MacRumors Site/Forums Causing Battery Drain?

[Analog Kid]

If anyone is seeing this issue consistently, can you disable the rich text editor for now, and see if that makes any difference? Still investigating.

View attachment 1867976

Doesn’t seem to solve it. The phone is still getting uncomfortably hot. No other site I visit does this— major news sites that are media rich keep the phone cold as ice. I’ve been playing Tiny Wings and the phone stays cool.

Something on this site refuses to sleep like there’s a while(1) somewhere.

 

[arn]

Doesn’t seem to solve it. The phone is still getting uncomfortably hot. No other site I visit does this— major news sites that are media rich keep the phone cold as ice. I’ve been playing Tiny Wings and the phone stays cool.

Something on this site refuses to sleep like there’s a while(1) somewhere.

How savvy are you with Safari and Developer tools?

If someone who this happens to consistently can follow this procedure:

0. Make sure ad-blocking is on, as that is harder to measure with consistency and we are trying to pinpoint MacRumors code issues here.
1. iOS Settings -> Safari ->Advanced -> Web Inspector ON
2. Safari on Mac -> Preferences - > Advanced -> "Show Develop menu" checked off
3. Normally, you connect your iPhone physically to your Mac via USB cable but, if you can choose MacOS Safari -> Develop -> iPhone Name -> "Connect via Network", then you may be able to connect wirelessly. Make sure your iPhone is on/awake and open to Safari for your iPhone to appear in this menu.

If it connects correctly, you should see your Safari window listed in the same menu. If it doesn't connect, then you may have to simply connect via USB cable.

4. Load a forum thread where it happens in iOS Safari
5. On Mac, choose Develop -> Your Phone Name -> Forum Thread Title

6. This should throw up a window with a lot of source code in it.

7. Choose the Timelines tab
8. Make sure the "CPU" panel is showing. If it's not click on Edit at the top and you can choose its check box

9. Tap on the CPU tab so it's highlighted
10. Press Command-R on your Mac, this should reload the page on your iPhone Safari, and kick off the measurement
11. Let it go for about 12 seconds, and then hit the Stop button

12. You should get a recording that looks like this.

- In the CPU graph, there is a green spike of usage right at 1s which is normal and is the page loading and rendering.
- The spike then goes down to a low-level on my iPhone, which is understandable since it shouldn't be doing a whole lot.
- You can Click and Drag on the timeline to highlight a small portion of idle time as I did here
- Click and drag during the idle time, and scroll down and show me the statistics.

thanks
arn

 

[Analog Kid]

How savvy are you with Safari and Developer tools?

If someone who this happens to consistently can follow this procedure:

0. Make sure ad-blocking is on, as that is harder to measure with consistency and we are trying to pinpoint MacRumors code issues here.
1. iOS Settings -> Safari ->Advanced -> Web Inspector ON
2. Safari on Mac -> Preferences - > Advanced -> "Show Develop menu" checked off
3. Normally, you connect your iPhone physically to your Mac via USB cable but, if you can choose MacOS Safari -> Develop -> iPhone Name -> "Connect via Network", then you may be able to connect wirelessly. Make sure your iPhone is on/awake and open to Safari for your iPhone to appear in this menu.

View attachment 1869089

If it connects correctly, you should see your Safari window listed in the same menu. If it doesn't connect, then you may have to simply connect via USB cable.

4. Load a forum thread where it happens in iOS Safari
5. On Mac, choose Develop -> Your Phone Name -> Forum Thread Title

View attachment 1869081

6. This should throw up a window with a lot of source code in it.

View attachment 1869082

7. Choose the Timelines tab
8. Make sure the "CPU" panel is showing. If it's not click on Edit at the top and you can choose its check box

View attachment 1869083

9. Tap on the CPU tab so it's highlighted
10. Press Command-R on your Mac, this should reload the page on your iPhone Safari, and kick off the measurement
11. Let it go for about 12 seconds, and then hit the Stop button

View attachment 1869084

12. You should get a recording that looks like this.

View attachment 1869087

- In the CPU graph, there is a green spike of usage right at 1s which is normal and is the page loading and rendering.
- The spike then goes down to a low-level on my iPhone, which is understandable since it shouldn't be doing a whole lot.
- You can Click and Drag on the timeline to highlight a small portion of idle time as I did here
- Click and drag during the idle time, and scroll down and show me the statistics.

thanks
arn

Looks like it's forever redrawing.

