Facebook Admits Its App Drains iPhone Battery, Releases Fix

It wasn't just you. Facebook really is making your iPhone die faster.
Edward Smith/EMPICS Entertainment

Following users' complaints that the Facebook app was sucking the battery from their iPhones, the company has released a software update and explained in detail what was causing the issue.

In a Facebook post, engineer manager Ari Grant began by pointing to an overworking issue related to processing.

"The first issue we found was a 'CPU spin' in our network code," he wrote. "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."

He also mentioned audio sessions that continued to be active even after the user had closed the app.

"This is similar to when you close a music app and want to keep listening to the music while you do other things, except in this case it was unintentional and nothing kept playing. The app isn't actually doing anything while awake in the background, but it does use more battery simply by being awake," Grant wrote.

The updated iOS app is available in the app store now.

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