Facebook is one of the most frequently downloaded apps on iOS, but it’s also been linked to rapid battery drain on iPhones. In the past, the app was accused of running in the background even when not in use. Although Facebook acknowledged and fixed certain bugs, doubts about its effect on battery life continued.

Similar issues were reported with Facebook’s Android app, where removing it led to a battery life improvement of up to 20%. Curious to see if the same applied to iPhones, I conducted a week-long test using an iPhone 6S Plus. I compared battery life with and without the Facebook app installed. Each day, I charged the phone overnight and began usage at 7:30am, checking the battery level at 10:30pm. I continued using Facebook for the same amount of time, but through Safari instead of the app. Messenger remained installed.

The results showed that removing the Facebook app and accessing Facebook through Safari saved, on average, 15% of battery life by the end of the day. It also freed up phone storage space, about 500MB was cleared, which included the app size (111MB) and its accumulated cache.

To confirm these findings weren’t unique to me, I asked several other iPhone users to try the same test. All reported similar battery improvements. The Facebook mobile website worked nearly as well as the app, and users could even add a Safari shortcut to their home screen that closely resembled the original app icon. However, there were a few limitations: the website doesn’t support the Share-to feature for direct content sharing, and Instant Articles aren’t available. Also, links open in new Safari tabs.

While results might differ slightly on devices like the smaller iPhone 6S due to its smaller battery, the test suggests that ditching the Facebook app in favor of Safari browsing can noticeably improve battery life on any iPhone.