The first time I tried, this didn't happen. It was low CPU when idle. Then I noticed that I wasn't signed in to MR. When I signed in and reloaded is when CPU went through the roof.

It looks like an animation loop is calling the k function in editor-compiled.js over and over.

 

[arn]

Looks like it's forever redrawing.

View attachment 1869187


The first time I tried, this didn't happen. It was low CPU when idle. Then I noticed that I wasn't signed in to MR. When I signed in and reloaded is when CPU went through the roof.

It looks like an animation loop is calling the k function in editor-compiled.js over and over.

Thanks for this. The editor compiled loop is actually there on mine too, and doesn't seem to be doing the same thing for me. It's also there on all stock xenforo installs.

The most interesting piece here is it’s “paint” that’s causing 97% cpu time.

- Can you click on Layout and Rendering and show me what is in that panel?
- Also in Javascript and Events as well.
- Also scroll down a little more so I can see the whole Statistics section in the CPU panel you screenshotted.
- What adblocker are you using?
- Any other Safari extensions active?

Make sure you are still picking a small window of the timeline where it's supposed to be idle.

arn

 

[ls7]

Thanks for this. The editor compiled loop is actually there on mine too, and doesn't seem to be doing the same thing for me. It's also there on all stock xenforo installs.

The most interesting piece here is it’s “paint” that’s causing 97% cpu time.

- Can you click on Layout and Rendering and show me what is in that panel?
- Also in Javascript and Events as well.
- Also scroll down a little more so I can see the whole Statistics section in the CPU panel you screenshotted.
- What adblocker are you using?
- Any other Safari extensions active?

Make sure you are still picking a small window of the timeline where it's supposed to be idle.

arn

I get exactly the same behaviour here. When logged out, device still gets hot but does not end up in the endless loop.

To me, it definitely seems like the issue is caused by the Froala editor, which is triggering redrawings continously. Just like you suspected. This could also be why it does not occur before logging in, the quick reply editor at the bottom of each forum page is not loaded then I guess?

Here is an export of the timeline, I think you should be able to import it in the web inspector (top right corner).
https://easyupload.io/jyk8q7

Edit: Here are screenshots of the layout and javascript tabs as well:

 

[ls7]

Adding to the above post, the device was getting hot even before logging in. The inspector showed "Very high" CPU usage on each load, even before this endless redrawing started happening.

Could it be that there is some really heavy/unoptimized script or rendering happening on each page load that is the cause of this? And the continous redrawing just highlights the issue, but isn't the culprit itself?

 

[Analog Kid]

Thanks for this. The editor compiled loop is actually there on mine too, and doesn't seem to be doing the same thing for me. It's also there on all stock xenforo installs.

The most interesting piece here is it’s “paint” that’s causing 97% cpu time.

- Can you click on Layout and Rendering and show me what is in that panel?
- Also in Javascript and Events as well.
- Also scroll down a little more so I can see the whole Statistics section in the CPU panel you screenshotted.
- What adblocker are you using?
- Any other Safari extensions active?

Make sure you are still picking a small window of the timeline where it's supposed to be idle.

arn

It's compositing at 60Hz.

requesting animation frames from function k() within editor-compiled.js

Statistics show all script entries are timers:

I see the same whether running Wipr or 1Blocker.

No other extensions. I'm not running the "extra scripts" for either blocker.

 

[VineRider]

I am using adblock plus and have never had any issues on any of my iOS or macOS devices with overheating or battery drain. I wonder if adblock plus is doing something different so that this problem doesn't manifest itself on my devices?

 

[arn]

Could you try running the same test on

XenForo community

Forum software by XenForo

xenforo.com

You may have to create an account to directly compare.

arn

 

[arn]

View attachment 1869484It's compositing at 60Hz.

View attachment 1869485

requesting animation frames from function k() within editor-compiled.js

View attachment 1869487

Statistics show all script entries are timers:

View attachment 1869493

I see the same whether running Wipr or 1Blocker.

No other extensions. I'm not running the "extra scripts" for either blocker.

Ya... mine looks the same without the CPU load.

Tested with Wipr too and no change for me.

 

[arn]

@Analog Kid

When you get a chance, could you go to the bottom of the page and pick "Default Style (Xenforo)" from the style chooser. I've enabled the default Xenforo theme as an option, which still retains our addons/js but restores Xenforo's normal CSS/HTML.

See if you see the same behavior there. At least then we can isolate whether it's some weird CSS/HTML conflict vs custom JS.

