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Uninstalling Facebook app saves up to 15% of iPhone battery life

431 points by gargs 11y ago

Tepix 11y ago
I uninstalled Facebook for iOS a while ago when they started blocking the messenger feature. You can access instant messages using their web client. No need to install either app really.
headgsaket 11y ago
And about 30% of the users life. No seriously, I wonder how much productivity is gained from using, and how much is wasted, worldwide?
- coderdude 11y ago
  I honestly can't answer that but I cold-turkey'd my fb account about 2 years ago and I will never look back. You have to be a god damned fool to keep them posted on your day to day life.
  - pc86 11y ago
    > You have to be a god damned fool to keep them posted on your day to day life. Absolutely the biggest form of hyperbole I've ever seen in my entire life, bar none. Seriously though, some people use FB sparingly once or twice a day. Some people actually make money from FB or use it for marketing. There are a lot of people that get more out of it than making snarky election posts.
    - coderdude 11y ago
      Cool story. I use fb for marketing too. Who can't? Stop giving them your life story. It's not smart.
      - joshmanders 11y ago
        We get it, you don't use Facebook. I personally love Facebook. I keep in touch with family I can't see often. They get to see my daughter as if they live near us. I've engaged with people I would have never engaged with all because we have mutual friends, and end up growing friendships out of it. I get to share things I find interesting, my thoughts, my feelings. I get to see a deeper side of my family and friends whom also do the same. Look if your family and friends suck and all you see is "I had a bologna sandwich today" repeatedly, or that's all you can contribute, than take a look at your life and choice of peers, because using Facebook or not doesn't make or break them.
        coderdude 11y ago
        I came off as a jerk. Was cranky as all hell last night. Fb is actually a great way to keep in contact with your family and friends.
  - nkrisc 11y ago
    I use Facebook as a read-only service. I think for the last five years I probably have averaged a post a year.
    - pferde 11y ago
      Not to worry, your "friends" and/or "groups" are valuable to them as well, probably even more so than any "posts" or "updates" from you would be - those exist solely to trick users into seeing there is value in being on FB, but are otherwise just cluttering up FB's data stores.
      - nkrisc 11y ago
        Yup, I'm under no illusion I've somehow "beaten" Facebook. They certainly like showing me "Sponsored" posts and loads of ads.
  - vowelless 11y ago
    > You have to be a god damned fool to keep them posted on your day to day life. That's a little much. There is one important usecase that I have: messenger. A lot of people (even the ones that I regularly meet) prefer to use messenger and that's the only reason I am sticking with it for now.
- macspoofing 11y ago
  Not much? If it wasn't facebook, it would be something else...solitaire maybe?
  - Tepix 11y ago
    Hacker News perhaps?
  - dazc 11y ago
    You don't see many people walking down the street playing solitaire though.
    - rorykoehler 11y ago
      Candy crush on the other hand...
  - martin-adams 11y ago
    At least you can get good at playing solitaire, but you can't really 'get good at Facebook'.
    - buzzkills 11y ago
      The only way to win that game is not playing at all
    - morgante 11y ago
      Tell that to "growth hackers" and "social media marketing managers."
    - scrollaway 11y ago
      Unless you're literally mindlessly staring at known data, you're learning. Social status updates and such are essentially a game, and they teach various aspects of social politics. Dubious what useful skills most people can actually get from that but you can definitely "get good at facebook", as you put it. (And before anybody jumps on me - I hate facebook and I despise the completely fake life that comes out of the gaming aspects of facebook, but I can appreciate its values as a game designer)
- lghh 11y ago
  It makes it a lot easier to keep in contact with family members and to know when there are concerts or other events in the area that I'd be interested in being at. That saves me quite a bit of time.
  - rogeryu 11y ago
    You don't need the app for that. Just open FB in your browser from time to time. You will see all you need to keep in touch.
    - lghh 11y ago
      Oh yeah, I agree. I was just responding to what I thought was the person above me's recommendation to not use Facebook at all. I may have been incorrect in that interpretation of what they were saying, though.
- jusben1369 11y ago
  All arguments for and against FB can pretty much be applied to the internet overall. Given the undeniable popularity and usage of FB I think it's pretty clear it's been a net positive on society. (I'm fine with rebuttals; just make sure your argument couldn't also be used to rebut people having access to the internet in general)
  - tdkl 11y ago
    > All arguments for and against FB can pretty much be applied to the internet overall. At least the Internet is open and not behind a privacy threatening login. Fuck Facebook.
    - coderdude 11y ago
      Anywhere you find people with heads up their asses you'll see pro-fb talk. Nice 180 from a few years ago HN.
  - AndrewUnmuted 11y ago
    > All arguments for and against FB can pretty much be applied to the internet overall. I like the spirit of this idea, but I don't believe it's correct in this context. Facebook, after all, is a service that bases its experience around togetherness and being "connected" to the people you "care" about. It encourages an all-inclusive behavior from its users, instead of a selectively-inclusive, or even exclusive, behavior. This is a unique trait of the Facebook service, which much of the web absolutely did not copycat with success until Facebook's IPO. To compare Facebook and its particularly vicious UX which ruthlessly looks to capture the attention spans of the world's lowest-common-denominator, to the overall internet is an insult to people who had better plans for the internet than this.
    - jusben1369 11y ago
      Yes I think it would fail if you tried to get too literal. But the original thread was the "I wonder how much more productive our lives would or would not be without FB" It was in that broader context that I made my comment.
- tomp 11y ago
  Well... by doing what you enjoy, you lose productivity, but gain life. It's a trade-off that every person needs to make according to his/her desires.
- bottled_poe 11y ago
  Wasted? Are you implying that their time might be better applied elsewhere? People should be free to do whatever they want to. If you are talking about FB on the job, well perhaps those employees haven't been given enough work.
- awjr 11y ago
  I found that uninstalling television also saved a lot of time or at least "stopped" me watching random crap. Anecdotally we had a 2-3 week period where the whole family had no TV/Internet access. I was quite disappointed when it all came back on and the board game nights and even the ad-hoc charades stopped. We do however have weekly game nights. I still consciously choose to only watch "planned" TV programmes.
  - CaptSpify 11y ago
    One of the big benefits I've seen as a cord-cutter: I've stopped mindlessly surfing. Without channels, and having to select what I want from an app, I have to decide what I want, instead of seeing "what's on". Now I still watch crap from time to time, but it have to choose it, which has made me go to it a lot less.
    - clentaminator 11y ago
      This pretty much highlights my main beef with the current model of broadcast television, which is that it seems designed around leading to "that question", or "What's on?". If you don't already know what you'd like to watch then perhaps you'd be better off finding something else to do that you enjoy (aside from those times when you genuinely do just want to crash and not think too much).
    - SilasX 11y ago
      Reminds me of the scene from Seinfeld when they're pitching a TV show and get asked "why would anyone watch this?" and George answers "Because it's on TV!" That is, people are just going to bounce through the major networks anyway.
    - chadgeidel 11y ago
      I've been a cord-cutter long enough that now, instead of mindlessly surfing, I've got a backlog of so many shows I want to watch and don't have time for it seems I'm back to square one. The more things change...
      - 11y ago
- JulianMorrison 11y ago
  Since ancient times it's been fashionable to diss the newest media. "This invention will produce forgetfulness in the minds of those who learn to use it, because they will not practice their memory" -- Socrates, on writing. Facebook, as a synecdoche for "how the hoi polloi use the internet" is just another example of this. The reality is that my Facebook is a news feed tailored to my interests and reflecting what's happening to the people I care about and as such it's useful.
  - CPLX 11y ago
    How do we know that Socrates said that?
    - wstrange 11y ago
      He posted it on his wall
  - rtl49 11y ago
