Bad battery life? Try uninstalling FB version 40.0

[TL24]

There's a thread going on about this right now (https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ound-and-battery.1909817/page-2#post-21988827).

Bottom line is, if you're having horrible battery life all of the sudden then the culprit is the Facebook app. Facebook recently released a new version (v. 40.0) that is bugged to hell and will run in the background constantly for hours on end. I took a look at my Battery usage after reviewing the thread above and sure enough Facebook was basically using over 50% of my battery with 1.5 hours of on screen usage and 6+ hours of background usage!

I have since uninstalled Facebook and now my battery life is great, I'm currently sitting at 55% with 6 hrs of usage and 9 hrs of standby.

 

[C DM]

So sounds like one of the first steps is to check battery usage to see if Facebook shoes up there with high usage.

 

[TL24]

So sounds like one of the first steps is to check battery usage to see if Facebook shoes up there with high usage.

You got it, check the battery usage in Settings and see if Facebook is using an insanely high percentage of your battery. I had no issues with Facebook prior to v. 40.0 but this new version is definitely bugged out.

 

[Beefburga]

I found that removing Facebook from my iPhone 6 just made my phone so much nicer to use, not that it saves battery or speeds up animations etc, just for the fact that I'm Facebook free.

 

[AmazingTechGeek]

Can't you just turn off Background App Refresh and kill the app from multitasking when you're done using it?

 

[TL24]

Can't you just turn off Background App Refresh and kill the app from multitasking when you're done using it?

I tried that but it didn't help, I was still sinking real fast until I completely removed the app.

 

[BenTrovato]

My battery isn't suffering terribly but Facebook has shot to the top of my battery usage chart. Odd for a program that I don't use that much.

 

[Ipadlover29]

No issues with battery life on Facebook version 40 on both my air 2 and 6 plus. I do have background app refresh disabled.

 

[ry-guy]

hmmm....mine says 24 minutes of onscreen usage which is definitely not the case. Wierd.

 

[saxon48]

Messenger isn't much better, but unfortunately, that's more vital than the FB app for some (myself included).

 

[TonyC28]

The problem with the Facebook app is that for being one of the most widely used apps it is insanely horrible. At this point there is no other explanation other than that it is intentional.

For example, have you ever met anyone who said "ya I think 'top stories' is definitely how I want to see things! Why would any sane person want to see a NEWS feed in chronological order??"
That has been a top complaint for quite a while now yet it has gone ignored.

 

[C DM]

The problem with the Facebook app is that for being one of the most widely used apps it is insanely horrible. At this point there is no other explanation other than that it is intentional.

For example, have you ever met anyone who said "ya I think 'top stories' is definitely how I want to see things! Why would any sane person want to see a NEWS feed in chronological order??"
That has been a top complaint for quite a while now yet it has gone ignored.

It's intentional for the app to be bad?

As far as certain features, sure, there are intentions there--like "top news" vs "recent", it's beneficial for Facebook to present "top news" as the default sort so that their algorithm can put up content that they feel is more appropriate--that's basically one of the main aspects of their product. It's not to say it's better or what many users want, but it's what Facebook is "selling" basically as one of the bigger parts of their service, so that's what they make default.

 

[perkedel]

There's a thread going on about this right now (https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ound-and-battery.1909817/page-2#post-21988827).

Bottom line is, if you're having horrible battery life all of the sudden then the culprit is the Facebook app. Facebook recently released a new version (v. 40.0) that is bugged to hell and will run in the background constantly for hours on end. I took a look at my Battery usage after reviewing the thread above and sure enough Facebook was basically using over 50% of my battery with 1.5 hours of on screen usage and 6+ hours of background usage!

I have since uninstalled Facebook and now my battery life is great, I'm currently sitting at 55% with 6 hrs of usage and 9 hrs of standby.

well you know, you may be on to something here. interesting to note the FB app has some background activity, while I disabled background app refresh.

 

[TonyC28]

It's intentional for the app to be bad?

As far as certain features, sure, there are intentions there--like "top news" vs "recent", it's beneficial for Facebook to present "top news" as the default sort so that their algorithm can put up content that they feel is more appropriate--that's basically one of the main aspects of their product. It's not to say it's better or what many users want, but it's what Facebook is "selling" basically as one of the bigger parts of their service, so that's what they make default.

Yes, I believe for an app as popular and widely used as Facebook to consistently be rated as bad as it is then there has to be some measured intent.