 

[Analog Kid]

I don't understand why a static page is animating at 60Hz, but if you're seeing it on your device then why is the power consumption so different? I notice you're using a 13Pro and I'm using a Mini. I don't know enough about what's happening behind ProMotion, but would it know to prevent rendering even though the underlying Javascript is requesting it?

I ran the same test on my 2021 12.9" iPP and get this:

Didn't answer my ProMotion question, but that's because it's not animating at anywhere near the same rate. Running Wipr here. This is what I'd expect on all platforms. I wonder if the bug is in the responsive web rendering for the smaller screen sizes.

I'll look at your other questions after the Apple Event. 😉

 

[ls7]

I don't understand why a static page is animating at 60Hz, but if you're seeing it on your device then why is the power consumption so different? I notice you're using a 13Pro and I'm using a Mini. I don't know enough about what's happening behind ProMotion, but would it know to prevent rendering even though the underlying Javascript is requesting it?

I ran the same test on my 2021 12.9" iPP and get this:
View attachment 1869624

Didn't answer my ProMotion question, but that's because it's not animating at anywhere near the same rate. Running Wipr here. This is what I'd expect on all platforms. I wonder if the bug is in the responsive web rendering for the smaller screen sizes.

I'll look at your other questions after the Apple Event. 😉

I run an iPhone 13 Pro with Promotion enabled and the same behaviour, see my post above. Not sure if it is animating at 60hz or faster though.

 

[Analog Kid]

@Analog Kid

When you get a chance, could you go to the bottom of the page and pick "Default Style (Xenforo)" from the style chooser. I've enabled the default Xenforo theme as an option, which still retains our addons/js but restores Xenforo's normal CSS/HTML.

See if you see the same behavior there. At least then we can isolate whether it's some weird CSS/HTML conflict vs custom JS.


View attachment 1869580

Same behavior with "Default Style (Xenforo)"

I don't see this on the Xenforo Communities Suggestions page, but I haven't gone through the hassle of creating an account:

 

[arn]

without the account, the editor won't load on Xenforo.com

Hang on, I'll work on something that will let us isolate out the editor at least.

 

[Analog Kid]

Did something change?

 

[arn]

Did something change?

View attachment 1870845

I haven't changed anything yet

 

[diego.caraballo]

@arn Maybe it's unrelated, but since you are not seeing any issues, could you perform the web debug test with a new regular-user account?

 

[arn]

@arn Maybe it's unrelated, but since you are not seeing any issues, could you perform the web debug test with a new regular-user account?

I tested using a regular user account and didn’t see it happen.

 

[arn]

@Analog Kid or anyone else who this happens to

I've made an adjustment to test to see if it is the editor that is causing the issue.

https://forums.macrumors.com/mr-utils/debug.php

If you visit that url, it will toggle a debug cookie, and will tell you if Debug is ON or OFF. Make sure it is ON, and then browse the forum as you normally would.

This does one thing, and that is prevent the editor js from loading. That means you won't be able to reply. If you'd like to turn on the editor again, just visit that url again.

So, I'd like to see if the problem goes away completely with the editor not loading. And if so, we can work on a more permanent solution.

thanks

 

[Analog Kid]

Debug off:

Debug on:

Debug off:

Disabling the editor killed the animation requests, but had no impact on the CPU load...

 

[arn]

Ugh. Clear as mud.

Can you try browsing around logged-out and lemme know if it happens.

Thanks

 

[arn]

Debug on:

View attachment 1871963

I don't see how this isn't a bug in iOS/Safari. The website is literally doing nothing during that time.

 

[arn]

Obviously, something related to the site triggers it... but... look at this.

The CPU Maxes out before the site is even downloaded. Before any of the website is executed.

On mine, CPU is idle during the download time, since there's nothing yet to do.

I need to keep thinking about it. Again, sure there are no other Safari extensions? Not just content blockers, but other things?

 

[Analog Kid]

Obviously, something related to the site triggers it... but... look at this.

The CPU Maxes out before the site is even downloaded. Before any of the website is executed.

View attachment 1871998

View attachment 1871999

On mine, CPU is idle during the download time, since there's nothing yet to do.

I need to keep thinking about it. Again, sure there are no other Safari extensions? Not just content blockers, but other things?

No, no extensions other than content blockers. I just tried tracing it with all content blockers disabled and CPU load went up over 105%. Must be using two cores?


NYTimes:

This page, logged out:

I do notice that there's a separate entry for a forums.macrumors.com "service worker" in the Safari debug list. Any idea what it's doing?