Facebook App draining battery?

Gamble1080 · Sep 14, 2011

Hey there everyone! I noticed that the Facebook application updated this morning, and I started to notice that my Bionic's battery was draining faster than ever!

I looked at the battery information and the Facebook application was at the top using 57% of my battery! It seems like it is constantly looking for a GPS signal too, as I see that flashing in my notifcation bar.

Has anyone else seen this or are there any settings I can change so it doesn't activate my GPS, because thats where I think it is sucking all the battery.

Thanks everyone, love this forum!

amageus · Sep 14, 2011

The new facebook uses location for all your status updates. I am guessing that everytime you try to post it will try to locate the city you are posting in. I believe I have that turned off. Same for when taking pictures. Seems a lot of programs are setup to tag your location. I think you have the ability to turn that off in facebook as I dont show my location when I post.

Travisimo · Sep 14, 2011

Strange. I updated the Facebook app as soon as it was available and I haven't noticed any difference. In fact, Facebook is not even showing up in my battery results list even though I use it quite a bit (mainly just to browse the news feed though, not to post). Not sure if there is a setting to turn off location or not? I didn't see one.

Gamble1080 · Sep 14, 2011

Thanks for the responses! Yeah im not entirely sure what's goin on either! I couldn't find any area in the application that lets me turn off the GPS to just Facebook.

I just uninstalled the app and reinstalled it back. We'll see if that makes a difference.

amageus · Sep 14, 2011

do you keep gps turned on? i find that facebook likes to post my location with gps on and only says mobile with it off. i dont keep my gps on ever unless im using it for maps/navi. it seems that if your gps is on it will automatically try to find your location so it can post it on your status. i couldnt find any way of turning it off.

Travisimo · Sep 14, 2011

Even if Facebook is getting your location when you make a post, it should stop using the GPS as soon as you're done. So something is awry with your Facebook app, it seems. I would try uninstalling it, rebooting, and then re-install it and see what happens. Also make sure you update interval in the settings is far enough apart that it doesn't constantly check for updates (thus taking up more battery).

amageus · Sep 14, 2011

Travisimo said:
Even if Facebook is getting your location when you make a post, it should stop using the GPS as soon as you're done. So something is awry with your Facebook app, it seems. I would try uninstalling it, rebooting, and then re-install it and see what happens. Also make sure you update interval in the settings is far enough apart that it doesn't constantly check for updates (thus taking up more battery).

That is one thing I didnt consider was the facebook widget. I do not use the widget so it is possible if you have your update intervals really low that it would update and for some reason use your gps. Thats assuming youre using the widget. I did notice GPS go away after the post however.

udchemist · Sep 14, 2011

i updated as well and my battery went from 100%-40% overnight....usually it goes from 100-90. looked and saw facebook was the main drain. uninstalled. till they get it fixed i'll just be doing my facebooking online instead.

Gamble1080 · Sep 14, 2011

Yeah, I tried the uninstalling and reinstalling the Facebook app and it seems to work better now. I dont use the Facebook widget and my update intervals are 1 hour apart. Before I uninstalled it was activating GPS everytime I opened the app, but now it seems to be in control.

I guess I didn't consider just turning off the GPS in the power control widget. Would there be any reason that this would be a bad thing? Is there any other apps that consistently use the GPS? I primarily just use it for navigation/maps. How much battery improvement should there be if I just leave it off all the time?

Thanks guys!

amageus · Sep 14, 2011

GPS can suck your battery life if you leave it on and some app decides to use it. The GPS even if on shouldnt keep running unless an app requested it. I know when I have GPS on and dont use maps/navi it doesnt display an icon in the notification bar.

jleonard711 · Sep 20, 2011

I am having this EXACT same problem with my Bionic. The FB app seems to run constantly even after I kill it with the Task Killer - I'll kill it, exit Task Killer, then open TM right back up and the FB app is open again. I was at 100% when I took it off the charger this morning at 10am, and now at 2pm (4 hours later) I'm at just 20% and I have only made a handful of phone calls and checked FB once. Oh, and I have updates set at 2 hours so it shouldn't be constantly running at all.

I'll try uninstalling and reinstalling to see if that helps.

marine one · Sep 20, 2011

I'm a big fan of the Power Control widget. I have it installed on my Bionic and also had it on my OG Droid. It allows you to quickly toggle on/off your WiFi, Bluetooth,GPS, account updates and to set your screen brightness. As a general rule, I leave the GPS turned off unless I specifically need it for something.

bigstew · Sep 27, 2011

VideoSurf as well!

http://androidforums.com/motorola-d...rf-draining-battery-facebook.html#post3255935

the dmg · Sep 27, 2011

bigstew said:
VideoSurf as well!

http://androidforums.com/motorola-d...rf-draining-battery-facebook.html#post3255935

My main issue right now is with Social Location. It's using close to 90% of my battery when I'm not using the phone. Auto-sync and GPS functions are all off.

gjlamb · May 2, 2012

Had the same issue on my GSII. CPU went through the roof whenever I opened Facebook app and battery drained fast. In FB app settings, turned off Messenger location services and all is good. No high CPU and no battery heat up.

Thom · May 2, 2012

It is calling Social Location in the background and using GPS. Social Location is documented as perhaps the biggest consumer of battery on the Bionic (after mobile hotspot of course).

... Thom

dautley · May 2, 2012

According to "battery use" the new FB has used 4% of my battery over the last 8 hours.

Facebook App draining battery?

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