    Socrates wasn't wrong. The adoption of new media should reflect a rational analysis of its benefits and drawbacks. Writing enables us to store, transmit, and reflect upon information in ways that surpass speech. One negative consequence is that we get less practice in exercising memory, and we encounter more information than we could commit to memory in any case. Social media enables us to get current information on the doings of people whose lives interest us. One negative consequence is that the information users encounter is subject to manipulation by those who dictate the content of the website, with the result that most users have reduced intellectual autonomy. What's more, much of the information presented is not relevant to users, which wastes much of the finite attention they possess. Data collected about users can be and is used to advance interests contrary to their own. Some of these issues are intrinsic to social media as a concept, others specific to the platforms that currently dominate. Either way, it cannot reasonably be presumed that those opposed to the use of social media are simply Luddites.
    - peteretep 11y ago
      Can you cite that exposure to written material has a negative impact on memory? It seems like an extraordinary claim.
- rloc 11y ago
  A lot, see that yet another recent study: http://www.talentsmart.com/articles/Multitasking-Damages-Your-Brain-and-Your-Career,-New-Studies-Suggest-2102500909-p-1.html http://www.talentsmart.com/articles/Multitasking-Damages-You... I use an Android phone that lasts consistently more than 2 days (Sony z3 compact). Of course I don't have Facebook installed...
- awesomerobot 11y ago
  Life isn't all about productivity, but it's an interesting question.
- themoonbus 11y ago
  I guess it depends on what your definition of "wasted time" is?
- bitserf 11y ago
  I deleted my Facebook account 4 years ago, and I still don't have enough time for everything I'm interested in. Please send help.
  - Tyr42 11y ago
    Try installing it and deleting it again.
88e282102ae2e5b 11y ago
The study had a small sample size and no controlled (or even measured) use of the phones. I'm not entirely convinced this effect is real.
- skrebe 11y ago
  Agreed, super vague details about the usage, how long the web client was used, who are the users etc. Doesn't mention how drained the battery was with/without the app at the end of each day. Such studies, apart from providing some basic information aren't very good at proving any specifics.
reynoldsbd 11y ago
Considering how bad the situation is with some other apps in terms of battery usage (looking at Yik Yak and Snapchat) I'm actually impressed that the Facebook app manages to keep consumption this low. I'd be interested in seeing more rigorous numbers rather than just comparison to "... a week with the app." That doesn't tell me whether the 15% was from background computation or actual foreground usage.
soylentcola 11y ago
It goes for other phones as well. I ditched the app a while back as they kept trying to push separate apps for chat and such and generally just because I don't read Facebook that often. Switched over to a third party app called "Tinfoil for Facebook" which essentially just puts the mobile site in a sandboxed and somewhat optimized wrapper for easy mobile browsing. Battery improved as you'd expect by getting rid of one program that does a decent amount of stuff in the background. Nothing massive but it did make a difference. That said, I feel like disabling a lot of things would improve battery life but depending on the apps in question, battery life may not matter much if you can't use the app. It's more an overarching effort I've made to only install dedicated apps for things that I really use enough to need a dedicated app. Since I only check Facebook 2 or 3 times during a typical week it didn't seem to be very important for me to keep their app(s). I can still check it out every so often when I'm bored and want to see what people are up to but I don't have yet another background app taking up resources or battery capacity.
- regularjack 11y ago
  m.facebook.com works pretty well too. I started using it due to Facebook asking for more and more permissions for its mobile app and never looked back.
  - TheCapn 11y ago
    I'm the same as you. When they started wanting (virtually) total control of my phone I axed the app and made a bookmark on my browser. It works amazingly well, arguably better than the app for my needs since I'm mostly a consumer, it has its issues occasionally when trying to make posts but that's pretty few and far between.
morgante 11y ago
> I accessed Facebook for the same amount of time, and for the same purposes, using the social network’s excellent mobile site within Safari, as I had done using the app. He claims this but I'm incredibly skeptical and it doesn't seem like any actual controls were put in place. The app is a much more addictive experience than the mobile web version, not to mention that it packs in more functionality. Push notifications alone probably double my daily Facebook usage.
drchiu 11y ago
Perhaps the battery savings are because people stop checking their social network 5-10x per day?
ehmorris 11y ago
I use the app occasionally, and it's only used 2% of my battery on average over the past 7 days, according to the battery section in my settings. I turned off background refresh. Strange that the author is going through a guesstimate process when there's a built-in tool that'll tell you exactly how much juice an app uses, and if it's mostly from background activity.
joshstrange 11y ago
But at what cost? /s Joking aside I've got a couple friends who don't use the app and will only use the web version and watching them use it is painful. It's not as easily to move around and do everything you can do on the mobile app. Also they normally take this stance with messenger as well which makes talking in groups with them painful as they are always slow to respond. If we were all on iOS we would probably just use iMessage but with the mix of iOS/Android FB is the best medium normally to plan/talk.
hatty 11y ago
This doesn't seem groundbreaking or mysterious. Battery stats are available for every application in settings > battery. I took a moment to reflect on the background usage for Facebook, and I turned that off. I did not delete the app. You can do the same thing in general > background app refresh. You'll still get notifications, and your newsfeed will refresh only when you open the app.
- kdamken 11y ago
  Thank you for adding some sanity here. If someone's that obsessed with battery life, they can always delete all the apps off the phone and stay in airplane mode unless making a call. But then again, some people like to actually use their smart phone.
  - samastur 11y ago
    There's more to world than your little corner. Last year I worked on development project with youth in Bolivia. It was common for them to use Facebook's website instead of app because it saved battery and data, both of which are extremely important to you if you are a poor teenager in a country with fairly expensive internet using a low-spec smartphone with generally poor battery life. This way they could get a bit more out of it than they would otherwise which is a perfectly rational choice that doesn't deserve to be mocked.
    - kdamken 11y ago
      True, but is this article really directed to poor kids in Bolivia? Maybe if you're a poor teenager in a developing country, you should focus on saving your money rather than blowing it on a cell phone and data plan.
      - samastur 11y ago
        I don't think this comment is fair to them. Computers are less widespread than phones because latter are cheaper and you can also take them where (cheaper or free) connection is. They are not just an entertainment device although they use it for that too (and why shouldn't they?). Any research for school or otherwise will be done through phones as libraries for many are not easy to reach or well stocked. And social networks play an important information role beyond socialising that every human person needs purely for health benefits.
Kiro 11y ago
> On average I had 15% more battery left by 10.30pm each day. I wouldn't rely on this study. Why not use a battery measurement tool instead?
- forgottenpass 11y ago
  15% is a big enough difference that such a coarse methodology is fine to draw preliminary conclusions. Of course you could instrument better, but this is a writer at The Guardian, of whom I don't expect the technical prowess to do so, and the article (or what I skimmed of it) doesn't overstate his findings.
fixermark 11y ago
I find this on my Android phone also. Fortunately, m.facebook.com works really well for managing a Facebook account.
- Spooks 11y ago
  I definitely prefer the m.facebook.com over the actual app, I haven't used the app for a while, so it would be unfair for me to judge it now. But I have no need to download the official app.
FussyZeus 11y ago
For other iPhone users: I've gotten quite used to using the Paper app. It's an excellent interface (though it's a lot of gestures, so it has a learning curve) and gets you all the same content with a whole lot less shit in my experience (promoted posts and the like.) Also seems like it doesn't use the background trickiness that the regular app is full of. You get your notifications and messages same as in the regular one too, though a lot prettier. Also: Speaking as an iOS developer, I can say with certainty that Facebook only gets away with this because it's Facebook. We've had a few binaries rejected for bad optimization, I can't believe Apple is kowtowing to Facebook so hard as to allow such atrocious software into the App Store. Well, actually I can believe it. Still ticks me off though.
- acheron 11y ago
  Yes, I still use Paper too. Unfortunately it seems like Facebook has given up on it: there hasn't been an update in quite awhile, it's missing some features of the web site (nested replies are the most obvious in my experience), and they've started removing some of the news categories. Hope they come back to it, though considering the main reasons I use it are a) no ads and b) don't have to install separate Messenger app, the app's existence probably goes against all corporate policy, so it's probably being left for dead.
