Facebook launches new app to fix iPhone battery drain problem

Facebook has released a solution to fix the excessive power loss experienced by users of its app on iPhones. The new app helps batteries save on energy.

The problem has persisted over the past couple of years with Facebook denying it existed at one point. But because of the unending flood complaints about the Facebook app draining battery power far too quickly, Facebook eventually admitted the problem and released the latest fix.

Facebook Engineering Manager Ari Grant wrote in his blog that the social media giant has identified the major issues and has developed additional improvements to boost battery power in the app for iOS, said InformationWeek.

Grant further reassures app users this latest version he calls “CPU spin” is meant to eliminate the app’s unnecessary power consumption. This is good news for app users also interested in knowing what more Facebook is doing to solve this problem.

Another prime reason for losing battery power is that users leave the app after watching a video. This means sessions running in the background tend to cause more battery drain, added Grant.

Matt Galligan, co-founder of Circa, again raised the battery issue in a post on Medium earlier this month. He complained that the Facebook app running on an iPhone 6s accounted for 15 percent of battery consumption, said a report in smallbiztrends.

Some app users, however, allege that location tracking is the hidden reason behind the spike in power consumption. Security researcher Jonathan Zdziarski said Facebook’s Location History is actually to blame.

He noted that if users are constantly moving while using the Facebook app on their iPhones, then the phone’s GPS and networking will drain power from battery.

It’s not the first time Facebook has been accused of causing a huge drain on the iPhone’s battery. Last year, security firm AVG accused Facebook of being the biggest culprit in battery drainage among non-game apps used on Android phones.