Instagram, YouTube Drain Your Phone’s Battery: Here’s the Quick Fix!

Instagram, YouTube, TikTok… These apps drain your smartphone’s battery relentlessly… Even when you’re not using them. Here’s why and how to protect your device.

Even today, the battery life of our smartphones remains a challenge for many users. Although manufacturers have made great strides in this area, their efforts are often offset by apps that are increasingly demanding on energy. This includes social media platforms like Instagram or TikTok, and video and streaming apps like Netflix and YouTube.

There are indeed features designed to extend the life of your device’s battery, such as Battery Saver, adaptive charging, or turning off Always On mode. However, these options do not address a specific issue.

The Cloud: Your Battery’s Biggest Foe

As explained by Thomas Davy, CEO and co-founder of a cloud-focused company in Zdnet, there is one feature in many apps that is often overlooked: data export to the cloud.

Indeed, these apps have an annoying habit of continuously collecting data in the background, such as your location. This information is used to refine your advertising profile and target you with more relevant ads. The problem is that this requires a constant connection to servers, which drains your battery in unexpected ways. “These seemingly innocent apps often feed huge servers miles away, processing data that no one asked for,” states Thomas Davy.

Which Apps Are Affected?

To put it simply, without listing all of them, know that social networks are certainly among these apps. By constantly sending data to the cloud, platforms like X, Instagram, TikTok, and others are continually draining your battery… while also accounting for a massive amount of energy consumed by data centers.

Streaming/video platforms are also problematic, especially those that include an autoplay/preview system. “When Netflix or YouTube automatically start playing clips, they trigger continuous data transfers between your phone and the servers. This consumes electricity in three places: data centers, network systems, and your device,” explains the expert.

We must also mention apps that require your location to function. This includes GPS and mapping apps like Google Maps or Waze, as well as weather apps. “These mapping apps that constantly track your movements not only drain the battery. They continuously trigger energy-intensive cloud processing operations,” he adds.

How to Reduce These Apps’ Energy Consumption?

Fortunately, it is entirely possible to reduce the energy consumption of these apps. To do this, head to your smartphone’s Settings:

• In Settings, look for the Applications tab
• Scroll down until you find the option Battery usage by apps
• Apply the All apps filter to display the full list of apps installed on your device
• Tap on each app (or select specific ones), and then uncheck the option Allow background usage

Indeed, the process might seem tedious, but it is advisable to prioritize social networks, GPS/weather apps, and streaming/video platforms. They usually appear in the Top energy-consuming apps. To see for yourself, simply:

• In Settings, look for the Battery tab
• Now tap on Battery usage
• Here, you can directly see which apps have consumed the most battery on the last charge

In our case, Instagram and YouTube were at the top of the list.

Opt for a Web or “Lite” Version

Another viable option is to opt for the Browser or “Lite” versions of the most energy-consuming apps. Firstly, Web versions have the advantage of using fewer resources on your device, but most importantly, they do not operate in the background once the browser is closed.

What about “Lite” versions? For several years now, the giants of the web overwhelmingly offer a lighter version of their flagship services/apps. For instance, Facebook Lite, Instagram Lite, and TikTok Lite, to name a few.

Designed to run smoothly on entry-level smartphones, with limited data plans and unstable networks, they show reduced data consumption. Moreover, some energy-intensive features like automatic video playback or constant background synchronization are disabled by default.

Reduce the Image Quality on Streaming Apps

Another tip for preserving your device’s battery life is to reduce the image quality on streaming/video apps like YouTube and Netflix. After all, there’s no need to insist on 4K, especially if your screen’s resolution is limited to 1080p or 1440p. Even if your display can handle Ultra HD content, remember that energy consumption will multiply by four compared to Full HD… And this applies across the entire digital system (on your device, in data centers, and network infrastructures of your ISP).

A Note on Apps for Your Connected Devices

Let’s conclude this article with a focus on companion apps for your connected devices. It turns out that some of these apps continuously execute background processes to maintain the connection with your devices. As you can imagine, these processes consume a lot of energy on your smartphone. To counteract these effects, prefer, where possible, apps that use push notifications to alert you of any changes rather than those that perform constant checks.