diogenescynic 11y ago
I uninstalled Facebook on my iPhone 6 Plus last week, after reading a few of these articles. In my anecdotal experience, it's saving me anywhere from 20-40% of battery a day.
Ali_cpp 11y ago
Their app also leaks memory like HELL. Just take a look at the storage being used by it in Settings.app under memory usage. I periodically delete the app & reinstall it to free up all that space. Sloppy engineering...
- 0x0 11y ago
  It'd be more accurate to say it leaks disk space (probably for cache), not memory. But I agree it's pretty brutal.
  - Ali_cpp 11y ago
    I took everyone's advice. Deleted the app for good & I'm going to give the mobile web app a try. So far, so good.
overcast 11y ago
I had the same experience months ago, the built in battery usage indicator always had it at the top, and it was a confirmed issue that was "resolved" in future builds. Decided it was best for Facebook and myself to depart for the new year. Too much time, and battery usage wasted. Removed app, deactivated account, 6S lasts for almost two days.
heavymark 11y ago
That seems pretty obvious, in that it's the app most users spend the most of their time on. I'm surprised the percentage isn't even higher. If a person spends 30 or 40% of their time using their phone in the Facebook app, it's clearly going to use a large percentage of the battery life. Not being of bad app coding, but rather battery use is based on how much a user spends using different apps or different features.
- verbify 11y ago
  Somebody didn't read the article: > Testing reveals Facebook iOS app drains battery life, even when it isn’t being used, and that using Safari instead will make an iPhone last longer and > I accessed Facebook for the same amount of time, and for the same purposes, using the social network’s excellent mobile site within Safari, as I had done using the app.
- belorn 11y ago
  This isn't about active use, but about the background process.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
samsolomon 11y ago
I uninstalled FB from my phone about a year ago. The main reason was that I didn't want to install Messenger, and was sick of them limiting the app. I discovered a few other things: - Improved battery life, as the article mentions - Mobile web is actually much faster than the Android app - I spent a lot less time looking, getting notified about crap If you've got the app installed on your phone, I'd encourage you to give uninstalling it a shot.
- mandlar 11y ago
  And if you really want notifications, they can still be enabled via the Google Chrome app when you visit the Facebook website.
  - untog 11y ago
    Not an iPhone user here - do you mean that the Chrome app on iOS has Web Push notification support?
    - fgandiya 11y ago
      It doesn't look like it does yet. http://caniuse.com/#search=Notifications http://caniuse.com/#search=Notifications
      - untog 11y ago
        Shame. I wonder if Google could shim it into Chrome iOS?
        jon-wood 11y ago
        They should be able to. Embedded Safari allows you to define JavaScript APIs to interface with your app, and the app can register for push notifications.
        jon-wood 11y ago
        They should be able to. Embedded Safari allows you to define JavaScript APIs to interface with your app, and the app can register for push notifications.
TACIXAT 11y ago
On Android, there was no way to tell it to not run in the background 24/7. That's what led me to uninstall it. I've recently replaced it with the mobile site running in Hermit. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.chimbori.hermitcrab&hl=en https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.chimbori.h...
- StavrosK 11y ago
  Android 6 does that (killing background apps) by default, so it's probably going to be better there. That said, I never installed Facebook, because it's just not that useful versus the website.
0x0 11y ago
What's weird is that every time this story gets some traction, facebook apparently claim it's "not true", or admit there was a small "bug" that kept the app active. This sounds pretty crazy to me. You really have to go out of your way to run in the background on iOS, particularly for more than a few seconds/minutes after being backgrounded, and especially when background processing is turned off. Yet, still I often see "time on screen 1.5hours; time in background 4hours". Even after the admitted "bugs" were "fixed". It's hard to believe this is an accident.
- thecupisblue 11y ago
  It's not an accident or bug, they're just trying to spin it away. Their apps aren't engineered or architected, they're hacked together and held by miracle glue and it's gone so far that I bet even they aren't sure if they can rewrite it from scratch. That is the reason for all the leaks, bugs and drains they have. They even brag about their hacks.
  - ethanbond 11y ago
    Yeah, it's a really sad culture. Who could've guessed that "move fast and break things" results in lots of broken things?
mrmondo 11y ago
Not only did it save me battery life, if also made me more productive. I found that Facebook has become just not rally relevant these days?
binarymax 11y ago
Note: if you had location services on for Facebook, and then uninstall the app, Facebook location services remains ON, because it is part of the iOS base install. I'm not sure whether it continues sending info to their servers, but to be certain make sure to disable it after uninstalling.
- acdha 11y ago
  Do you have a citation for that? If you've uninstalled the Facebook app it shouldn't even show up in location services (or the system services).
cm2187 11y ago
What I don't understand is that neither in the privacy/location services or in the facebook app setting can I find a setting to disable access to the gps for the facebook app. I am not naive enough to assume facebook doesn't log gps locations. Does the app have a behind the scene access in iOS?
- ascagnel_ 11y ago
  Settings -> Privacy (grey palm icon at the bottom of the 3rd group) -> Location Services. You can block location data gathering at the phone OS level; however, that won't help you against FB attempting geolocate your phone's IP server-side.
  - cm2187 11y ago
    That's my point. I don't see the facebook app in this list. Despite having it installed and being logged in.
    - ascagnel_ 11y ago
      In that case, you may not have done anything in the app that asks for location (only then will the app attempt to register itself for location privileges).
ulfw 11y ago
It's one of the shittiest apps anyway. 111MB size? I mean honestly. What exactly does THAT mobile app need 111 Megabytes for?
- martiuk 11y ago
  For the millions of classes it needs due to the developers adding classes for every feature rather than adding it to pre-existing classes: http://quellish.tumblr.com/post/126712999812/how-on-earth-the-facebook-ios-application-is-so http://quellish.tumblr.com/post/126712999812/how-on-earth-th...
  - userbinator 11y ago
    In other words, it's typical "enterprise Java" style. I worked with code like that for a short time, and it's not just wasteful of machine resources; debugging and maintaining such code is a horrible experience.
- 5h 11y ago
  Looking at my phone, a few make me wonder how we got here today. Skype 149MB, Chrome 134MB, Sheets 122MB, Slides 115MB, Docs 101MB, Outlook 101MB, HSBC 73.97MB, Uber 60.98, Fitbit 79.77 ... Skpye, HSBC, Uber & Fitbit all seem way larger than they should be I've never knowingly used the Slides app.
  - roddux 11y ago
    I'd hazard a guess that part of the reason is about storing multiple copies of textures at different resolutions. At least, I think it works that way on the Apple store.
    - ksec 11y ago
      That is no longer the case since iOS 9 I think. Unless they didn't update / use the new App Thinning function. But even if they get 30% reduction promised by App Thinning, they are still HUGE!.
jasonshah1233 11y ago
While I don't have quantifiable metrics, I think this is true of Instagram as well. I noticed that, after uninstalling Instagram, I was able to get through a full day on my 2-yr-old Moto X (vs. dying around 8pm).
- raesene4 11y ago
  that chimes with my experience. I've got a MotoG 3rd Gen which has a pretty good battery life. I installed Instagram and it was draining much faster and looking at the battery information it had drained about 20-30% of the charge and much more than any other app.
misiti3780 11y ago
I notice similar improvements after removing Facebook from my phone - it's been gone a year - most people I hang out with rarely use Facebook anymore anyways
nilkn 11y ago
The Facebook app is one of the worst out there (among high profile apps), but their mobile website is one of the very best. I just use the latter.
Reason077 11y ago
The author does not explain whether he turned "Background App Refresh" OFF for the Facebook app. When this setting is OFF, Facebook should not be able to use CPU when it is not on screen. Facebook have been caught using dirty tricks in the past to get around the Background App Refresh setting, but my understanding is that those were fixed.
thewarrior 11y ago
A tip for all you Android users out there. Step 1 : Uninstall both Facebook and Facebook Messenger. Step 2 (Optional) : Use Metal instead of the Facebook App : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nam.fbwrapper https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nam.fbwrap... Step 3 (Optional) :Use Disa instead of Facebook Messenger : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.disa https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.disa Step 4 : Enjoy your vastly improved responsiveness and battery life.
- kemayo 11y ago
