I uninstalled FB from my phone about a year ago. The main reason was that I didn't want to install Messenger, and was sick of them limiting the app. I discovered a few other things:
- Improved battery life, as the article mentions
- Mobile web is actually much faster than the Android app
- I spent a lot less time looking, getting notified about crap
If you've got the app installed on your phone, I'd encourage you to give uninstalling it a shot.
Went through the same process about 3 or 4 months ago. I was uninstalling from an android phone (so not exactly the same experience) but I was pleasantly surprised by how usable the mobile web app was. Also, how much happier I became when I wasn't killing time looking at inane "content".
If you're at all curious, try uninstalling Facebook from your phone and doing your best not to visit it on your computer for a a few days, maybe a week. It started out (embarassingly, still is) harder than I thought it would be, even though I don't maintain much of a profile on there – it's made me realize exactly how addicting that behavior can be. I do keep the messenger app on my phone so that I can stay in touch with my friends, but in my mind Facebook vs. Messenger are two totally separate products and experiences.
When the Messaging app first came out, I installed it. But I also hated how intrusive the app is. I uninstalled it and switched to just using the web interface.
Unfortunately, typing messages in the web interface on Android is absurdly awful. There is a bug such that the last message you sent remains in the text field invisibly and only shows up when you continue typing. So every time I sent a new message, I had to first hold backspace for ~10 seconds to delete the previous message and clean up the textarea. I got so frustrated doing this I switched back to the Messaging app a week ago.
It's life changing being notification-free (only email + text). I used to have my phone loaded to the brim with apps, now I use maybe 3 or 4 apps regularly tops. Hell, I'm even debating going back to a super barebones flip phone.
I didn't have a choice about uninstalling the app on my old android phone. It was a built in app and all I could do was uninstall updates.
I never installed the update that included the referenced version of messenger.
On my new phone, I have never installed the app. I use use the website and it does 90% of what I want to do without the issue of running extra processes in the background on my phone.
I'm waiting for the day that Facebook depricates and/or discontinues the mobile site to force people onto the app.
This is my experience almost exactly (iOS user). Since then I've started uninstalling all of my apps that have a reasonable mobile web alternative. I'd held on to them from the days when the mobile web wasn't so great.
i did the same thing and was also pleased with the results until the recent change that removed the submit button from the text entry field on comments - now there isnt a way to reply to conversations on facebook.
All arguments for and against FB can pretty much be applied to the internet overall. Given the undeniable popularity and usage of FB I think it's pretty clear it's been a net positive on society. (I'm fine with rebuttals; just make sure your argument couldn't also be used to rebut people having access to the internet in general)
Since ancient times it's been fashionable to diss the newest media. "This invention will produce forgetfulness in the minds of those who learn to use it, because they will not practice their memory" -- Socrates, on writing. Facebook, as a synecdoche for "how the hoi polloi use the internet" is just another example of this. The reality is that my Facebook is a news feed tailored to my interests and reflecting what's happening to the people I care about and as such it's useful.
I found that uninstalling television also saved a lot of time or at least "stopped" me watching random crap.
Anecdotally we had a 2-3 week period where the whole family had no TV/Internet access. I was quite disappointed when it all came back on and the board game nights and even the ad-hoc charades stopped. We do however have weekly game nights. I still consciously choose to only watch "planned" TV programmes.
It makes it a lot easier to keep in contact with family members and to know when there are concerts or other events in the area that I'd be interested in being at. That saves me quite a bit of time.
Wasted? Are you implying that their time might be better applied elsewhere? People should be free to do whatever they want to. If you are talking about FB on the job, well perhaps those employees haven't been given enough work.
I honestly can't answer that but I cold-turkey'd my fb account about 2 years ago and I will never look back. You have to be a god damned fool to keep them posted on your day to day life.
This doesn't seem groundbreaking or mysterious. Battery stats are available for every application in settings > battery. I took a moment to reflect on the background usage for Facebook, and I turned that off. I did not delete the app. You can do the same thing in general > background app refresh. You'll still get notifications, and your newsfeed will refresh only when you open the app.
I'd be interested in knowing my battery stats but all I get is "Battery information will be available after using iPhone for a few minutes" (a solutionless problem that others also have, according to a Google search).
Now I don't use an iPhone as my main device, but many people are reporting that even turning off the background usage for facebook and still see a significant amount of background usage from the app.
iOS allows processes to run in the background (after being in the foreground) for some time even with this setting turned off. So this can be quite a difference (I don't use Facebook, but it's fairly noticeable with Viber).
Thank you for adding some sanity here. If someone's that obsessed with battery life, they can always delete all the apps off the phone and stay in airplane mode unless making a call. But then again, some people like to actually use their smart phone.
