Ever wondered why your battery life drains faster the more apps you keep installing? It may come as a surprise to some that the apps you love most are the biggest culprit. Apps like Facebook, Fitbit, Uber, and Skype are among the worst for your smartphone battery.
A recent analysis performed by cloud storage service pCloud, assessed 100 of the world’s most popular apps to determine which of them put the most strain on smartphone batteries.
In the study, pCloud looked at three things:
- Which built-in functions each app ran in the background – like locations or camera
- What battery percentage does each app use?
- Does the app support dark mode?
By combining these three factors, pCloud was able to identify the worst smartphone battery killers. According to the findings, Fitbit and Verizon accounted for the highest battery percentage usage. Notably, these allowed 14 of the 16 built-in capabilities to operate in the background. They were followed by Uber, Skype, Facebook, and Airbnb. The table below shows the top 20 apps that used the most battery.
| Position | App | Battery percentage |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fitbit | 92% |
| 2 | Verizon | 92% |
| 3 | Uber | 87% |
| 4 | Skype | 87% |
| 5 | 82% | |
| 6 | Airbnb | 82% |
| 7 | Bigo Live | 82% |
| 8 | 79% | |
| 9 | Tinder | 77% |
| 10 | Bumble | 77% |
| 11 | Snapchat | 77% |
| 12 | 77% | |
| 13 | Zoom | 77% |
| 14 | YouTube | 77% |
| 15 | Booking.com | 77% |
| 16 | Amazon | 77% |
| 17 | Telegram | 77% |
| 18 | Grindr | 72% |
| 19 | Likke | 72% |
| 20 | 72% |
Among the top twenty, social media apps accounted for six of the most draining battery-draining smartphone apps. This is because on average, apps like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, WhatsApp and LinkedIn enable 11 features to run in the background.
In iPhone and Android battery use reports, Facebook consistently ranks as the number one and this has always been the case that is why the company has other products like Facebook Lite. Facebook continuously asks for permission to access anything from a user’s contacts to their location.
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All of these background functions require additional power, which results in excessive battery consumption. The image below shows which built-in functions each app ran in the background.
How to boost your smartphone’s battery life
Not all smartphones are the same, they differ in the way that they handle power consumption, there are several easy ways to improve battery life.
Power Saver Mode: If you don’t mind the knock to performance, one of the easiest ways is to turn on power-saving mode. This mode extends the battery life of the phone by reducing data usage, lowering screen brightness, and decreasing CPU performance.
Some smartphones even allow users to decide which apps should use less power or turn off completely when they are not in use.
Airplane mode: You can also control battery usage by turning off your mobile network services or switching to Airplane Mode from the quick settings panel. However, doing so will disrupt all incoming calls and text messages.
No Vibration: In addition, when a phone buzzes or beeps as you receive a notification, this triggers an internal motor that – as you guessed it – uses energy. You can go one step further and turn down the vibration intensity in the sounds and vibration setting.
