While Facebook is one of the most active Android developers in the world, the social media giant doesn’t have the best track record with its main app. A quick glance at the Google Play Store reviews shows that the Facebook app has often been criticized for issues related to battery draining and general performance. Unfortunately, these problems seem to persist to this day. Prompted by writer, Russell Holly, and several Reddit users who recently claimed that Android apps load 15% faster on a device which doesn’t have Facebook and Facebook Messenger installed on it, Tech World Zone (TWZ) decided to investigate these claims.
The findings of this independent test were significant, to say the least. Namely, in a direct comparison with the Metal app which basically acts as a reskin of Facebook’s mobile site, the official Facebook app proved to be a much bigger battery drain. More specifically, the Huawei Nexus 6P on which the initial test was performed was drained 20% more quickly with Facebook installed. These findings were based on average daily values calculated after a full week of testing. It’s also worth noting that TWZ left Facebook Messenger installed on the Nexus 6P when making the switch to Metal and also failed to identify a significant amount of battery consumption caused by the Facebook app itself. However, the huge difference in battery draining levels was evident.
As it turns out, some Android administrations which support certain applications were consuming significantly more battery with the Facebook app installed. Due to that, TWZ concluded that uninstalling the official Facebook app from your device will not only speed it up but also save you up to 20% of your battery. Facebook commented on these findings by stating that it’s currently investigating some reports of speed issues caused by its app but made no specific mention of any battery-related concerns. So, if you’ve recently been experiencing battery drains on your device, consider uninstalling the Facebook app and see whether that helps. Of course, uninstalling the app doesn’t mean stopping using Facebook altogether as there are plenty of other quality alternatives on the Play Store to choose from. In addition to the Metal app mentioned above, Folio is another popular Facebook Android client specifically advertised as being power efficient.