  For iOS there's Friendly: https://itunes.apple.com/in/app/friendly-for-facebook/id400169658?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/in/app/friendly-for-facebook/id4001... A review-ish thing: http://www.guidingtech.com/41701/facebook-ios-app-alternative/ http://www.guidingtech.com/41701/facebook-ios-app-alternativ...
tedmiston 11y ago
This seems like a roundabout to go about finding the useful data. If a few others could just open Settings > Battery > Last 7 Days, then tap on Facebook, I'd like to see your numbers. 48 min on screen, 13 min background, 2% of overall battery Note: Background App Refresh for Fb was set to off! The ratio of background time to screen time is high but Facebook isn't the worst offender. For example: Instagram - 5.8 hrs on screen, 1.5 hrs background, 18% Snapchat - 57 min on screen, 1.4 hrs background (whoa), 3%
- hornbaker 11y ago
  iPhone 6+ here. Facebook isn't in my top 15 battery users for last 7 days (lowest 5 on the list take 1% each), even though it's been open in the background the whole time and I check in there on average once daily. In short, not a problem for me. Like parent says, make sure you turn OFF "Background App Refresh" for the FB app.
- cowpewter 11y ago
  My top few: * Facebook - 2.7 hrs screen, 4.5 hrs bg, 42% * Tumblr - 2.8 hrs screen, 27 min bg, 19% * Safari - 1.1 hrs screen, 11% Facebook does seem to be a prime offender in my case, but I don't think I have background refresh disabled.
  - bpicolo 11y ago
    Facebook: 14 min on, 1.8 back, 3%. (iPhone 6 iOS 9.2.x) Overall, those Facebook numbers are fine (for Last 7 days). Nothing like 15%
- corin_ 11y ago
  Facebook - 30min screen, 1.5hr background, 3% Twitter - 3.7hr screen, 32min background, 14% Skype - 1.1hr screen, 35min background, 6% WhatsApp - 1.5hr screen, 4.8hr background, 5% (iPhone 5s)
- orbitur 11y ago
  - 1.3hrs on screen - 2.9hrs background (!!!!) - 8% overall (not bad) edit: fixed list, HN needs to add proper markdown
tedmiston 11y ago
One unmentioned downside - I'm not sure that it's possible to use Facebook Login without the mobile app.
thrownaway2424 11y ago
This is true for lots of apps. For example I don't use the Gmail app nor any other mail app for iOS because the sync traffic kills the battery. I just use Gmail's excellent mobile web site, which also means I don't get interrupted by notifications and I read my email at the time and place of my own choosing. Calendar is another battery killer. I found that I can use calendar apps but I can't sync the calendars of middle managers at work because all they do all day long is attend meetings and fiddle with their schedules, and again the sync traffic clobbers the battery. But if I just sync my own calendars it doesn't seem to matter. I wonder if the Facebook battery usage is proportional to how many friends you have in your network, of if it just uses a lot of energy regardless.
- jchendy 11y ago
  > which also means I don't get interrupted by notifications and I read my email at the time and place of my own choosing FWIW, you can also turn off notifications with the app, which is what I've done for as long as I've had a smart phone.
cwyers 11y ago
You can keep the battery fully charged even longer if you turn the phone off, too.
cavisne 11y ago
I bet putting my phone in airplane mode would save battery too.. That said its another reason why it was smart to split out messenger. If I had to chose between text and calls or messenger I would have to pick messenger. Facebook I can take or leave but events is pretty important, plus instant articles are great (as an example of something you cant get in the browser).
- exelius 11y ago
  The point is that most of us probably don't use the app all that much anymore, so removing it probably isn't a big inconvenience. The article also mentions something I noticed a while ago too: mobile Safari is both faster and better on battery life than Chrome or any alternate browser. This makes sense - the alternative browsers are essentially running Safari under the hood anyway - but is still true. However, I found this to be true on my MacBook Pro as well: Safari uses far less power and is significantly faster than Chrome. And while I think Chrome is far superior to Safari as far as features go, it's also hard to justify why my browser consumes more resources than VMWare Fusion running Windows 10.
  - cavisne 11y ago
    Very true, although chrome has recently updated to use the new iOS web view and it's much nicer. Chrome does need a lot of work on OS X but I'm too locked into things like devtools at this point
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
wnevets 11y ago
It's easily the worst app on the android. I've switched to using a chrome shortcut with notifications enabled, haven't looked back.
mephi5t0 11y ago
disable background app refresh in the settings?
esaym 11y ago
I mainly have the app installed so I can use the "Nearby Friends" feature as I enjoy spying on my wife and random friends. I think the video calling is pretty good too on the app. Of course the last time I video called someone was in the early 2000's using 320x240 webcams so I might be a little biased quality wise. I haven't really noticed battery drain but since I normally work at home, I keep my phone on "Airplane" mode so I don't waste battery maintaining a cell connection (the phone has wifi calling which can receive calls and sms). This is a samsung galaxy core prime. If I don't use it and let it sit there at idle, after 2 days it will have only used 20-30% battery.
- jacquesm 11y ago
  > I mainly have the app installed so I can use the "Nearby Friends" feature as I enjoy spying on my wife and random friends. Creepy.
knodi123 11y ago
about 3 years ago, I switched from the FB app to the FB mobile site, and performance on that site skyrocketed. I don't know how you screw up a mobile app that badly, but they found a way. Shocking to read that 3 years later (today) it's still a horrible app, vastly inferior to the mobile web version.
Amanjeev 11y ago
I wonder if its the same for Facebook messenger app.
rjohnk 11y ago
On my admittedly low-end 1st gen Moto E, Facebook gobbles up RAM and limited storage space like the plague. It's web interface for me. Makes me wonder if they are downloading an entire SQL database onto my phone. It's terrible app in terms of lightness
k_bx 11y ago
The only big issue with mobile app I found is that you can't just "send to" an image into it to create a post. Not sure if web standards are being developed towards that direction, since I am not sure how would that even look like in terms of user-experience.
pazra 11y ago
Surely it can't be doing anything in the background if you use the task manage to kill the app? If so, uninstallation isn't the only option in order to save battery life.
ZoF 11y ago
Uninstalling Facebook from my life increased productivity by 15% as well.
kerneltime 11y ago
I installed opera mobile and use it exclusively for FB and use incognito mode while on desktop.. that said some how FB ads still picks up on my amazon shopping trends.. need to dig through more.
- digi_owl 11y ago
  Unless you use something like Tor and the relevant browser, they still have your IP address and things like browser user agent to "fingerprint" you.
izzydata 11y ago
Disabling your facebook account saves up to 15% of your life. edit: Damn, someone already made this joke. Sorry guys. I thought I was being clever.
r1ch 11y ago
It's bad enough that FB have to offer a "Lite" version for people lacking high-end smart phones. It's basically a wrapper around the mobile site + push notifications. I recently switched to it and don't really miss anything from the original app, and as a bonus I get chat without having to install the equally bloated FB Messenger app. https://www.facebook.com/lite/ https://www.facebook.com/lite/ Signed APKs are available from various sites, the Google Play rollout doesn't seem to include Western countries.
- hacker42 11y ago
  I wished this was available on iOS.
runjake 11y ago
Another point of reference on battery use: I use the Facebook app for maybe 5 minutes total a week on my iPhone. Under the Battery settings for the past 24 hours, it shows it's used 5% of my battery for "background tasks". I don't recall opening the Facebook app in the past 24 hours.
api 11y ago
Facebook has found this odd niche that involves being utterly creepy and obnoxious but very hard to get rid of. It's like the corporate version of a crazy manipulative codependent "friend" who you can't get out of your life because your friends are into them.
gargs 11y ago
It doesn't get mentioned quite as frequently, but one major benefit of using their mobile site is the capability to use iOS share and content blocking extensions. Find something interesting? Just open it in a new tab so that you don't lose your position in the feed.
slac 11y ago
On my Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge, Facebook is preinstalled and cannot be removed. I guess I can always log out.
macintux 11y ago
Interesting talk from Facebook engineers about their iOS efforts over the years: https://youtu.be/XhXC4SKOGfQ https://youtu.be/XhXC4SKOGfQ
CM30 11y ago
Wonder how much battery life removing Twitter saves? I'd have thought that'd update far more often than Facebook, which would kill more and more of the battery every time the news feed refreshes.
alexgrcs 11y ago
So this is what React Native is for?
mesozoic 11y ago
This is one of the poorest executions of an experiment I've ever read about. Read the post and the author obviously has no idea about methodology and then goes on to claim very precise results in his headline.
koberstein 11y ago
Probably because the app is constantly scanning for beacons. https://www.facebook.com/business/a/facebook-bluetooth-beacons https://www.facebook.com/business/a/facebook-bluetooth-beaco...
perseusprime11 11y ago
It will also save 40% of your time.

