Facebook Admits Battery Drainage

Facebook’s auto-playing videos drain smartphone batteries more quickly.

19:30 28 October 2015

Facebook has admitted that its app, which currently auto plays videos in newsfeeds, drains iPhone batteries. Facebook engineering manager Ari Grant said that two issues with the software are responsible for the problem; both of them are now fixed.

 

In a Facebook post, he said: "The first issue we found was a 'CPU spin' in our network code,"

 

"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."

 

The second problem was with Facebook’s in-app videos.

 

Mr Grant said: "If you leave the Facebook app after watching a video, the audio session sometimes stays open as if the app was playing audio silently.

 

"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."