What's weird is that every time this story gets some traction, facebook apparently claim it's "not true", or admit there was a small "bug" that kept the app active.
This sounds pretty crazy to me. You really have to go out of your way to run in the background on iOS, particularly for more than a few seconds/minutes after being backgrounded, and especially when background processing is turned off. Yet, still I often see "time on screen 1.5hours; time in background 4hours". Even after the admitted "bugs" were "fixed".
It's not an accident or bug, they're just trying to spin it away.
Their apps aren't engineered or architected, they're hacked together and held by miracle glue and it's gone so far that I bet even they aren't sure if they can rewrite it from scratch. That is the reason for all the leaks, bugs and drains they have. They even brag about their hacks.
It's bad enough that FB have to offer a "Lite" version for people lacking high-end smart phones. It's basically a wrapper around the mobile site + push notifications. I recently switched to it and don't really miss anything from the original app, and as a bonus I get chat without having to install the equally bloated FB Messenger app.
It goes for other phones as well. I ditched the app a while back as they kept trying to push separate apps for chat and such and generally just because I don't read Facebook that often.
Switched over to a third party app called "Tinfoil for Facebook" which essentially just puts the mobile site in a sandboxed and somewhat optimized wrapper for easy mobile browsing. Battery improved as you'd expect by getting rid of one program that does a decent amount of stuff in the background. Nothing massive but it did make a difference.
That said, I feel like disabling a lot of things would improve battery life but depending on the apps in question, battery life may not matter much if you can't use the app. It's more an overarching effort I've made to only install dedicated apps for things that I really use enough to need a dedicated app. Since I only check Facebook 2 or 3 times during a typical week it didn't seem to be very important for me to keep their app(s). I can still check it out every so often when I'm bored and want to see what people are up to but I don't have yet another background app taking up resources or battery capacity.
This seems like a roundabout to go about finding the useful data. If a few others could just open Settings > Battery > Last 7 Days, then tap on Facebook, I'd like to see your numbers.
48 min on screen, 13 min background, 2% of overall battery
Note: Background App Refresh for Fb was set to off!
The ratio of background time to screen time is high but Facebook isn't the worst offender. For example:
Instagram - 5.8 hrs on screen, 1.5 hrs background, 18%
Snapchat - 57 min on screen, 1.4 hrs background (whoa), 3%
I bet putting my phone in airplane mode would save battery too.. That said its another reason why it was smart to split out messenger. If I had to chose between text and calls or messenger I would have to pick messenger. Facebook I can take or leave but events is pretty important, plus instant articles are great (as an example of something you cant get in the browser).
I uninstalled Facebook on my iPhone 6 Plus last week, after reading a few of these articles. In my anecdotal experience, it's saving me anywhere from 20-40% of battery a day.
Their app also leaks memory like HELL. Just take a look at the storage being used by it in Settings.app under memory usage. I periodically delete the app & reinstall it to free up all that space. Sloppy engineering...
Joking aside I've got a couple friends who don't use the app and will only use the web version and watching them use it is painful. It's not as easily to move around and do everything you can do on the mobile app. Also they normally take this stance with messenger as well which makes talking in groups with them painful as they are always slow to respond. If we were all on iOS we would probably just use iMessage but with the mix of iOS/Android FB is the best medium normally to plan/talk.
I had the same experience months ago, the built in battery usage indicator always had it at the top, and it was a confirmed issue that was "resolved" in future builds. Decided it was best for Facebook and myself to depart for the new year. Too much time, and battery usage wasted. Removed app, deactivated account, 6S lasts for almost two days.
The author does not explain whether he turned "Background App Refresh" OFF for the Facebook app.
When this setting is OFF, Facebook should not be able to use CPU when it is not on screen.
Facebook have been caught using dirty tricks in the past to get around the Background App Refresh setting, but my understanding is that those were fixed.
[+] [-] samsolomon|10 years ago|reply
- Improved battery life, as the article mentions
- Mobile web is actually much faster than the Android app
- I spent a lot less time looking, getting notified about crap
If you've got the app installed on your phone, I'd encourage you to give uninstalling it a shot.
[+] [-] kough|10 years ago|reply
If you're at all curious, try uninstalling Facebook from your phone and doing your best not to visit it on your computer for a a few days, maybe a week. It started out (embarassingly, still is) harder than I thought it would be, even though I don't maintain much of a profile on there – it's made me realize exactly how addicting that behavior can be. I do keep the messenger app on my phone so that I can stay in touch with my friends, but in my mind Facebook vs. Messenger are two totally separate products and experiences.
[+] [-] eatonphil|10 years ago|reply
Unfortunately, typing messages in the web interface on Android is absurdly awful. There is a bug such that the last message you sent remains in the text field invisibly and only shows up when you continue typing. So every time I sent a new message, I had to first hold backspace for ~10 seconds to delete the previous message and clean up the textarea. I got so frustrated doing this I switched back to the Messaging app a week ago.
