Facebook is developing a fix for its battery-draining iOS mobile app.
Following reports of iPhone battery issues linked to its service, the social network is working on a patch.
Facebook did not immediately respond to PCMag’s request for comment, but told TechCrunch that it has “heard reports of some people experiencing battery issues with our iOS app. We’re looking into this and hope to have a fix in place soon.”
One such report came from Matt Galligan, co-founder of now-defunct news aggregator Circa, who took to Medium early this week to air his grievances.
“Over the last [seven] days, Facebook is the greatest offender of battery drain on my iPhone 6s Plus,” he wrote in a blog post.
According to Galligan, the mobile app accounted for 15 percent of all battery reduction, despite the fact that he disabled background app refresh. The app continues operating, he said, because it “isn’t ‘sleeping’ properly when I hit the home button.”
Galligan suggested that while the problem may not be an easy fix for Facebook, it “should be a priority, not an afterthought.”
“They’re letting down each and every one of their customers by letting such an issue remain in their app,” he wrote.
Comparatively, Apple’s Safari browser accounted for 12 percent of Galligan’s battery usage over the week, followed by the Hue app, Messages, and the Home and Lock Screen, each of which took up 6 percent.
But Galligan isn’t the only one frustrated by the app. Canadian blogger Nick Heer this week wrote about similar concerns, accusing Facebook of “actively creating channels to continue refreshing their app in the background when the user has explicitly stated that they do not want it to.”
MacStories Editor in Chief Federico Viticci also wrote on Wednesday that iPhones have, for years, been impeded by Facebook’s mobile energy consumption.
The news comes as Facebook added support for 3D Touch on iPhone 6s and 6s Plus.
