User profile for user: mdxzao
mdxzao Author
User level: Level 1
20 points

Whatsapp obliterating my iPhone 16 Pro Max battery in the background. What is going on?

So I bought an iPhone 16 pro max and I am using it for about over a week now and last week I started noticing worrying levels of background activity from WhatsApp. It was always on the top of the list of battery usage per app. The weird thing is that I don't use WhatsApp that much and the time in background was humongous. Not normal. Like more than a whole hour in background. The battery was dropping 1% almost by the minute. I couldn't even use my phone for fearing to drain my battery even faster.


So I decided to turn the "background app refresh" option and this was NOT effective AT ALL. Than I remembered "maybe if I restart the phone?", so I did it. It got better.. for ONE day. After that the same thing kept happening. Ever since I had to restarte the phone and man.. this is not the right way to go, I won't keep restarting my phone everyday just because of that. This is wrong!


I never had this issue with my iPhone 14 Pro Max before (I only had 14 pm and now 16 pm), and my 16 pro max is brand new. I had to uninstall WhatsApp and keep using it on my 14 pm as a companion device, because most of my family uses android, and my mom is just too accustomed to it, she will not learn how to use telegram or whatever apps all over again just to talk to me. This is a bit humiliating, not gonna lie..


As soon as I uninstalled it I could literally SEE my battery getting back to normal.


I realized that this started a few days after updating to iOS 18.1.1. I really, REALLY hope this gets solved on the next update and in the meantime I'll only use WhatsApp on my backup phone, which is crazy lol. Please, Apple. FIX THIS!


Here is one of the screenshots I took 3 days ago



It was taking about over 20% of battery usage everyday!!!

iPhone 16 Pro Max, iOS 18

Posted on Dec 5, 2024 9:54 AM

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User profile for user: Mac Jim ID
Mac Jim ID
User level: Level 9
61,760 points

Posted on Dec 5, 2024 10:11 AM

Your issue is with Meta and there is not anything Apple can do to fix the Meta app. Ever since Meta purchased WhatsApp, it has been plagued with problems. The poor performance you are seeing was caused by the latest WhatsApp update and not your iOS update. Turning off Background Refresh only affects the UI and apps are free to use background processes if they wish. That is why Apple shows you what the app is doing to your Battery performance, so you can make the decision on if that is something you are comfortable with or may need to contact the app developer or remove the app.


Meta has updated WhatsApp 11 times in the last month attempting to provide features and fix bugs, but it has only caused more bugs. You also need to realize that Meta makes its money off of the data it gets from you. This is sold to advertisers and is their revenue source. You can see the data that WhatsApp collects from you by viewing the required Privacy Page in the App Store. This data collection is not only done in the foreground while you are using the app, but also in the background and you will see it collects information about your:

  • Purchases
  • Location
  • Contacts
  • Financial Info
  • Contact Info
  • User Content
  • Usage Data


This is not the WhatsApp it used to be and users are reporting the same issues with Facebook and Instagram as well. Unfortunately getting support from Meta for WhatsApp support is next to impossible, but they are the only ones that can help.

https://www.whatsapp.com/contact


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Question marked as Top-ranking reply
User profile for user: Mac Jim ID
Mac Jim ID
User level: Level 9
61,760 points

Dec 5, 2024 10:11 AM in response to mdxzao

Your issue is with Meta and there is not anything Apple can do to fix the Meta app. Ever since Meta purchased WhatsApp, it has been plagued with problems. The poor performance you are seeing was caused by the latest WhatsApp update and not your iOS update. Turning off Background Refresh only affects the UI and apps are free to use background processes if they wish. That is why Apple shows you what the app is doing to your Battery performance, so you can make the decision on if that is something you are comfortable with or may need to contact the app developer or remove the app.


Meta has updated WhatsApp 11 times in the last month attempting to provide features and fix bugs, but it has only caused more bugs. You also need to realize that Meta makes its money off of the data it gets from you. This is sold to advertisers and is their revenue source. You can see the data that WhatsApp collects from you by viewing the required Privacy Page in the App Store. This data collection is not only done in the foreground while you are using the app, but also in the background and you will see it collects information about your:

  • Purchases
  • Location
  • Contacts
  • Financial Info
  • Contact Info
  • User Content
  • Usage Data


This is not the WhatsApp it used to be and users are reporting the same issues with Facebook and Instagram as well. Unfortunately getting support from Meta for WhatsApp support is next to impossible, but they are the only ones that can help.

https://www.whatsapp.com/contact


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User profile for user: mdxzao
mdxzao Author
User level: Level 1
20 points

Dec 5, 2024 10:10 AM in response to Jeff Donald

I already updated it to most recent version and the problem persisted. Yeah.. idk man, if this is really a 100% fault on meta I need them to act on this now! It's so frustrating T-T


Crazy thing is my instagram is normal, as well as threads. The only Meta apps I have installed are these 3, but dang.. whatstapp was really taking it :(


I'll wait now. Thanks anyway, Jeff <3

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Whatsapp obliterating my iPhone 16 Pro Max battery in the background. What is going on?

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