Does WhatsApp use a lot of battery

Whatsapp is the world’s most popular messaging application outside China with billions of uses around the world. However, most users are concerned about it draining their batteries since it launched the fingerprint lock feature.

Whatsapp is the best chatting app for a reason. It personalized chatting by simply taking your phonebook contacts and migrating them to its platform allowing you to communicate with them for free over the internet. With the rise of the internet and cheaper mobile data, Whatsapp eliminated native messaging that cost airtime. You can share photos, create groups based on interests or shared experiences in the past, make voice and video calls while using the internet only. Now, the greatest concern apart from security is if this application uses a lot of battery.

WhatsApp uses a lot of battery depending on your usage and settings. Many Android and iOS users have been complaining about this on Google Play Store and popular forums like Reddit with most of them reporting between 33% and 40% idle battery drain when fully charged. The most affected phones include iPhones, OnePlus smartphones, and Samsung phones.  

How to check your Whatsapp battery usage

On an iOS device, go to Settings and select Battery then tap on Battery health and you see how your battery consumption looks like per application. On Android, navigate Settings, and tap on Battery. On the top-right corner, tap on the three-dot icon and then select Battery Usage. You should be able to see your Whatsapp battery consumption since the last full charge.

What makes Whatsapp drain my battery?

A battery can negatively impact your phone’s battery lifespan. Despite manufacturers coming up with batteries that have a larger capacity, batteries are still struggling to keep up. Poor battery life is the biggest smartphone user’s bugbear. One Whatsapp user on Google Play Store complained that his battery drained from 74% to 19% while he wasn’t even using the app while most users on average said Whatsapp consumed at least 30% of their battery charge despite them only responding to a text or two.

There are a lot of factors that might cause your phone’s battery to drain its charge quickly when using Whatsapp. The main factor that drains your battery is the permissions required by it to give you the best user experience. Whatsapp will ask for permission to access your contacts, camera, media, calendar, and even your location. All these processes are important forWhatsapp to run efficiently and require power to run smoothly. This also makes the app run in the background; that is when you’re not using it but you still receive a Whatsapp notification on the status bar when someone texts you.

Another reason for battery drain is how often you use WhatsApp, with the average user checking their WhatsApp over 10 times a day. How much content you also share on the app including photos, files, and both voice and video calls has an impact on how much battery the application will consume.

Other factors have more to do with your phone rather thanWhatsapp itself. Turning your phone’s brightness up to the highest level will consume more power than lower-level brightness. Also, when you continuously have your geographical location feature on for other apps like ride-sharing apps and maps, your battery will drain faster.

How to reduce WhatsApp battery drain on my phone

Uninstall and reinstall Whatsapp

This reportedly worked on some devices. On your Android device, navigate to Settings and select ‘Apps & Notifications’. Scroll down to Whatsapp and tap on it. Select the Uninstall button to uninstall it. Once the uninstallation is complete, go to Google Play Store and install Whatsapp again and set it up.

Stop automatic media files downloads

Whatsapp media files are downloaded automatically by default in the background which drains the battery faster in the process. You can however disable auto-downloads over the internet and only allow them when you click on these photos and videos. Launch Whatsapp on your phone and the top-right of the app screen, tap on the three dots, and select Settings. Tap on the ‘Data and Storage Usage’ option and navigate to the ‘Media Auto-Download’ section. Under it, select the ‘When using phone data’ option and uncheck the relevant boxes next to the options you would like to disable automatic downloads for. Repeat this for the ‘When connected to Wi-Fi’ option. You have now successfully stopped automatic downloads which in the process will reduce Whatsapp running in the background.

Adjust notifications

Whatsapp will have so many notifications for you from your contacts and groups throughout the day. This can hurt your battery. You can change your notifications settings to allow only important notifications only to come through. Turn the vibrations off too and mute groups that are not as important.

FAQs

What is an alternative app to WhatsApp?

You can use Telegram which has more security features than Whatsapp.

What does Whatsapp do in the background?

Whatsapp will still send you notifications which may include photos, videos, and other files. It has to download them for you.

Final Thoughts

Whatsapp is important but so is your battery charge. You want to use the battery for longer and not only on Whatsapp but on other applications as well. You don’t have to uninstall Whatsapp to achieve this, a few settings to eliminate the unnecessary can save your battery from draining quickly.