iPhone What's wrong with WhatsApp?

[hagar]

I noticed horrible battery life on my iPhone 6S (could not last a day with light or moderate use). I removed the Facebook app which had a positive effect. But still, it was bad. Then, I decided to reinstall the phone as new. What a difference!

But as soon as I installed WhatsApp I again notice a serious impact. Under Settings -> Battery I see that the Usage time and Standby time are equal when WhatsApp is installed. Is this a known issue? I disabled "Background Refresh" for WhatsApp but that did not help. Actually, it's impossible to see in the iOS settings which app is responsible for this usage. The usage minutes of the individual apps do not add up to the total amount displayed.

Is everybody with WhatsApp impacted? Are there alternative apps to use the WhatsApp service?

I hope, one day Apple will force all FB-apps to quit running in the background and make proper usage of Push notifications and Background Refresh. Maybe they should ban these apps from the store until they are fixed?

 

[WordsmithMR]

Facebook apps are generally soul sucking battery drainers but I have the background refresh turned off for both FB and What'sApp and don't have that issue on my 6S+... I did use to see it be an issue on my 5S even when turned off but nothing recently.

 

[hagar]

Actually, I'm not sure if disabling Background Refresh has any impact as FB-apps are apparently using other techniques to keep running in the background.

Also, interestingly, deleting the WhatsApp app does not immediately fix the problem: Standby and Usage time keep being equal, even if the phone is in standby. But when the phone is restarted, the problem is fixed and standby and usage time work again as expected.

 

[C DM]

Actually, I'm not sure if disabling Background Refresh has any impact as FB-apps are apparently using other techniques to keep running in the background.

Also, interestingly, deleting the WhatsApp app does not immediately fix the problem: Standby and Usage time keep being equal, even if the phone is in standby. But when the phone is restarted, the problem is fixed and standby and usage time work again as expected.

It sounds like the issue might very well be something other than WhatsApp and basically some other process getting stuck (like some sync process or some mail/calendar/notes account doing something else).