The Facebook app on your iPhone utilizes a system feature called “Background App Refresh” to quietly connect to the internet while you are not actively using the app. It uses this background connection to constantly download new posts to your News Feed, sync notifications, and update your friend’s statuses so that the content is instantly ready the next time you open the app. However, Facebook is notorious for aggressively overusing this feature, leading to significant battery drain and unnecessary cellular data consumption throughout the day. You can easily revoke this background privilege.
How to Turn Off Background Refresh for Facebook
You can disable background activity for individual applications in the general settings.
- Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
- Scroll down the main list and tap on General (the grey icon with a white gear).
- Tap on Background App Refresh (usually located near the middle of the screen).
- You will see a long, alphabetical list of all the apps installed on your device that request background access.
- Scroll down until you locate Facebook.
- Tap the green toggle switch next to Facebook to move it to the Off position (the toggle will turn grey).
From now on, the Facebook app will be completely frozen in a suspended state whenever you switch to a different app or lock your iPhone’s screen. It will only consume your battery and data when it is actively open and visible on your screen, which can lead to noticeable improvements in your daily battery life.