Apps cause big-time battery drain (Part 1)

iPhone /

The past few days have been difficult for you and your iPhone. The little guy never had charging issues before, but now, all of a sudden, he's dying before you even make it home on the subway after work. Grimacing, you start to look into iPhone battery replacement options, and think about the dent that will put in your wallet. This makes no sense! you think. Apple products aren't supposed to just peter-out like this. Your phone used to last you all day and only require a charge at night. Now you're lucky if it makes it to Happy Hour. But in your haste to locate a cell phone repair shop, you overlook one crucial detail. You see, about a week ago you downloaded a fun little app, one to keep you occupied on the train. It's awesome to play, and even sends you push notifications when there are other users in the area. In fact, every time you open your phone you're receiving some notification from the game. But you're so fixated on the battery issue that you fail to see the problem is staring you in the face. After all, it wasn't until you downloaded the app that your charging problems began.

Programs can lend a helping hand
In the world of iPhones and battery life, the apps you're running can have a huge impact on the charge you get. Fortunately, there are some programs to track and pinpoint where your battery may be taking the biggest hit. The first of these is a free app on the App Store called Memory Diag, which provides an easy-to-view breakdown of how your memory usage on your iPhone is dispersed, LifeHacker reported. If, for instance, you're someone whose apps are taking up a lot more memory than, say, your file cache, you'll be able to see that and make adjustments accordingly. Helpfully, the app also pinpoints the software that is eating up the most memory on your phone, providing another potential opportunity to adjust your usage habits.

Of course, Apple does not want to be beaten at its own game, so it is no surprise that the computing giant is at work on its own power management system, that will not only track user habits, but also make adjustments based on those analytics, according to AppleInsider. The news of this development came out when Apple filed a U.S. patent application on March 20 for a technology it called “Inferring User Intent From Battery Usage Level and Charging Trends.” As its title suggests, the proposed software will scrutinize user content to paint a picture of each individual user's cell phone use habits. Ultimately, this is a piece of software that aims to know your usage habits better even than you do. If you're the kind of person who's checked Facebook from your phone before 8 am every morning, this new tracker will realize that – even if you don't.

Where Apple has other comparable technologies beat, though, is that its program goes a step forward in “performing, by power management logic, a power management action based on the user intent.” This technology represents an effort on Apple's part to maintain efficiency alongside performance, not wanting to compromise the battery life of its phone because of the sophisticated new apps that are constantly cropping up. The idea of a user-tailored program acting autonomously from the user herself may seem counterintuitive to some people, but knowing Apple, the company will invariably find a way to make it user-friendly.

But users will have to wait until this technology debuts before potentially having an automated solution to their energy-sucking apps. In the meantime, tune in to part 2 of this article to read about some specific apps that are notorious for sucking away battery life.

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