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Original poster

New app draining battery?

6 replies

AndDeepBreath · 11/10/2015 21:00

Hi there! I've been noticing my phone's battery vanishing really quickly lately, especially since I loaded the new app.

I've just been looking at my 24 hour battery stats, where almost 1 hr on Mumsnet has drained 46% of my charge, compared with 2 hours of YouTube videos taking up 20%. Similar stats for 7 days.

... Is this normal/just to be expected? Is there an easy fix on my end? At this rate it'll be easier not to use the app so hoping it's a quick fix bug!

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MNHQ

BeccaMumsnet · 13/10/2015 13:29

Oooh goodness - thanks for flagging this everyone. We'll pass this info onto Tech.

MNHQ

PeteTech · 15/10/2015 09:21

Hi AndDeepBreath, MNerAnon, and cozietoesie

Energy use is a bit of a complicated area, and depends on a lot of different factors.

The Talk app is dependent on 3G or Wi-Fi. Apart from the GPS and the screen, these are the most battery hungry functions of your phone. So, unfortunately, it’s always going to belong to a category of apps that are harder on the battery when used heavily.

For that reason, I'd expect to see it towards the top of the battery use list, along with apps like Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp etc. We did test the Talk app against those similar apps before releasing, and found it to be slightly more energy efficient than them.

But, of course, with so many phones and iOS versions out there it's hard to cover all in testing (and there's the added difficulty that different phones have different battery capacities with varying levels of life left in them).

Rather than jump into an even bigger post about it, it might be more helpful if I take a look at your specific circumstances.

Would any of you be willing to share some screenshots of your battery usage screen?

If you're happy to do that, please could you email [email protected] with your iPhone model and iOS version and we'll let you know where to go and what to screenshot (I'll need a few).

Thanks

MNHQ

PeteTech · 15/10/2015 09:22

DeepBreath I can understand why it may seem that Talk should consume less battery than YouTube, since one is text and one is video. However watching, say, eight 15 minute videos in two hours actually results in far less network use than browsing dozens of threads in an hour of Talk use. When you're watching a video, your 3G/Wi-Fi is idle for long periods, whereas browsing threads in the Talk app is going to require constant activity. So, yes, depending on how you use it, it's very feasible that Talk would require more energy than Youtube.

MNHQ

PeteTech · 15/10/2015 09:22

cozie Audio playback via your device's speakers will have a minor impact on battery life, whilst playing audio through headphones will barely make a dent. The 3G/Wi-Fi use involved in browsing the Talk app actually requires many many times more energy than playing audio.

The reason Apple specifically shows audio in the battery usage section on iOS 9 is because apps can use audio playback to keep running in the background when you quit the app; this way you can see any apps that are using this sneaky tactic to run in the background without your knowledge.

MNHQ

DawnMumsnet · 15/10/2015 17:18

@Only1scoop

And Please....

Can we have the search facility and PM back on App

Miss them Sad

Hi Only1scoop,

We've had a lot of people asking us about the search function. Unfortunately, it's not a function that's available at the moment on the app - it will have to come in a future update. Ditto for PMs.

We were keen to get a first version out there into people's hands which we can then update regularly with new features. Some functions are harder to build than others though so it will take us a bit of time to get there.

There's a handy App FAQs page here with more info about the app.

MNHQ

DawnMumsnet · 17/10/2015 21:36

@TyrionLannistersShadow

How do I get the new app? I looked on the Play Store but nothing came up, I deleted the old app when all the technical issues happened and have been on the mobile site since.

Hi Tyrion,

As PotOfYoghurt said, (thanks POY, btw) the app is currently only available for iPhones.

We are currently building an Android version, though - we'll keep everyone updated on the progress and will be looking for Android testers in due course.

In the meantime, thanks for your patience. Flowers

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