[+] [-] EC1|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] LordKano|10 years ago|reply
I never installed the update that included the referenced version of messenger.
On my new phone, I have never installed the app. I use use the website and it does 90% of what I want to do without the issue of running extra processes in the background on my phone.
I'm waiting for the day that Facebook depricates and/or discontinues the mobile site to force people onto the app.
[+] [-] vlunkr|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tomashertus|10 years ago|reply
Basically, I use only messenger.
[+] [-] mandlar|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] woobar|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] laacz|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] meatsock|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] headgsaket|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jusben1369|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] JulianMorrison|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] awjr|10 years ago|reply
Anecdotally we had a 2-3 week period where the whole family had no TV/Internet access. I was quite disappointed when it all came back on and the board game nights and even the ad-hoc charades stopped. We do however have weekly game nights. I still consciously choose to only watch "planned" TV programmes.
[+] [-] lghh|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] awesomerobot|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] macspoofing|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tomp|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bitserf|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rloc|10 years ago|reply
I use an Android phone that lasts consistently more than 2 days (Sony z3 compact). Of course I don't have Facebook installed...
[+] [-] themoonbus|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bottled_poe|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] coderdude|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hatty|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] infogulch|10 years ago|reply
https://www.reddit.com/r/iphone/comments/3opxhm/facebook_app...
[+] [-] MrBuddyCasino|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] personlurking|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Klathmon|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kisna72|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lelf|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kdamken|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] 0x0|10 years ago|reply
This sounds pretty crazy to me. You really have to go out of your way to run in the background on iOS, particularly for more than a few seconds/minutes after being backgrounded, and especially when background processing is turned off. Yet, still I often see "time on screen 1.5hours; time in background 4hours". Even after the admitted "bugs" were "fixed".
It's hard to believe this is an accident.
[+] [-] thecupisblue|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] r1ch|10 years ago|reply
https://www.facebook.com/lite/
Signed APKs are available from various sites, the Google Play rollout doesn't seem to include Western countries.
[+] [-] soylentcola|10 years ago|reply
Switched over to a third party app called "Tinfoil for Facebook" which essentially just puts the mobile site in a sandboxed and somewhat optimized wrapper for easy mobile browsing. Battery improved as you'd expect by getting rid of one program that does a decent amount of stuff in the background. Nothing massive but it did make a difference.
That said, I feel like disabling a lot of things would improve battery life but depending on the apps in question, battery life may not matter much if you can't use the app. It's more an overarching effort I've made to only install dedicated apps for things that I really use enough to need a dedicated app. Since I only check Facebook 2 or 3 times during a typical week it didn't seem to be very important for me to keep their app(s). I can still check it out every so often when I'm bored and want to see what people are up to but I don't have yet another background app taking up resources or battery capacity.
[+] [-] thewarrior|10 years ago|reply
Step 1 : Uninstall both Facebook and Facebook Messenger.
Step 2 (Optional) : Use Metal instead of the Facebook App : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nam.fbwrap...
Step 3 (Optional) :Use Disa instead of Facebook Messenger : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.disa
Step 4 : Enjoy your vastly improved responsiveness and battery life.
[+] [-] tedmiston|10 years ago|reply
48 min on screen, 13 min background, 2% of overall battery
Note: Background App Refresh for Fb was set to off!
The ratio of background time to screen time is high but Facebook isn't the worst offender. For example:
Instagram - 5.8 hrs on screen, 1.5 hrs background, 18%
Snapchat - 57 min on screen, 1.4 hrs background (whoa), 3%
[+] [-] ulfw|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] izzydata|10 years ago|reply
edit: Damn, someone already made this joke. Sorry guys. I thought I was being clever.
[+] [-] cavisne|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] diogenescynic|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nilkn|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Kiro|10 years ago|reply
I wouldn't rely on this study. Why not use a battery measurement tool instead?
[+] [-] Ali_cpp|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] joshstrange|10 years ago|reply
Joking aside I've got a couple friends who don't use the app and will only use the web version and watching them use it is painful. It's not as easily to move around and do everything you can do on the mobile app. Also they normally take this stance with messenger as well which makes talking in groups with them painful as they are always slow to respond. If we were all on iOS we would probably just use iMessage but with the mix of iOS/Android FB is the best medium normally to plan/talk.
[+] [-] 88e282102ae2e5b|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] overcast|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Reason077|10 years ago|reply
When this setting is OFF, Facebook should not be able to use CPU when it is not on screen.
Facebook have been caught using dirty tricks in the past to get around the Background App Refresh setting, but my understanding is that those were fixed.
[+] [-] fixermark|10 years ago|reply