Facebook Apps Draining Your Batteries? Try Uninstalling And Using Its Mobile Site

Reports continue to circulate that Facebook’s mobile applications are draining the batteries of users’ devices, so Kevin Purdy, who writes the Mobilize! blog for IT World, reminded readers of an old solution -- using Facebook’s mobile site as an alternative to its apps. Purdy wrote: I decided to put my foot down on the issue of having to charge my phone at 2 p.m. every, single, day. I looked into the services running on my Android phone (a Galaxy Nexus), and noticed that those using up the most memory, and probably demanding a data connection most often, were Facebook and Twitter. That makes sense, as they are both services that want to ping or buzz you the moment you get a like, comment, reply, retweet, favorite, message, invitation, direct message, and on, and on. You can scale back how often Twitter checks for replies and messages, but not so much with Facebook. And in both cases, you probably want to know when you get a direct message through those networks. This moment, when you're wondering what compromise you can make between awareness and battery life? This is when I would tell you to load up Facebook.com or Twitter.com in your phone's browser, and notice just how functional and they look lately. But what about messages? You'll want to head into the settings of both Facebook and Twitter on the Web and make sure you receive an email for each message/direct message. Then, in your email client, do what you can to make sure messages from Twitter and Facebook get the notification/star/priority treatment. That's how I handle the disconnect, anyways. I haven't had a Facebook app on my phone for more than two months now. If I really want to trawl baby photos and friends' jokes, or post my own little something, I can take a few extra seconds (if that) and load a nearly complete version in a browser. And I'm this close to making that switch with Twitter, too. It's not for everybody, and not everybody needs it. But the Web can still be a really useful place, even when you use it like an app. For those who choose to try out Purdy’s solution, Lifehacker provided complete instructions: Android users: Open the Play Store app and search for Facebook. Click the uninstall button on its main page. Open your browser of choice and head to facebook.com. Log in, then press the menu button and save Facebook's home page to your bookmarks. Head to your home screen and long-press on an empty space. Choose shortcuts from the menu, select bookmark, and choose the Facebook bookmark you just created. Now you have a Facebook shortcut on your home screen that takes you to a faster, permission-free, more battery-friendly Facebook. iPhone users: Press and hold on the Facebook app and click the "X" to uninstall it. Open Safari, head to facebook.com, and log in. Click the "share" button in Safari's bottom bar and choose "add to home screen." Name it whatever you want, then tap "add." Now you have a Facebook shortcut on your home screen that takes you to a faster, more battery-friendly Facebook. iPhone users won't notice as big of a change as Android users do, but it's worth a shot if your Facebook app seems slow. Readers: Can you live without your Facebook apps? Image courtesy of Shutterstock.

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Facebook Apps Draining Your Batteries? Try Uninstalling And Using Its Mobile Site

Reports continue to circulate that Facebook’s mobile applications are draining the batteries of users’ devices, so Kevin Purdy, who writes the Mobilize! blog for IT World, reminded readers of an old solution -- using Facebook’s mobile site as an alternative to its apps.

David Cohen

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