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nicuramar t1_j6dc4jc wrote

Reply to comment by tinfang in Facebook secretly killed users batteries, worker claims in lawsuit by tyteen4a03

It’s not possible for an app to run constantly in the background on iOS, at least, unless in special cases (recoding or audio streaming mode, completing a data transfer and periodic stuff). But yeah it can still use a fair amount with those activities.

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SuperSecretAgentMan t1_j6ds2le wrote

The fb app literally keeps the phone in audio streaming mode by playing a blank audio stream so it can maintain a constant background state. There were articles posted about it years ago.

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nicuramar t1_j6eihbl wrote

> There were articles posted about it years ago.

The key point is “years ago”, but you used the present tense in your comment. Why? This bug (or not, whatever may be the case) was removed years ago as well.

So no, it literally doesn’t do that.

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nomorerainpls t1_j6euc7o wrote

People here love to tell you how technology works and why companies do what they do.

Also, Reddit technology is perfect and Reddit is perfect company.

Giant echo chamber.

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sirzoop t1_j6fmjhd wrote

Reddit is as bad as Facebook and Twitter.

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whateverisok t1_j6f3y6h wrote

Not on iOS - if you're playing audio, iOS will show the audio/music streaming notification when you switch apps/lock the phone

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slinky317 t1_j6evd8x wrote

This may be how it happened in the past, but now Android will tell you if something is running in the background. Facebook doesn't ever come up.

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bigtimephonk t1_j6ierfp wrote

This helped me figure out that Imgur refused to close. Great feature.

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DJ_Willy_Will t1_j6h6ceo wrote

This happened back in 2012 or 2013 on one of the FB app releases. I remember bc a friend had just gotten their first iPhone, a 3GS, and the battery kept draining. Nothing but stock apps and FB were installed on it.

Went to Apple to get it replaced and the same thing happened to the replacement phone. Apple replaced it again, and it did the same thing.

Apple ended up giving them an iPhone 4 and it still kept on happening. Once he removed FB, the battery issue disappeared. Years later, we find out about that inaudible audio file playing in the background and was legit the same timeframe of his battery issues.

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WailersOnTheMoon t1_j6jvydk wrote

This is incredibly obnoxious. I’m still on Facebook because we don’t live near our families and our kids’ schools and teams use it to communicate, and any time I’m on Facebook it shuts down Spotify, which wouldn’t be as terrible if any notifications I received after that point weren’t deafeningly loud.

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start_select t1_j6diikv wrote

You are right but FB, TikTok, Instagram etc are all hogs from the second they are opened. You are downloading high quality images and videos left and right, even if you don’t look at them.

I understand why people would think it does it “in the background”. It’s because they get a simple push notification which has no effect on their battery…. Then they open it in Facebook, and even if they immediately close it, it probably downloaded 10mb of content in that half of a second.

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whateverisok t1_j6f3pqf wrote

To be fair, there are settings to disable the automatic downloads of media (primarily used for WiFi vs. Cellular automatic download, but can be disabled completely).

And it's part of them trying to get a better user experience so that when you open/scroll through the app, everything's already loaded.

Obviously, there's a detriment and a double-edged sword: either the app sucks because it takes long to load your feed or the app sucks because it drains your battery

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iRedditonFacebook t1_j6e0wxu wrote

>It’s not possible for an app to run constantly in the background on iOS

Background App Refresh?

This is literally on my iPad.

>Allow apps to refresh their content when on Wi-Fi in the background. Turning off apps may help preserve battery life.

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nicuramar t1_j6eipts wrote

Yeah, but you can do surprisingly little with that feature. And it certainly doesn’t let the app run constantly in the background.

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slrarp t1_j6fnbx7 wrote

I think you may have far too much faith in Apple.

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