The miracle of having a mini little computer always nearby—a.k.a. your cellphone—is astonishing really. The annoying part? The more you stay connected via social media apps, the quicker your phone battery can die. Not fun.
An intrepid British reporter started investigating the effect the Facebook app was having on his Android phone, inspired by a Reddit thread that claimed when Facebook was uninstalled, all other apps ran approximately 15 percent faster. After removing the app from his personal phone, his phone showed 20 percent more battery on average for every day of the week (he was using a Nexus 6P, FYI).
It’s a pretty casual, unofficial experiment, sure, but the numbers seem pretty convincing: Facebook was consuming a lot of background powder, regardless of how much status updating you were actually doing. And while Android users seem to be reporting the most annoyance, it stands to reason that the problem could be happening for iPhone folks too, especially if you’re forever feeling baffled at how quickly your phone’s dying.
If that’s all well and good but, hey, you can’t live without easy access to Facebook, there are smart hacks to get your fix while retaining more juice. The reporter used Metal, an app that condenses Facebook and Twitter into one, and also suggested logging into Facebook via your phone’s browser.
Good luck!