431 points by gargs 11y ago

Tepix 11y ago

I uninstalled Facebook for iOS a while ago when they started blocking the messenger feature. You can access instant messages using their web client. No need to install either app really.

headgsaket 11y ago

And about 30% of the users life. No seriously, I wonder how much productivity is gained from using, and how much is wasted, worldwide?

coderdude 11y ago
I honestly can't answer that but I cold-turkey'd my fb account about 2 years ago and I will never look back. You have to be a god damned fool to keep them posted on your day to day life.
- pc86 11y ago
  > You have to be a god damned fool to keep them posted on your day to day life. Absolutely the biggest form of hyperbole I've ever seen in my entire life, bar none. Seriously though, some people use FB sparingly once or twice a day. Some people actually make money from FB or use it for marketing. There are a lot of people that get more out of it than making snarky election posts.
  - coderdude 11y ago
    Cool story. I use fb for marketing too. Who can't? Stop giving them your life story. It's not smart.
    - joshmanders 11y ago
      We get it, you don't use Facebook. I personally love Facebook. I keep in touch with family I can't see often. They get to see my daughter as if they live near us. I've engaged with people I would have never engaged with all because we have mutual friends, and end up growing friendships out of it. I get to share things I find interesting, my thoughts, my feelings. I get to see a deeper side of my family and friends whom also do the same. Look if your family and friends suck and all you see is "I had a bologna sandwich today" repeatedly, or that's all you can contribute, than take a look at your life and choice of peers, because using Facebook or not doesn't make or break them.
      - coderdude 11y ago
        I came off as a jerk. Was cranky as all hell last night. Fb is actually a great way to keep in contact with your family and friends.
- nkrisc 11y ago
  I use Facebook as a read-only service. I think for the last five years I probably have averaged a post a year.
  - pferde 11y ago
    Not to worry, your "friends" and/or "groups" are valuable to them as well, probably even more so than any "posts" or "updates" from you would be - those exist solely to trick users into seeing there is value in being on FB, but are otherwise just cluttering up FB's data stores.
    - nkrisc 11y ago
      Yup, I'm under no illusion I've somehow "beaten" Facebook. They certainly like showing me "Sponsored" posts and loads of ads.
- vowelless 11y ago
  > You have to be a god damned fool to keep them posted on your day to day life. That's a little much. There is one important usecase that I have: messenger. A lot of people (even the ones that I regularly meet) prefer to use messenger and that's the only reason I am sticking with it for now.
macspoofing 11y ago
Not much? If it wasn't facebook, it would be something else...solitaire maybe?
- Tepix 11y ago
  Hacker News perhaps?
- dazc 11y ago
  You don't see many people walking down the street playing solitaire though.
  - rorykoehler 11y ago
    Candy crush on the other hand...
- martin-adams 11y ago
  At least you can get good at playing solitaire, but you can't really 'get good at Facebook'.
  - buzzkills 11y ago
    The only way to win that game is not playing at all
  - morgante 11y ago
    Tell that to "growth hackers" and "social media marketing managers."
  - scrollaway 11y ago
    Unless you're literally mindlessly staring at known data, you're learning. Social status updates and such are essentially a game, and they teach various aspects of social politics. Dubious what useful skills most people can actually get from that but you can definitely "get good at facebook", as you put it. (And before anybody jumps on me - I hate facebook and I despise the completely fake life that comes out of the gaming aspects of facebook, but I can appreciate its values as a game designer)
lghh 11y ago
It makes it a lot easier to keep in contact with family members and to know when there are concerts or other events in the area that I'd be interested in being at. That saves me quite a bit of time.
- rogeryu 11y ago
  You don't need the app for that. Just open FB in your browser from time to time. You will see all you need to keep in touch.
  - lghh 11y ago
    Oh yeah, I agree. I was just responding to what I thought was the person above me's recommendation to not use Facebook at all. I may have been incorrect in that interpretation of what they were saying, though.
jusben1369 11y ago
All arguments for and against FB can pretty much be applied to the internet overall. Given the undeniable popularity and usage of FB I think it's pretty clear it's been a net positive on society. (I'm fine with rebuttals; just make sure your argument couldn't also be used to rebut people having access to the internet in general)
- tdkl 11y ago
  > All arguments for and against FB can pretty much be applied to the internet overall. At least the Internet is open and not behind a privacy threatening login. Fuck Facebook.
  - coderdude 11y ago
    Anywhere you find people with heads up their asses you'll see pro-fb talk. Nice 180 from a few years ago HN.
- AndrewUnmuted 11y ago
  > All arguments for and against FB can pretty much be applied to the internet overall. I like the spirit of this idea, but I don't believe it's correct in this context. Facebook, after all, is a service that bases its experience around togetherness and being "connected" to the people you "care" about. It encourages an all-inclusive behavior from its users, instead of a selectively-inclusive, or even exclusive, behavior. This is a unique trait of the Facebook service, which much of the web absolutely did not copycat with success until Facebook's IPO. To compare Facebook and its particularly vicious UX which ruthlessly looks to capture the attention spans of the world's lowest-common-denominator, to the overall internet is an insult to people who had better plans for the internet than this.
  - jusben1369 11y ago
    Yes I think it would fail if you tried to get too literal. But the original thread was the "I wonder how much more productive our lives would or would not be without FB" It was in that broader context that I made my comment.
tomp 11y ago
Well... by doing what you enjoy, you lose productivity, but gain life. It's a trade-off that every person needs to make according to his/her desires.
bottled_poe 11y ago
Wasted? Are you implying that their time might be better applied elsewhere? People should be free to do whatever they want to. If you are talking about FB on the job, well perhaps those employees haven't been given enough work.
awjr 11y ago
I found that uninstalling television also saved a lot of time or at least "stopped" me watching random crap. Anecdotally we had a 2-3 week period where the whole family had no TV/Internet access. I was quite disappointed when it all came back on and the board game nights and even the ad-hoc charades stopped. We do however have weekly game nights. I still consciously choose to only watch "planned" TV programmes.
- CaptSpify 11y ago
  One of the big benefits I've seen as a cord-cutter: I've stopped mindlessly surfing. Without channels, and having to select what I want from an app, I have to decide what I want, instead of seeing "what's on". Now I still watch crap from time to time, but it have to choose it, which has made me go to it a lot less.
  - clentaminator 11y ago
    This pretty much highlights my main beef with the current model of broadcast television, which is that it seems designed around leading to "that question", or "What's on?". If you don't already know what you'd like to watch then perhaps you'd be better off finding something else to do that you enjoy (aside from those times when you genuinely do just want to crash and not think too much).
  - SilasX 11y ago
    Reminds me of the scene from Seinfeld when they're pitching a TV show and get asked "why would anyone watch this?" and George answers "Because it's on TV!" That is, people are just going to bounce through the major networks anyway.
  - chadgeidel 11y ago
    I've been a cord-cutter long enough that now, instead of mindlessly surfing, I've got a backlog of so many shows I want to watch and don't have time for it seems I'm back to square one. The more things change...
    - 11y ago
JulianMorrison 11y ago
Since ancient times it's been fashionable to diss the newest media. "This invention will produce forgetfulness in the minds of those who learn to use it, because they will not practice their memory" -- Socrates, on writing. Facebook, as a synecdoche for "how the hoi polloi use the internet" is just another example of this. The reality is that my Facebook is a news feed tailored to my interests and reflecting what's happening to the people I care about and as such it's useful.
- CPLX 11y ago
  How do we know that Socrates said that?
  - wstrange 11y ago
    He posted it on his wall
- rtl49 11y ago
  Socrates wasn't wrong. The adoption of new media should reflect a rational analysis of its benefits and drawbacks. Writing enables us to store, transmit, and reflect upon information in ways that surpass speech. One negative consequence is that we get less practice in exercising memory, and we encounter more information than we could commit to memory in any case. Social media enables us to get current information on the doings of people whose lives interest us. One negative consequence is that the information users encounter is subject to manipulation by those who dictate the content of the website, with the result that most users have reduced intellectual autonomy. What's more, much of the information presented is not relevant to users, which wastes much of the finite attention they possess. Data collected about users can be and is used to advance interests contrary to their own. Some of these issues are intrinsic to social media as a concept, others specific to the platforms that currently dominate. Either way, it cannot reasonably be presumed that those opposed to the use of social media are simply Luddites.
  - peteretep 11y ago
    Can you cite that exposure to written material has a negative impact on memory? It seems like an extraordinary claim.
rloc 11y ago
A lot, see that yet another recent study: http://www.talentsmart.com/articles/Multitasking-Damages-Your-Brain-and-Your-Career,-New-Studies-Suggest-2102500909-p-1.html http://www.talentsmart.com/articles/Multitasking-Damages-You... I use an Android phone that lasts consistently more than 2 days (Sony z3 compact). Of course I don't have Facebook installed...
awesomerobot 11y ago
Life isn't all about productivity, but it's an interesting question.
themoonbus 11y ago
I guess it depends on what your definition of "wasted time" is?
bitserf 11y ago
I deleted my Facebook account 4 years ago, and I still don't have enough time for everything I'm interested in. Please send help.
- Tyr42 11y ago
  Try installing it and deleting it again.

