Facebook on Android just eats your battery

NeilF · 10 Jan 2017 at 13:58

So I've even tried setting Facebook so it can't do anything without a wifi connection, and it still eats up my battery. Today, with me having hardly used my phone, yet alone the Facebook app, it's used 56% of my battery! :eek:

That's unusually high, but it is always the (if not one of the) highest battery users...

I think I need to look at an alternative app for Facebook that doesn't think it's the most important app on my phone!

NeilF · 10 Jan 2017 at 14:15

Liquid_Entity said:
Your phone mate. Mine has been in use since I took it off charge at 6am. Facebook used 3% of that.

Having previously looked, it's a common complaint with the app.

Google "android facebook app battery" for example... Behold

NeilF · 10 Jan 2017 at 14:16

tom_e said:
Has it used 56% of your battery or 56% of the charge used? They're 2 very different things.

Either way try a uninstall and reinstall, mine doesn't even appear in the top half of my battery usage list unless I'm actively using it heavily.

As a rule, it's the phones top user... Or in the top 2-3 uses...

I think it's a common problem at least on some Androids... Google "android facebook app battery"

NeilF · 10 Jan 2017 at 17:11

And the second highest battery user today? Messenger!!! I've not even used it!

NeilF · 10 Jan 2017 at 17:20

Cannonuk said:
Same for me and one of my colleagues today. Only today though!

Thanks for the info...

Be interesting to see what the next few days are like!

NeilF · 10 Jan 2017 at 17:42

Does Metal offer any sort of Messenger facilities? I assume not!?

I'll swear the battery on my phone today is just terrible!

NeilF · 10 Jan 2017 at 19:58

GMac11 said:
I've always heard this but I can't say I've ever experienced it, as of 19:15 today Facebook has used 2% from phone being taken off charge this morning.
I'm not a Facebook fiend though it should be said, I might bring it up 2 or 3 times a day for a 5 minute browse and that would be it.
Even on past devices I've not noticed Facebook being excessive. I tried metal quite recently but it just doesn't have the same ease of use and cross-app support as the regular Facebook app.

I've hardly used Facebook and Messenger today... Yet their battery and CPU time was monstrous!

Facebook has nearly 7hrs of CPU time, with only 19s CPU foreground! Messenger was two and a half hours!

Third was "Android System" with 29mins...

NeilF · 10 Jan 2017 at 20:14

SexyGreyFox said:
Anybody mentioned METAL?

Of course they have.
Ditch Facebook & Messenger and install that - just get used to it.

That's where I'll probably be heading... Just interested to see how the software behaves tomorrow, because although generally bad, today is epically bad!

NeilF · 11 Jan 2017 at 09:46

Today, having not even used Facebook, my usage is just its normal (still terrible) 25% of my battery...

NeilF · 11 Jan 2017 at 11:27

Hyburnate said:
Why haven't you uninstalled it? The app is garbage.

Don't see any choice but too... Just interested in yesterday's bizarre ultra usage at the moment!

NeilF · 11 Jan 2017 at 11:45

BIGWEB said:
Installed and moved to metal

...and thoughts so far?

NeilF · 11 Jan 2017 at 17:47

mame said:
Fancy seeing this today! my battery life has been poor the past few days. Facebook was using a large % of it, especially as I hadn't used it that much. Yesterday, I deleted the app (which just took it back to a really old version) and then updated it and signed in and it's been fine today. It hasn't even appeared under that battery stats

So you removed the Facebook app, and then re-installed it? And that had a positive outcome?

I don't understand if you uninstalled it how you were left with an old version?

NeilF · 11 Jan 2017 at 17:48

Egon said:
What phone Neil?

Samsung S4 mini.

NeilF · 12 Jan 2017 at 13:33

mrk said:
The battery drain was a server side issue, not app related issue. I've never had FB or Messenger apps registering on the battery use screen personally.

You're lucky then...

Yesterday was obviously exceptionally high, but a lot of Android users regularly see 20%+ of their battery going on Facebook, even with no usage etc.

NeilF · 12 Jan 2017 at 13:51

mrk said:
A lot? I've never seen any evidence to show such a high number of users having this issue. Not saying there may not be an issue, but the recent report that battery drain some users faced was a server side Facebook issue rather than the app shows it isn't always local.

For example, in Samsung's app power monitor, the FB main app is 0.12% an hour based on trend data it has gathered since the app was installed. That's next to nothing and doesn't even register under the main battery usage screen in Android.

Define "a lot" or "high numbers"?

All I can say is it seems to be common enough such that there's numerous articles and posts on the internet from people suffering from it, and trying to resolve it. Just do a google for "android facebook app battery"...

NeilF · 12 Jan 2017 at 14:21

mrk said:
There are always a bunch of articles posted every few months about the "issue" but in reality I have never heard someone say to me that they've noticed battery drain due to Facebook's apps.

Well, if it changes your point of view and persective then...

My facebook app, and quite often messenger, uses lot of my battery on a regular daily basis.

Typically the facebook app for me uses 20-30% of the battery, and this is often with little/no use. (And it not even as a loaded app).

As I type this, I've gone into Facebook once today, and then closed the app, and its usage is 30%.

And I suspect there's other people in this thread who will report similar behaviour...

NeilF · 12 Jan 2017 at 14:45

mrk said:
What phone do you have? And It sounds like doze isn't working properly by not detecting the app sleep state, so isn't dozing Facebook when idle (hence the wakelocks).

If this is the case, then GSam Monitor will drill down wakelocks and show you exactly what part of an app is sucking battery.

Samsung S4 mini in my case...

As for "doze" not working? No other app I have is demonstrating such issues (battery usage).

NeilF · 12 Jan 2017 at 16:19

MissChief said:
Generally speaking I use the app daily and never have a problem. On that particular day though, my usage was way more than usual, the phone was significantly warmer than usual and my battery was around 60% lower than normal at the same point in the day. it's been fine since as well.

I suspect the majority of Android users don't encounter problems. But I'm certain there's a solid number of Android users who do, myself being one of them.

When I get around to it, I'll uninstall Facebook and reinstall and see if that helps... Failing that I'll move to Metal or something.

27% today so far!

NeilF · 17 Jan 2017 at 10:41

Well, on Sunday I uninstalled Messenger then Facebook, then rebooted my phone, re-installed Facebook and then Messenger...

I've since then had light usage of those apps, and they've not even registered on my power usage!

Before, no matter what, they'd account for 20-30%!

So uninstalling and re-installing has seemingly (amazingly) made a huge difference!

NeilF · 20 Jan 2017 at 09:03

NeilFawcett said:
Well, on Sunday I uninstalled Messenger then Facebook, then rebooted my phone, re-installed Facebook and then Messenger...

I've since then had light usage of those apps, and they've not even registered on my power usage!

Before, no matter what, they'd account for 20-30%!

So uninstalling and re-installing has seemingly (amazingly) made a huge difference!

So after a week, the same story! - The most I've see Facebook use (even after some reasonable use) is just 3%!

So anyone seeing high battery use? Try uninstalling, rebooting, re-installing.