2008
1,870
27
Dallas Tx.
The wife was complaining about battery drain recently as well. Going to try and just remove her facebook app and see the difference in a week.

But the findings make sense as for a cause.
 
SilentPanda

SilentPanda

Moderator emeritus
Original poster
Oct 8, 2002
9,992
31
The Bamboo Forest
iceterminal said:
The wife was complaining about battery drain recently as well. Going to try and just remove her facebook app and see the difference in a week.

But the findings make sense as for a cause.
Click to expand...

I believe you just need to ensure you close the app instead of "minimize" it in order to prevent the battery drain. No need to uninstall it.
 
C

cRuNcHiE

macrumors 6502a
Jan 2, 2007
778
46
There could be some truth to this.

I have a jailbroken iphone 5 and with the battery doctor app I have set it to autoclose all apps/background apps when I lock the phone.

I've tested it and sure enough all other apps get closed but facebook is still there when I unlock.

(It's not in the whitelist)
 
predation

predation

macrumors 65816
Apr 3, 2013
1,237
867
its called FB constantly pinging you for information.

**** the app. use the mobile website.
 
dictoresno

dictoresno

macrumors 601
Apr 30, 2012
4,495
631
NJ
I'm actually thinking this is true. Since tonight I've made it a point to close out the app every time I use it. It's 11:39pm my time and the phone has been unplugged since 9pm or so. I'm currently at 94% where usually I would be in the low 80%s by now. I'm definitely gonna keep trying to test this.
 

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dictoresno

dictoresno

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Apr 30, 2012
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Here's another screen shot of where I'm at now. Unbelievable. All from closing out Facebook and that's it.
 

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hafr

macrumors 68030
Sep 21, 2011
2,743
9
cRuNcHiE said:
There could be some truth to this.

I have a jailbroken iphone 5 and with the battery doctor app I have set it to autoclose all apps/background apps when I lock the phone.

I've tested it and sure enough all other apps get closed but facebook is still there when I unlock.

(It's not in the whitelist)
Click to expand...

I tried it and you're absolutely right... Well, luckily there's a simple solution: turn off the smart whitelist option :) I just e-mailed them asking for some kind of blacklist option to force kill apps in the background even if they're active.
 
C

cRuNcHiE

macrumors 6502a
Jan 2, 2007
778
46
hafr said:
I tried it and you're absolutely right... Well, luckily there's a simple solution: turn off the smart whitelist option :) I just e-mailed them asking for some kind of blacklist option to force kill apps in the background even if they're active.
Click to expand...

I've noticed now that it does close facebook a little while after locking. Why it isn't instant like others I don't know but it's definitely improved my battery life!
 

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Last edited:
Shockwave78

Shockwave78

macrumors 65816
Jul 10, 2010
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Due to various reasons i have restored and set up as a new phone about 5 times this week. I am doing another as I type this. I will hold off on installing Facebook and see what happens. Will report back.
 
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Nikhil72

macrumors 65816
Oct 21, 2005
1,433
1,153
This has to be true; after I read it a few days ago, I started force quitting the Facebook app whenever I used it and my battery has improved tremendously back to when I got the iP5.
 
dictoresno

dictoresno

macrumors 601
Apr 30, 2012
4,495
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Nikhil72 said:
This has to be true; after I read it a few days ago, I started force quitting the Facebook app whenever I used it and my battery has improved tremendously back to when I got the iP5.
Click to expand...

thats exactly what im saying. i started doing this yesterday starting at a full charge and only a few days after a full restore. so far so good.
 
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sppunk

macrumors regular
Nov 13, 2012
209
151
I came to make a new thread about why my battery life's been crap the past week or so. I'm definitely trying this starting immediately.

I'm currently at 8 total hours, 2:35 usage and at 26 percent battery.
 
dictoresno

dictoresno

macrumors 601
Apr 30, 2012
4,495
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sppunk said:
I came to make a new thread about why my battery life's been crap the past week or so. I'm definitely trying this starting immediately.

I'm currently at 8 total hours, 2:35 usage and at 26 percent battery.
Click to expand...

thats horrible. i was around the same times last night and still in the 80's.
 
A

abz1981

macrumors 65816
Jan 3, 2011
1,013
4
My phone is on charge right now. However I am going to make sure I close facebook app too now. Has anyone contacted facebook regarding this or have they commented themselves regarding this?
 
dictoresno

dictoresno

macrumors 601
Apr 30, 2012
4,495
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abz1981 said:
My phone is on charge right now. However I am going to make sure I close facebook app too now. Has anyone contacted facebook regarding this or have they commented themselves regarding this?
Click to expand...

yea right. they wont do squat about it.
 
SilentPanda

SilentPanda

Moderator emeritus
Original poster
Oct 8, 2002
9,992
31
The Bamboo Forest
sviato said:
FB's messenger app also drains batter like a motherfather
Click to expand...

That's noted in the article.

abz1981 said:
My phone is on charge right now. However I am going to make sure I close facebook app too now. Has anyone contacted facebook regarding this or have they commented themselves regarding this?
Click to expand...

They may change it, but it's intentional at the moment. Not intentionally draining your battery, but it's intentionally not going to sleep when in the background.
 
K

kaylerrific

macrumors regular
Dec 26, 2012
116
4
Oh wow, this is big news if so. I was wondering why my phone seemed to be draining more quickly than usual! I'll have to give this a shot.
 
S

Smartass

macrumors 65816
Dec 18, 2012
1,450
1,701
Just delete that piece of crap of an app. It's slow, buggy and stupid. Mobile web version is much much better to use.
 
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