88e282102ae2e5b 11y ago

The study had a small sample size and no controlled (or even measured) use of the phones. I'm not entirely convinced this effect is real.

skrebe 11y ago
Agreed, super vague details about the usage, how long the web client was used, who are the users etc. Doesn't mention how drained the battery was with/without the app at the end of each day. Such studies, apart from providing some basic information aren't very good at proving any specifics.

reynoldsbd 11y ago

Considering how bad the situation is with some other apps in terms of battery usage (looking at Yik Yak and Snapchat) I'm actually impressed that the Facebook app manages to keep consumption this low. I'd be interested in seeing more rigorous numbers rather than just comparison to "... a week with the app." That doesn't tell me whether the 15% was from background computation or actual foreground usage.

soylentcola 11y ago

It goes for other phones as well. I ditched the app a while back as they kept trying to push separate apps for chat and such and generally just because I don't read Facebook that often. Switched over to a third party app called "Tinfoil for Facebook" which essentially just puts the mobile site in a sandboxed and somewhat optimized wrapper for easy mobile browsing. Battery improved as you'd expect by getting rid of one program that does a decent amount of stuff in the background. Nothing massive but it did make a difference. That said, I feel like disabling a lot of things would improve battery life but depending on the apps in question, battery life may not matter much if you can't use the app. It's more an overarching effort I've made to only install dedicated apps for things that I really use enough to need a dedicated app. Since I only check Facebook 2 or 3 times during a typical week it didn't seem to be very important for me to keep their app(s). I can still check it out every so often when I'm bored and want to see what people are up to but I don't have yet another background app taking up resources or battery capacity.

regularjack 11y ago
m.facebook.com works pretty well too. I started using it due to Facebook asking for more and more permissions for its mobile app and never looked back.
- TheCapn 11y ago
  I'm the same as you. When they started wanting (virtually) total control of my phone I axed the app and made a bookmark on my browser. It works amazingly well, arguably better than the app for my needs since I'm mostly a consumer, it has its issues occasionally when trying to make posts but that's pretty few and far between.

morgante 11y ago

> I accessed Facebook for the same amount of time, and for the same purposes, using the social network’s excellent mobile site within Safari, as I had done using the app. He claims this but I'm incredibly skeptical and it doesn't seem like any actual controls were put in place. The app is a much more addictive experience than the mobile web version, not to mention that it packs in more functionality. Push notifications alone probably double my daily Facebook usage.

drchiu 11y ago

Perhaps the battery savings are because people stop checking their social network 5-10x per day?

ehmorris 11y ago

I use the app occasionally, and it's only used 2% of my battery on average over the past 7 days, according to the battery section in my settings. I turned off background refresh. Strange that the author is going through a guesstimate process when there's a built-in tool that'll tell you exactly how much juice an app uses, and if it's mostly from background activity.

joshstrange 11y ago

But at what cost? /s Joking aside I've got a couple friends who don't use the app and will only use the web version and watching them use it is painful. It's not as easily to move around and do everything you can do on the mobile app. Also they normally take this stance with messenger as well which makes talking in groups with them painful as they are always slow to respond. If we were all on iOS we would probably just use iMessage but with the mix of iOS/Android FB is the best medium normally to plan/talk.

hatty 11y ago

This doesn't seem groundbreaking or mysterious. Battery stats are available for every application in settings > battery. I took a moment to reflect on the background usage for Facebook, and I turned that off. I did not delete the app. You can do the same thing in general > background app refresh. You'll still get notifications, and your newsfeed will refresh only when you open the app.

kdamken 11y ago
Thank you for adding some sanity here. If someone's that obsessed with battery life, they can always delete all the apps off the phone and stay in airplane mode unless making a call. But then again, some people like to actually use their smart phone.
- samastur 11y ago
  There's more to world than your little corner. Last year I worked on development project with youth in Bolivia. It was common for them to use Facebook's website instead of app because it saved battery and data, both of which are extremely important to you if you are a poor teenager in a country with fairly expensive internet using a low-spec smartphone with generally poor battery life. This way they could get a bit more out of it than they would otherwise which is a perfectly rational choice that doesn't deserve to be mocked.
  - kdamken 11y ago
    True, but is this article really directed to poor kids in Bolivia? Maybe if you're a poor teenager in a developing country, you should focus on saving your money rather than blowing it on a cell phone and data plan.
    - samastur 11y ago
      I don't think this comment is fair to them. Computers are less widespread than phones because latter are cheaper and you can also take them where (cheaper or free) connection is. They are not just an entertainment device although they use it for that too (and why shouldn't they?). Any research for school or otherwise will be done through phones as libraries for many are not easy to reach or well stocked. And social networks play an important information role beyond socialising that every human person needs purely for health benefits.

Kiro 11y ago

> On average I had 15% more battery left by 10.30pm each day. I wouldn't rely on this study. Why not use a battery measurement tool instead?

forgottenpass 11y ago
15% is a big enough difference that such a coarse methodology is fine to draw preliminary conclusions. Of course you could instrument better, but this is a writer at The Guardian, of whom I don't expect the technical prowess to do so, and the article (or what I skimmed of it) doesn't overstate his findings.

fixermark 11y ago

I find this on my Android phone also. Fortunately, m.facebook.com works really well for managing a Facebook account.

Spooks 11y ago
I definitely prefer the m.facebook.com over the actual app, I haven't used the app for a while, so it would be unfair for me to judge it now. But I have no need to download the official app.

FussyZeus 11y ago

For other iPhone users: I've gotten quite used to using the Paper app. It's an excellent interface (though it's a lot of gestures, so it has a learning curve) and gets you all the same content with a whole lot less shit in my experience (promoted posts and the like.) Also seems like it doesn't use the background trickiness that the regular app is full of. You get your notifications and messages same as in the regular one too, though a lot prettier. Also: Speaking as an iOS developer, I can say with certainty that Facebook only gets away with this because it's Facebook. We've had a few binaries rejected for bad optimization, I can't believe Apple is kowtowing to Facebook so hard as to allow such atrocious software into the App Store. Well, actually I can believe it. Still ticks me off though.

acheron 11y ago
Yes, I still use Paper too. Unfortunately it seems like Facebook has given up on it: there hasn't been an update in quite awhile, it's missing some features of the web site (nested replies are the most obvious in my experience), and they've started removing some of the news categories. Hope they come back to it, though considering the main reasons I use it are a) no ads and b) don't have to install separate Messenger app, the app's existence probably goes against all corporate policy, so it's probably being left for dead.

diogenescynic 11y ago

I uninstalled Facebook on my iPhone 6 Plus last week, after reading a few of these articles. In my anecdotal experience, it's saving me anywhere from 20-40% of battery a day.

Ali_cpp 11y ago

Their app also leaks memory like HELL. Just take a look at the storage being used by it in Settings.app under memory usage. I periodically delete the app & reinstall it to free up all that space. Sloppy engineering...

