Social apps feast on your phone’s battery life, but one is the worst

Everyone online knows that social media is the eventual downfall of man. It’s just a normal part of life and understanding how the world works. But did you know that social media may also be killing your phone?

Is Snapchat the reason your phone doesn’t have a charge?

Your iPhone’s battery is sitting at 50%, and it’s barely lunchtime. So by the time you get home from work, you have to plug it up to get through the evening.

According to Alvin Wei, co-founder and CMO of SEOAnt, Snapchat is the biggest reason for your phone’s battery draining. 

Snap into a slim battery life

Snapchat, that energy hog, may take up to 45% of your battery on its own if you’re an avid user. Moreover, since it constantly wants to know your location, it’s even draining you when you aren’t looking for the perfect filter.

It’s no mystery that social media is hard on your phone. So the website pCloud ran some tests back in 2021 to find out precisely what eats your battery. They based the analysis on three points of interest.

pCloud made a handy infographic that breaks down all the worst offenders below

They found what applications each app uses, such as the camera or location, how much battery it uses based on the applications, and if “dark mode” was available.

Surprise, surprise!

The list was full of social media and dating apps. Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, WhatsApp, and LinkedIn peppered the top 20.

Dating apps like Tinder, Bumble, and Grindr joined them. But Fitbit is the app that topped the list. That’ll teach you to stay healthy. 

The most demanding apps on your phone battery

Rank	App	Battery & Memory Usage
1	Fitbit	92%
2	Verizon	92%
3	Skype	87%
4	Uber	87%
5	BIGO LIVE	82%
6	Facebook	82%
7	Airbnb	82%
8	Instagram	79%
9	Amazon	77%
10	Booking.com	77%
11	Bumble	77%
12	Snapchat	77%
13	Telegram	77%
14	Tinder	77%
15	WhatsApp	77%
16	YouTube	77%
17	Zoom	77%
18	Grindr	72%
19	Likke	72%
20	LinkedIn	72%
21	Microsoft Teams	72%
22	Ryanair	72%
23	Bet365	72%
24	Lyft	72%
25	Twitter	69%
26	Amazon Music	67%
27	Depop	67%
28	My McDonald’s	67%
29	Reddit	67%
30	Shazam	67%
31	Shein	67%
32	Spotify	67%
33	Zara	67%
34	Misguided	67%
35	United Airlines	67%
36	Yelp	67%
37	Pinterest	64%
38	Amazon Prime	62%
39	Houseparty	62%
40	Netflix	62%
41	TikTok	62%
42	PayPal	62%
43	ASOS	56%
44	Duolingo	56%
45	Klarna	56%
46	Signal	56%
47	Slack	56%
48	SoundCloud	56%
49	Trainline	56%
50	Uber Eats	56%

These results are now a couple of years old. This means that some of those stats likely have changed a bit here and there.

But, the fact that you can now play multiplayer games during Facebook Messenger video calls, I doubt it changed much.

It’s ok to remove social media from another aspect of your life, go outside, and touch the grass for a little while. Your phone (and your mental health) might thank you later.

Plus, you have to make room for more social media coming out soon, such as Bluesky. 

Have any thoughts on this? Drop us a line below in the comments, or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

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