As far as Top News goes, that algorithm must have been written by monkeys. Looking back at my couple dozen or so most recent News Feed items I find no discernible rhyme or reason to it. They've simply taken my friend's and followed page's most recent posts and jumbled them up. Wow! That is super clever for a multi-billion dollar company. My dog could have done that.

 

[C DM]

Yes, I believe for an app as popular and widely used as Facebook to consistently be rated as bad as it is then there has to be some measured intent.

Except that plenty of ratings don't have much to do with the app but simply bones people have to pick with Facebook as a service/product (or social networks in general), issues people have with their specific accounts (which other people don't have and aren't really related to the app), and just other complaints about Facebook's features and options (which are again mostly unrelated to the app). Facebook is far from prefect and can and should do quite a bit better than what they offer, but it doesn't mean it's somehow intentional to offer problems and bugs.

 

[lagwagon]

There's a thread going on about this right now (https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ound-and-battery.1909817/page-2#post-21988827).

Bottom line is, if you're having horrible battery life all of the sudden then the culprit is the Facebook app. Facebook recently released a new version (v. 40.0) that is bugged to hell and will run in the background constantly for hours on end. I took a look at my Battery usage after reviewing the thread above and sure enough Facebook was basically using over 50% of my battery with 1.5 hours of on screen usage and 6+ hours of background usage!

I have since uninstalled Facebook and now my battery life is great, I'm currently sitting at 55% with 6 hrs of usage and 9 hrs of standby.

It's not new with the latest version of FB. People have been noticing FB running at all times in the background ever since iOS 9 beta and the more detailed battery meter included.

All you need to do is fully close it out from the app switcher each time. Doing this has never cause insane background usage for FB for me.

 

[TonyC28]

Except that plenty of ratings don't have much to do with the app but simply bones people have to pick with Facebook as a service/product (or social networks in general), issues people have with their specific accounts (which other people don't have and aren't really related to the app), and just other complaints about Facebook's features and options (which are again mostly unrelated to the app). Facebook is far from prefect and can and should do quite a bit better than what they offer, but it doesn't mean it's somehow intentional to offer problems and bugs.

Except that plenty of ratings don't have much to do with the app but simply bones people have to pick with Facebook as a service/product (or social networks in general), issues people have with their specific accounts (which other people don't have and aren't really related to the app), and just other complaints about Facebook's features and options (which are again mostly unrelated to the app). Facebook is far from prefect and can and should do quite a bit better than what they offer, but it doesn't mean it's somehow intentional to offer problems and bugs.

OK. Fair enough. Then they are just terribly inept.

 

[blassley]

I have background refresh off, so not sure how this is happening

 

[C DM]

well you know, you may be on to something here. interesting to note the FB app has some background activity, while I disabled background app refresh.

I have background refresh off, so not sure how this is happening

Background refresh is only one feature that relates to being able to do something in the background, each app is also simply able to run in the background for usually a short period of time after it has been used to wrap up some tasks, while some apps (like VoIP apps, or navigation apps, music apps, and various others) can run in the background more indefinitely. It seems that Facebook is somehow doing that (either due to a bug or some implementation for some reason) where it can run more indefinitely in the background after it has been used before, unrelated to background refresh (which is mostly there for regular apps that can't run in the background indefinitely to wake them up and let it do some short actions every once in a while).

 

[lagwagon]

Background refresh is only one feature that relates to being able to do something in the background, each app is also simply able to run in the background for usually a short period of time after it has been used to wrap up some tasks, while some apps (like VoIP apps, or navigation apps, music apps, and various others) can run in the background more indefinitely. It seems that Facebook is somehow doing that (either due to a bug or some implementation for some reason) where it can run more indefinitely in the background after it has been used before, unrelated to background refresh (which is mostly there for regular apps that can't run in the background indefinitely to wake them up and let it do some short actions every once in a while).

FB does it because of messenger has VoIP. Messenger still needs FB app even though it's "technically" a separate app. So I'm sure FB app also runs this stuff to push things to messenger. Maybe not exactly that but at least something along those lines is what makes the most sense to me.

 

[sbailey4]

It's not new with the latest version of FB. People have been noticing FB running at all times in the background ever since iOS 9 beta and the more detailed battery meter included.

All you need to do is fully close it out from the app switcher each time. Doing this has never cause insane background usage for FB for me.

Yeah and its not new to iOS9 either. FB has always been a pig of an app.

 

[snowmoon]

I use FB via m.facebook.com and it gives me 95% of the functionality with 0% of the app hassle.