0x0 11y ago
It'd be more accurate to say it leaks disk space (probably for cache), not memory. But I agree it's pretty brutal.
- Ali_cpp 11y ago
  I took everyone's advice. Deleted the app for good & I'm going to give the mobile web app a try. So far, so good.

overcast 11y ago

I had the same experience months ago, the built in battery usage indicator always had it at the top, and it was a confirmed issue that was "resolved" in future builds. Decided it was best for Facebook and myself to depart for the new year. Too much time, and battery usage wasted. Removed app, deactivated account, 6S lasts for almost two days.

heavymark 11y ago

That seems pretty obvious, in that it's the app most users spend the most of their time on. I'm surprised the percentage isn't even higher. If a person spends 30 or 40% of their time using their phone in the Facebook app, it's clearly going to use a large percentage of the battery life. Not being of bad app coding, but rather battery use is based on how much a user spends using different apps or different features.

verbify 11y ago
Somebody didn't read the article: > Testing reveals Facebook iOS app drains battery life, even when it isn’t being used, and that using Safari instead will make an iPhone last longer and > I accessed Facebook for the same amount of time, and for the same purposes, using the social network’s excellent mobile site within Safari, as I had done using the app.
belorn 11y ago
This isn't about active use, but about the background process.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]

samsolomon 11y ago

I uninstalled FB from my phone about a year ago. The main reason was that I didn't want to install Messenger, and was sick of them limiting the app. I discovered a few other things: - Improved battery life, as the article mentions - Mobile web is actually much faster than the Android app - I spent a lot less time looking, getting notified about crap If you've got the app installed on your phone, I'd encourage you to give uninstalling it a shot.

mandlar 11y ago
And if you really want notifications, they can still be enabled via the Google Chrome app when you visit the Facebook website.
- untog 11y ago
  Not an iPhone user here - do you mean that the Chrome app on iOS has Web Push notification support?
  - fgandiya 11y ago
    It doesn't look like it does yet. http://caniuse.com/#search=Notifications http://caniuse.com/#search=Notifications
    - untog 11y ago
      Shame. I wonder if Google could shim it into Chrome iOS?
      - jon-wood 11y ago
        They should be able to. Embedded Safari allows you to define JavaScript APIs to interface with your app, and the app can register for push notifications.
      - jon-wood 11y ago
        They should be able to. Embedded Safari allows you to define JavaScript APIs to interface with your app, and the app can register for push notifications.

TACIXAT 11y ago

On Android, there was no way to tell it to not run in the background 24/7. That's what led me to uninstall it. I've recently replaced it with the mobile site running in Hermit. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.chimbori.hermitcrab&hl=en https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.chimbori.h...

StavrosK 11y ago
Android 6 does that (killing background apps) by default, so it's probably going to be better there. That said, I never installed Facebook, because it's just not that useful versus the website.

0x0 11y ago

What's weird is that every time this story gets some traction, facebook apparently claim it's "not true", or admit there was a small "bug" that kept the app active. This sounds pretty crazy to me. You really have to go out of your way to run in the background on iOS, particularly for more than a few seconds/minutes after being backgrounded, and especially when background processing is turned off. Yet, still I often see "time on screen 1.5hours; time in background 4hours". Even after the admitted "bugs" were "fixed". It's hard to believe this is an accident.

thecupisblue 11y ago
It's not an accident or bug, they're just trying to spin it away. Their apps aren't engineered or architected, they're hacked together and held by miracle glue and it's gone so far that I bet even they aren't sure if they can rewrite it from scratch. That is the reason for all the leaks, bugs and drains they have. They even brag about their hacks.
- ethanbond 11y ago
  Yeah, it's a really sad culture. Who could've guessed that "move fast and break things" results in lots of broken things?

mrmondo 11y ago

Not only did it save me battery life, if also made me more productive. I found that Facebook has become just not rally relevant these days?

binarymax 11y ago

Note: if you had location services on for Facebook, and then uninstall the app, Facebook location services remains ON, because it is part of the iOS base install. I'm not sure whether it continues sending info to their servers, but to be certain make sure to disable it after uninstalling.

acdha 11y ago
Do you have a citation for that? If you've uninstalled the Facebook app it shouldn't even show up in location services (or the system services).

cm2187 11y ago

What I don't understand is that neither in the privacy/location services or in the facebook app setting can I find a setting to disable access to the gps for the facebook app. I am not naive enough to assume facebook doesn't log gps locations. Does the app have a behind the scene access in iOS?

ascagnel_ 11y ago
Settings -> Privacy (grey palm icon at the bottom of the 3rd group) -> Location Services. You can block location data gathering at the phone OS level; however, that won't help you against FB attempting geolocate your phone's IP server-side.
- cm2187 11y ago
  That's my point. I don't see the facebook app in this list. Despite having it installed and being logged in.
  - ascagnel_ 11y ago
    In that case, you may not have done anything in the app that asks for location (only then will the app attempt to register itself for location privileges).

ulfw 11y ago

It's one of the shittiest apps anyway. 111MB size? I mean honestly. What exactly does THAT mobile app need 111 Megabytes for?

martiuk 11y ago
For the millions of classes it needs due to the developers adding classes for every feature rather than adding it to pre-existing classes: http://quellish.tumblr.com/post/126712999812/how-on-earth-the-facebook-ios-application-is-so http://quellish.tumblr.com/post/126712999812/how-on-earth-th...
- userbinator 11y ago
  In other words, it's typical "enterprise Java" style. I worked with code like that for a short time, and it's not just wasteful of machine resources; debugging and maintaining such code is a horrible experience.
5h 11y ago
Looking at my phone, a few make me wonder how we got here today. Skype 149MB, Chrome 134MB, Sheets 122MB, Slides 115MB, Docs 101MB, Outlook 101MB, HSBC 73.97MB, Uber 60.98, Fitbit 79.77 ... Skpye, HSBC, Uber & Fitbit all seem way larger than they should be I've never knowingly used the Slides app.
- roddux 11y ago
  I'd hazard a guess that part of the reason is about storing multiple copies of textures at different resolutions. At least, I think it works that way on the Apple store.
  - ksec 11y ago
    That is no longer the case since iOS 9 I think. Unless they didn't update / use the new App Thinning function. But even if they get 30% reduction promised by App Thinning, they are still HUGE!.

jasonshah1233 11y ago

While I don't have quantifiable metrics, I think this is true of Instagram as well. I noticed that, after uninstalling Instagram, I was able to get through a full day on my 2-yr-old Moto X (vs. dying around 8pm).

raesene4 11y ago
that chimes with my experience. I've got a MotoG 3rd Gen which has a pretty good battery life. I installed Instagram and it was draining much faster and looking at the battery information it had drained about 20-30% of the charge and much more than any other app.

misiti3780 11y ago

I notice similar improvements after removing Facebook from my phone - it's been gone a year - most people I hang out with rarely use Facebook anymore anyways

nilkn 11y ago

The Facebook app is one of the worst out there (among high profile apps), but their mobile website is one of the very best. I just use the latter.

Reason077 11y ago

The author does not explain whether he turned "Background App Refresh" OFF for the Facebook app. When this setting is OFF, Facebook should not be able to use CPU when it is not on screen. Facebook have been caught using dirty tricks in the past to get around the Background App Refresh setting, but my understanding is that those were fixed.

thewarrior 11y ago

A tip for all you Android users out there. Step 1 : Uninstall both Facebook and Facebook Messenger. Step 2 (Optional) : Use Metal instead of the Facebook App : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nam.fbwrapper https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nam.fbwrap... Step 3 (Optional) :Use Disa instead of Facebook Messenger : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.disa https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.disa Step 4 : Enjoy your vastly improved responsiveness and battery life.

kemayo 11y ago
For iOS there's Friendly: https://itunes.apple.com/in/app/friendly-for-facebook/id400169658?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/in/app/friendly-for-facebook/id4001... A review-ish thing: http://www.guidingtech.com/41701/facebook-ios-app-alternative/ http://www.guidingtech.com/41701/facebook-ios-app-alternativ...

