Facebook is killing your iPhone's battery, iOS9 power meter shows

iOS9's new battery consumption feature has shown users just how much juice the Facebook app uses up

The new iPhone battery meter shows just how much battery the Facebook app uses up (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/GettyImages)

Facebook's iPhone app is "hijacking" users' batteries and using up far too much power, according to users who have looked at iOS9's new battery usage information.

The toll that the Facebook app takes on battery life has been known for a while, but with the release of Apple's new mobile operating system, which allows iPhone users to see a summary of how much battery their apps are using, more people than ever have realised the impact that the app has.

Federico Viticci, a tech journalist who wrote an enormous 48,000 word review of Apple's latest mobile operating system, made his feelings known in a blog post on MacStories.

Even with the background app refresh feature turned off, he says, Facebook is usually one of the most battery-intensive apps on the iPhone.

"The fact that a company the size of Facebook can't optimize energy consumption of their iOS app is simply ridiculous."

"If they can but don't want to (because of processes they want to run in the background, constant notifications etc) - well, that's even worse."

Facebook's constant refreshing, which keeps users up to date with their latest notifications, does indeed take a toll on battery life.

But even so, the power it does consume seems excessive. On this reporter's iPhone, Facebook spent 3 hours on screen and 4.6 hours in the background over the last 7 days, accounting for 19 per cent of the battery consumption.

WhatsApp, however, another app which has a good reason to be constantly updating, spent 1 hour on screen and 5.4 hours in the background, and only used 5 per cent of the total battery power.

Some users report say that Facebook continues to run in the background even when they have background app refresh turned off for the app. Others say 'audio' on Facebook appears to be eating their battery life, possibly a side-effect of Facebook's auto-playing videos continuing to play silent audio in the background even as users scroll away - something that Viticci describes has "hijacking".

Matt Galligan, founder of the Circa news app, also wrote about his problem with Facebook's battery consumption.

In a post on Medium, he wrote: "It should become a priority of Facebook's to address this. They're letting down each and every one of their customers by letting such an issue remain in their app. Battery drain should be a priority, not an afterthought."

In a statement to TechCrunch, Facebook said they were aware of the battery problem and were working on a fix.

The spokesman said: "We have heard reports of some people experiencing battery issues with our iOS app. We're looking into this and hope to have a fix in place soon."

Users curious to see how much battery each app uses can check by going to Settings>Battery.

For those looking to get a little more life out of their iPhone, Viticci recommends using Facebook in a mobile browser, like Chrome or Safari.