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Background App Refresh & FB

kkamann

kkamann

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 12, 2011
111
113
I always have background app refresh turned off on my iPhone 5 (iOS 9.0.2) for all apps. Yet when I check the handy new battery usage feature in iOS 9, the Facebook app shows up in the list along with the other apps I've been using. However, it also says "background activity" with the FB app. What's going on? Not sure what to believe. iOS settings says refresh is OFF (for all apps), while elsewhere it appears to be saying background activity is still happening on the FB app. Is there a difference between "background app refresh" and "background activity"?

I already know the FB-is-evil-and-their-POS-app-sucks routine. I'm just wondering what's going on as I'm sure FB isn't the only app that does this.
 
it is off, but if an app (not counting voip apps or mediaplayers that have "special permissions") is in the middle of doing something like loading, like an email client, then u close it normally but not force close, it will have some background time shortly after closing to continue doing what its doing before ios cuts it, this adds up over time.

is that the sole reason for every app? probably not, but it is for many from what i seen by long boring tests, also use "while using" for location if its offered instead of always, if u dont need it always
 
FB background activity has nothing to do with background refresh. It's because Messenger uses VoIP (that is one process allowed to always run) and yes even though Messenger is its own separate app, it still requires and goes through the main Facebook app.

It's best to force close it after use from the app switcher each time. I've never had rogue or excessive background activity from it by doing this. Or delete the app(s) and use the web for FB.
 
lagwagon said:
FB background activity has nothing to do with background refresh. It's because Messenger uses VoIP (that is one process allowed to always run) and yes even though Messenger is its own separate app, it still requires and goes through the main Facebook app.

It's best to force close it after use from the app switcher each time. I've never had rogue or excessive background activity from it by doing this. Or delete the app(s) and use the web for FB.
Click to expand...

So the FB messenger app requires that the main FB app be installed too?
 
lagwagon said:
FB background activity has nothing to do with background refresh. It's because Messenger uses VoIP (that is one process allowed to always run) and yes even though Messenger is its own separate app, it still requires and goes through the main Facebook app.

It's best to force close it after use from the app switcher each time. I've never had rogue or excessive background activity from it by doing this. Or delete the app(s) and use the web for FB.
Click to expand...
I don't even have FB's messenger app installed and yet I still have the background activity thing.
 
kkamann said:
So the FB messenger app requires that the main FB app be installed too?
Click to expand...

Probably not. I've never tried. But what I'm saying is. Even though Messenger is a separate app. The main FB app still always listens like Messenger does so that it can push crap to Messenger. That's really the only thing that can explain why FB never really shuts down in the background that makes sense to me. I could be way off though.
 
lagwagon said:
I believe FB app still always "listens" or whatever Messenger does, even though Messenger is separate. Regardless of if you have Messenger or not.
Click to expand...

Well it's a crap app then. It should recognise that I haven't got the ludicrous messaging app installed. I refuse to do so and whenever I get a message I go to FB's website to read it.
 
sunking101 said:
Well it's a crap app then. It should recognise that I haven't got the ludicrous messaging app installed. I refuse to do so and whenever I get a message I go to FB's website to read it.
Click to expand...

It is a bit of a crap app.

It's always been my understanding that Messenger is still very much a part of the FB app. But they made Messenger its own separate app to de-clutter the main app and have its own UI.

I believe also that none of this started until VoIP was added to Messenger (which wasn't all too long ago) and also people really didn't start to actually notice until we had the better battery monitor in iOS 9 beta. (My observation it seems the complaints didn't start till shortly after iOS 9 beta)
 
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Mercenary said:
Its because Facebook is an awful app which missuses the voip background process to keep itself alive and always pulling in updates. Even if you kill it it will still use this process to be evil.
Click to expand...
I've had some battery troubles since getting my 6s and it seems to be Facebook rinsing my battery when I'm not even using the phone. I look at Facebook as much as I look at the BBC news app. BBC uses 1% battery while fb uses 14% and has over 6 hours of background usage. But bar, location and notifications are off for fb.

I suspect part of the reason it's worse on the 6s is because of the extra ram. Before I would Facebook and then do a load of other stuff which would cause ios to kill fb to reclaim the ram. Now, it stays in memory longer and kills my battery.
 

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lagwagon said:
Probably not. I've never tried. But what I'm saying is. Even though Messenger is a separate app. The main FB app still always listens like Messenger does so that it can push crap to Messenger. That's really the only thing that can explain why FB never really shuts down in the background that makes sense to me. I could be way off though.
Click to expand...
you are way off

there is no excuse for this

you can have fb only and battery use still high

you can have messenger only and messenger still works (you don't even need an fb account to use messenger)

iOS doesn't allow apps to push data to other apps in the way you are implying

Facebook using the voip privelege has no excuse

because not only is it using the voip privelege to run in the background when it doesn't offer voip, but not even voip apps need to run in the background any more!

https://developer.apple.com/library.../Conceptual/EnergyGuide-iOS/OptimizeVoIP.html

Apple added a new type of notification for voip apps which allows them to be started even if they are not open or are suspended, allowing them to set up a connection before a visible notification is given to the user

so there is really no excuse for Apple allowing the fb app on their store when it uses so much battery

I am signed into Skype all day and get several messages and the occasional call every day and it uses much less background time than Facebook, where I receive much fewer messages a day and have had virtually zero calls in several months- so even if the FB and messenger app WERE somehow linked more closely than is really possible, it's still terrible.
 
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Mercenary said:
Its because Facebook is an awful app which missuses the voip background process to keep itself alive and always pulling in updates. Even if you kill it it will still use this process to be evil.
Click to expand...
This is the real reason, guys: VoIP exploitation.

Delete FB's ****** app and use the mobile site instead.

Or download FB's much better FB app, Paper.
 
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emilioestevez said:
This is the real reason, guys: VoIP exploitation.

Delete FB's ****** app and use the mobile site instead.

Or download FB's much better FB app, Paper.
Click to expand...
yes this is an option (though paper is only in a limited number of markets, possibly only the US)

however people should not just do that but also complain to Apple imo. Apple curate their store and would not allow this behaviour from a smaller company's app. it must be due to the popularity of Facebook and business friendship that they turn a blind eye to this.

I recommend raising bugs and submitting feedback on this. I have, I just hope it has some small effect.
 
using the mobile site of fb instead seems to cause a lot more data usage cuz it always reloads everything on each visit instead of keeping most in the cache like the app. at least thats what i experienced
 
When you close an app (not force close), iOS allows some time (I believe its 15 sec or 10 mins) to let it complete what it was doing.. and then closes it. This is separate from background app refresh. I read earlier that FB app misuses this feature and towrdas the end of that interval it triggers a refresh thereby resetting that timer and constantly running in the background. FB is getting by Apple's strict guidelines because because they are big and so many people use it.
Best way is to use FB in browser with recent content blockers.

On Background App Refresh setting, there is toggle on the very top..have to check if that controls this default app refresh aside from individual app refresh permissions.
 
i never had crapbook run away background usage, but i have background refresh globally off with the master toggle & the app location set to while using, only their messenger app (lol) would sometimes accumulate background time over time unless force closed
 
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