tedmiston 11y ago

This seems like a roundabout to go about finding the useful data. If a few others could just open Settings > Battery > Last 7 Days, then tap on Facebook, I'd like to see your numbers. 48 min on screen, 13 min background, 2% of overall battery Note: Background App Refresh for Fb was set to off! The ratio of background time to screen time is high but Facebook isn't the worst offender. For example: Instagram - 5.8 hrs on screen, 1.5 hrs background, 18% Snapchat - 57 min on screen, 1.4 hrs background (whoa), 3%

hornbaker 11y ago
iPhone 6+ here. Facebook isn't in my top 15 battery users for last 7 days (lowest 5 on the list take 1% each), even though it's been open in the background the whole time and I check in there on average once daily. In short, not a problem for me. Like parent says, make sure you turn OFF "Background App Refresh" for the FB app.
cowpewter 11y ago
My top few: * Facebook - 2.7 hrs screen, 4.5 hrs bg, 42% * Tumblr - 2.8 hrs screen, 27 min bg, 19% * Safari - 1.1 hrs screen, 11% Facebook does seem to be a prime offender in my case, but I don't think I have background refresh disabled.
- bpicolo 11y ago
  Facebook: 14 min on, 1.8 back, 3%. (iPhone 6 iOS 9.2.x) Overall, those Facebook numbers are fine (for Last 7 days). Nothing like 15%
corin_ 11y ago
Facebook - 30min screen, 1.5hr background, 3% Twitter - 3.7hr screen, 32min background, 14% Skype - 1.1hr screen, 35min background, 6% WhatsApp - 1.5hr screen, 4.8hr background, 5% (iPhone 5s)
orbitur 11y ago
- 1.3hrs on screen - 2.9hrs background (!!!!) - 8% overall (not bad) edit: fixed list, HN needs to add proper markdown

tedmiston 11y ago

One unmentioned downside - I'm not sure that it's possible to use Facebook Login without the mobile app.

thrownaway2424 11y ago

This is true for lots of apps. For example I don't use the Gmail app nor any other mail app for iOS because the sync traffic kills the battery. I just use Gmail's excellent mobile web site, which also means I don't get interrupted by notifications and I read my email at the time and place of my own choosing. Calendar is another battery killer. I found that I can use calendar apps but I can't sync the calendars of middle managers at work because all they do all day long is attend meetings and fiddle with their schedules, and again the sync traffic clobbers the battery. But if I just sync my own calendars it doesn't seem to matter. I wonder if the Facebook battery usage is proportional to how many friends you have in your network, of if it just uses a lot of energy regardless.

jchendy 11y ago
> which also means I don't get interrupted by notifications and I read my email at the time and place of my own choosing FWIW, you can also turn off notifications with the app, which is what I've done for as long as I've had a smart phone.

cwyers 11y ago

You can keep the battery fully charged even longer if you turn the phone off, too.

cavisne 11y ago

I bet putting my phone in airplane mode would save battery too.. That said its another reason why it was smart to split out messenger. If I had to chose between text and calls or messenger I would have to pick messenger. Facebook I can take or leave but events is pretty important, plus instant articles are great (as an example of something you cant get in the browser).

exelius 11y ago
The point is that most of us probably don't use the app all that much anymore, so removing it probably isn't a big inconvenience. The article also mentions something I noticed a while ago too: mobile Safari is both faster and better on battery life than Chrome or any alternate browser. This makes sense - the alternative browsers are essentially running Safari under the hood anyway - but is still true. However, I found this to be true on my MacBook Pro as well: Safari uses far less power and is significantly faster than Chrome. And while I think Chrome is far superior to Safari as far as features go, it's also hard to justify why my browser consumes more resources than VMWare Fusion running Windows 10.
- cavisne 11y ago
  Very true, although chrome has recently updated to use the new iOS web view and it's much nicer. Chrome does need a lot of work on OS X but I'm too locked into things like devtools at this point

deleted 11y ago

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wnevets 11y ago

It's easily the worst app on the android. I've switched to using a chrome shortcut with notifications enabled, haven't looked back.

mephi5t0 11y ago

disable background app refresh in the settings?

esaym 11y ago

I mainly have the app installed so I can use the "Nearby Friends" feature as I enjoy spying on my wife and random friends. I think the video calling is pretty good too on the app. Of course the last time I video called someone was in the early 2000's using 320x240 webcams so I might be a little biased quality wise. I haven't really noticed battery drain but since I normally work at home, I keep my phone on "Airplane" mode so I don't waste battery maintaining a cell connection (the phone has wifi calling which can receive calls and sms). This is a samsung galaxy core prime. If I don't use it and let it sit there at idle, after 2 days it will have only used 20-30% battery.

jacquesm 11y ago
> I mainly have the app installed so I can use the "Nearby Friends" feature as I enjoy spying on my wife and random friends. Creepy.

knodi123 11y ago

about 3 years ago, I switched from the FB app to the FB mobile site, and performance on that site skyrocketed. I don't know how you screw up a mobile app that badly, but they found a way. Shocking to read that 3 years later (today) it's still a horrible app, vastly inferior to the mobile web version.

Amanjeev 11y ago

I wonder if its the same for Facebook messenger app.

rjohnk 11y ago

On my admittedly low-end 1st gen Moto E, Facebook gobbles up RAM and limited storage space like the plague. It's web interface for me. Makes me wonder if they are downloading an entire SQL database onto my phone. It's terrible app in terms of lightness

k_bx 11y ago

The only big issue with mobile app I found is that you can't just "send to" an image into it to create a post. Not sure if web standards are being developed towards that direction, since I am not sure how would that even look like in terms of user-experience.

pazra 11y ago

Surely it can't be doing anything in the background if you use the task manage to kill the app? If so, uninstallation isn't the only option in order to save battery life.

ZoF 11y ago

Uninstalling Facebook from my life increased productivity by 15% as well.

kerneltime 11y ago

I installed opera mobile and use it exclusively for FB and use incognito mode while on desktop.. that said some how FB ads still picks up on my amazon shopping trends.. need to dig through more.

digi_owl 11y ago
Unless you use something like Tor and the relevant browser, they still have your IP address and things like browser user agent to "fingerprint" you.

izzydata 11y ago

Disabling your facebook account saves up to 15% of your life. edit: Damn, someone already made this joke. Sorry guys. I thought I was being clever.

r1ch 11y ago

It's bad enough that FB have to offer a "Lite" version for people lacking high-end smart phones. It's basically a wrapper around the mobile site + push notifications. I recently switched to it and don't really miss anything from the original app, and as a bonus I get chat without having to install the equally bloated FB Messenger app. https://www.facebook.com/lite/ https://www.facebook.com/lite/ Signed APKs are available from various sites, the Google Play rollout doesn't seem to include Western countries.

hacker42 11y ago
I wished this was available on iOS.

runjake 11y ago

Another point of reference on battery use: I use the Facebook app for maybe 5 minutes total a week on my iPhone. Under the Battery settings for the past 24 hours, it shows it's used 5% of my battery for "background tasks". I don't recall opening the Facebook app in the past 24 hours.

api 11y ago

Facebook has found this odd niche that involves being utterly creepy and obnoxious but very hard to get rid of. It's like the corporate version of a crazy manipulative codependent "friend" who you can't get out of your life because your friends are into them.

gargs 11y ago

It doesn't get mentioned quite as frequently, but one major benefit of using their mobile site is the capability to use iOS share and content blocking extensions. Find something interesting? Just open it in a new tab so that you don't lose your position in the feed.

slac 11y ago

On my Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge, Facebook is preinstalled and cannot be removed. I guess I can always log out.

macintux 11y ago

Interesting talk from Facebook engineers about their iOS efforts over the years: https://youtu.be/XhXC4SKOGfQ https://youtu.be/XhXC4SKOGfQ

CM30 11y ago

Wonder how much battery life removing Twitter saves? I'd have thought that'd update far more often than Facebook, which would kill more and more of the battery every time the news feed refreshes.

alexgrcs 11y ago

So this is what React Native is for?

mesozoic 11y ago

This is one of the poorest executions of an experiment I've ever read about. Read the post and the author obviously has no idea about methodology and then goes on to claim very precise results in his headline.

koberstein 11y ago

Probably because the app is constantly scanning for beacons. https://www.facebook.com/business/a/facebook-bluetooth-beacons https://www.facebook.com/business/a/facebook-bluetooth-beaco...

perseusprime11 11y ago

It will also save 40% of your time.