Not a lot of people blame software for their battery life woes, but it’s among the most commonly neglected causes, especially if you have Facebook on your phone (which of course you do).
Tech World Zone threw light on the issue when they conducted tests using a Nexus 6P and Metal, an memory friendly alternative app for using Facebook and Twitter.
After several retests, it was found that the phone’s battery lasted 20 percent longer after the original Facebook app was uninstalled. Following the website’s test, several users on Reddit also tested those claims and found them to be mostly true.
Facebook messes up with RAM and is a huge battery hogger. It’s usually okay for an app to run while you don’t use it but in the case with the Facebook app, it still does even though you’re not connected via mobile data or wifi. Apps shouldn’t work like that, otherwise it proves to be futile. The main purpose Facebook runs in the background is to constantly provide notifications and better startup times.
– /u/dominicedcel on Reddit
The app is apparently optimized better on iOS than on Android, with which it has a bittersweet relationship. The issues culminated when Facebook itself accepted the memory-hogging nature of the app late last year. The company subsequently updated the app promising the changes, but the differences will be hard to notice for most users.
It has since released a statement claiming to be testing these issues and notifying its users in due time:
We have heard reports of a few people encountering speed issues coming from our Android application. We are investigating this and will update you as often as possible. We are focused on keeping on enhancing these issues.
We bet even after this news, most users will prefer to keep the app intact on their phones, however, saving a fifth of the battery will be a big enough incentive for some heavy users. At least, you have a cleaner alternative in Metal, now.
