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Yeah, challenges Facebook themselves created by writing the most bloat app ever written https://www.facebook.com/notes/facebook-engineering/under-the-hood-dalv

by pawadu 10y ago

Yeah, challenges Facebook themselves created by writing the most bloat app ever written https://www.facebook.com/notes/facebook-engineering/under-the-hood-dalvik-patch-for-facebook-for-android/10151345597798920 https://www.facebook.com/notes/facebook-engineering/under-th...

iainmerrick 10y ago
Facebook is one of the most feature-rich apps available for Android. With features like push notifications, news feed, and an embedded version of Facebook Messenger (a complete app in its own right) all working together in real-time, the complexity and volume of code creates technical challenges that few, if any, other Android developers face I've never understood why the Facebook client is so heavy. That isn't a long list of features! It seems like the requirements could be written on the back of an envelope. Obviously part of the reason is that they move fast and have a lot of developers, so there's much more pressure to add code than to keep it trimmed down. But the client still doesn't do all that much. Surely, surely most of the logic is handled on the server.
lxgr 10y ago
I've noticed they are now doing a similar thing now for push notifications. Instead of using the platform-provided, battery efficient GCM (now FCM), they insist on using their own MQTT push solution. Not only does this require a constantly running background service and a TCP socket which has to be reopened on every connectivity change (e.g. a switch from wi-fi to mobile data): They do it for every single one of their apps. My phone has at least three of them (Instagram, Facebook, Messsenger), and I'm pretty sure that this is a major reason for battery life problems on Android.
- yegle 10y ago
  You can at least uninstall Facebook.app: use m.facebook.com in chrome, you can even get push notification via Chrome.
  - j_s 10y ago
    Also: https://mbasic.facebook.com https://mbasic.facebook.com
  - NoGravitas 10y ago
    The Facebook mobile web page has been going through so much churn lately, I feel like they are working to make it less desirable relative to the app. Disabling access to messages was one of the big ones, but they also regularly change how the sharing links work (to where you can or cannot share from a given action). One of the most recent and enjoyable changes is that the unread count badge on notifications updates in the background, but the actual notification drop down doesn't. You have to go to the notifications page (see all notifications) to see what the new notification actually is.
  - parthdesai 10y ago
    And can use firefox to access messenger.

by pawadu 10y ago

iainmerrick 10y ago

Facebook is one of the most feature-rich apps available for Android. With features like push notifications, news feed, and an embedded version of Facebook Messenger (a complete app in its own right) all working together in real-time, the complexity and volume of code creates technical challenges that few, if any, other Android developers face I've never understood why the Facebook client is so heavy. That isn't a long list of features! It seems like the requirements could be written on the back of an envelope. Obviously part of the reason is that they move fast and have a lot of developers, so there's much more pressure to add code than to keep it trimmed down. But the client still doesn't do all that much. Surely, surely most of the logic is handled on the server.

lxgr 10y ago

I've noticed they are now doing a similar thing now for push notifications. Instead of using the platform-provided, battery efficient GCM (now FCM), they insist on using their own MQTT push solution. Not only does this require a constantly running background service and a TCP socket which has to be reopened on every connectivity change (e.g. a switch from wi-fi to mobile data): They do it for every single one of their apps. My phone has at least three of them (Instagram, Facebook, Messsenger), and I'm pretty sure that this is a major reason for battery life problems on Android.

yegle 10y ago
You can at least uninstall Facebook.app: use m.facebook.com in chrome, you can even get push notification via Chrome.
- j_s 10y ago
  Also: https://mbasic.facebook.com https://mbasic.facebook.com
- NoGravitas 10y ago
  The Facebook mobile web page has been going through so much churn lately, I feel like they are working to make it less desirable relative to the app. Disabling access to messages was one of the big ones, but they also regularly change how the sharing links work (to where you can or cannot share from a given action). One of the most recent and enjoyable changes is that the unread count badge on notifications updates in the background, but the actual notification drop down doesn't. You have to go to the notifications page (see all notifications) to see what the new notification actually is.
- parthdesai 10y ago
  And can use firefox to access messenger.