Why Does Facebook App Consumes So Much Space On Android Phone
Facebook is unquestionably the largest social media network on the internet, but Android users who have the official Facebook app installed on their device – the vast majority of you — should reconsider keeping it on your device.
The Facebook app is constantly growing in size and using more storage over time. Not only that, but the app eats up your data plan by running in the background all the time, consuming a lot of energy and degrading the phone’s overall efficiency.
Lower-end phones that run the software bear the burden of the app even more, since their technology isn’t up to the task of operating the resource-intensive Facebook program.
Facebook consumes a lot of resources to operate, such as auto-downloading movies and pictures from your timeline, scanning for alerts in real time, and so on, all of which slows down the device’s performance and puts additional strain on other applications.
Data and Battery Drain
The Guardian’s research backs up our assertions that the Facebook app drains your energy, claiming that “uninstalling the Facebook app saves up to 20% of Android battery life.”
Not only does the Facebook app place a lot of strain on the device’s battery, but it also puts a lot of strain on the internet plan.
According to antivirus company AVG, the Facebook app is the most data-hungry program on your smartphone.
Problems with Storage
The Facebook app consumes more internal capacity on your phone than any other program you may be using. I don’t use Facebook too much, therefore I don’t need the app as much.
However, I installed the app on my smartphone only for the purpose of testing. The app’s Play Store description said that it would download a total of 71MB of data, but when I installed it, the file size was close to 160MB, and I have yet to use the app to log into my Facebook account.
Oh, wait, I did log in, and the app’s storage increased to 190MB. Mind you, I had only just signed in and hadn’t even seen any of the social media network’s notifications.
The app’s total capacity grows as you use it, so if you have an older Android smartphone with little internal storage, you’re better off without it.
Facebook is encroaching on your personal space.
Every program asks for permission to access your contacts (in the case of applications like True caller), pictures (in the case of photo-sharing apps like Instagram), and other personal information.
Similarly, in order for Facebook to operate properly, it needs specific rights from your smartphone, but these permissions cover nearly all of the permissions that any of the applications need.
To give you an example, you provide the Facebook applications access to:
Contacts, call records, and text messages are all stored on your phone. This basically implies that the business can access all of your contacts, call them, send them messages, and track who you’ve contacted. The software may also make changes to the calendar on your smartphone.
Your current location, which allows them to track you down.
The program has access to your camera, which means it can take pictures, record movies, and listen to sounds via the microphone.
They have access to your internal storage, which means they can view and delete things on your phone.
The software can access your WIFI, alter your background, and check your network connection, among other things.
In other words, the amount of access the Facebook app has on your smartphone is almost equivalent to the amount you have.
Please note that although Facebook has provided an explanation for its app requesting almost complete control of our device, I hope you recall that Facebook is notorious for selling user data and creating user profiles in order to deliver appropriate advertisements on their site.
Be assured that the explanation is accurate, however it has been sugar-coated to conceal the fact that Facebook has these rights despite the fact that the app’s stated reason for that permission isn’t being followed.
‘Read your text messages (SMS or MMS)’ has two possible explanations. Even after your phone number has been confirmed, Facebook has access to your text messages. You should be extremely cautious about how much access you provide these applications.
Slowing Down Your Device
Facebook is not only consuming storage, draining the battery, eating up your internet plan, and compromising your privacy, but it is also slowing down the general speed of your computer.
This Redditor took video of his device’s performance with and without the Facebook and Messenger apps loaded. He discovered that by uninstalling both of Facebook’s applications, his phone’s speed improved, as other apps began to load 15 percent faster than while Facebook was running on the device.
How Solve This Problem
If you’re a regular Facebook user who’s having trouble with the app for one of the aforementioned reasons or another, you should either use the Facebook Lite app — which feels slightly out-of-date due to the minimal interface and a few features missing— or access Facebook via Chrome or another browser of your choice.
Facebook Lite is designed to operate on poor and intermittent network connections, thus it doesn’t include features like Instant Articles or others, but it still keeps you connected with all the essential features.
Using the Chrome browser to access Facebook is easy, requires no downloads, and allows you to get alerts while signed in.
While you won’t notice the app affecting the performance of your smartphone if it’s in perfect condition, give it a few months and you’ll notice your device slowing a little.
Final Words
It’s not worth the effort to have the Facebook app loaded on your smartphone. You would have deleted Facebook without hesitation if it was any other program that violated your privacy, used as much storage and data, and hampered the device’s overall efficiency. Facebook, for example, should not be an exception.
