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

Why is your battery dead? It’s the same reason you’re dead inside: social media. Here’s a list of all the worst offenders.

Yellow snapchat logo with phone in the background
Image: KnowTechie

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 real-time location sharing
Image: Snap

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

RankAppBattery & Memory Usage
1Fitbit92%
2Verizon92%
3Skype87%
4Uber87%
5BIGO LIVE82%
6Facebook82%
7Airbnb82%
8Instagram79%
9Amazon77%
10Booking.com77%
11Bumble77%
12Snapchat77%
13Telegram77%
14Tinder77%
15WhatsApp77%
16YouTube77%
17Zoom77%
18Grindr72%
19Likke72%
20LinkedIn72%
21Microsoft Teams72%
22Ryanair72%
23Bet36572%
24Lyft72%
25Twitter69%
26Amazon Music67%
27Depop67%
28My McDonald’s67%
29Reddit67%
30Shazam67%
31Shein67%
32Spotify67%
33Zara67%
34Misguided67%
35United Airlines67%
36Yelp67%
37Pinterest64%
38Amazon Prime62%
39Houseparty62%
40Netflix62%
41TikTok62%
42PayPal62%
43ASOS56%
44Duolingo56%
45Klarna56%
46Signal56%
47Slack56%
48SoundCloud56%
49Trainline56%
50Uber Eats56%

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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After over a decade and a half of writing and journalism in games and multimedia, Arthur loves to talk tech, geek, and gaming, anytime, anywhere. He's the entire package: a gamer, a collector, and he knows how to build a computer. When he isn't writing, he also owns a local game shop, dealing in all various geeky antiquities.

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