iOS users have been complaining about the Facebook app’s big battery drain. Today Facebook admitted it had a problem — and pushed an update that should help.
In a Facebook post, Facebook Engineering Manager Ari Grant wrote that the company had identified “a few key issues” that the update seeks to fix:
The first issue we found was a “CPU spin” in our network code. A CPU spin is like a child in a car asking, “Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?”with the question not resulting in any progress to reaching the destination. This repeated processing causes our app to use more battery than intended. The version released today has some improvements that should start making this better.
The second issue involved audio sessions. Basically, if you watched a video on Facebook, it continued to play the audio in the background even if you closed out of the app. “The app isn’t actually doing anything while awake in the background, but it does use more battery simply by being awake,” Grant explained.
He assured that the drain hadn’t come from the app’s Location History feature or “anything related to location,” as some had speculated, and stressed that Location History was an optional feature. So while Facebook might be sucking your time away, it’s not tracking your every move (yet).
Update the iOS app for some sweet, sweet battery relief.
[Facebook For iPhone; Ari Grant on Facebook]
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