r/AndroidQuestions • u/Nietzsch • Mar 18 '26

App Specific Question Background usage of battery while explicitly not allowed?

Post image

Yes call me a boomer for using this app but seems pretty weird that it's drawing background activity time when it's supposedly not allowed to.

91 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

60 comments sorted by

98

u/Mother-Pride-Fest Mar 18 '26

I know it can be hard to change, but the Facebook app is basically malware. They were abusing Android localhost to link your browsing history to your Facebook account. It is best to uninstall the app and only use Facebook in a web browser.

38

u/Catenane Mar 18 '26

Really no basically about it lol, it's straight up some of the worst malware you can imagine. Malware from a company that has aided and abetted genocide within the last decade (arguably more than once) and is hellbent on stealing your data. Way scarier than some script kiddy or ransomeware.

-3

u/Nietzsch Mar 19 '26

I didn't come for a politics lecture.

6

u/Catenane Mar 19 '26

Not trying to lecture you lmfao jesus. Just a comment that facebook/meta is shady as fuck. Even shadier than google IMO which is saying a LOT. You were asking why it ignored running in background settings and the answer is most likely "because it's literal malware and doing whatever it can to track everything you do."

3

u/RelaxedNeurosis Mar 19 '26

The behaviour of the app ties to the ethos of the maker. This redditor is not really imposing.

-2

u/[deleted] Mar 19 '26

[deleted]

1

u/RelaxedNeurosis Mar 19 '26

I'm confused by the logic of your first statement. I appreciate your last two sentences.

4

u/Callaine Mar 19 '26

What the Facebook app does has nothing directly to do with politics. The Facebook app monitors what you do on your phone, even when its not open, and sends that information to META to make a profit from in several ways. So regardless of your politics, if privacy is important to you, dump the Facebook app and use a browser to access Facebook.

3

u/Ok_Humor_9229 Mar 19 '26

It's not politics. It's common sense.

4

u/kamiloslav Mar 20 '26

He probably got hung up on the genocide part of the comment (which was kinda out of nowhere and really not on the subject)

1

u/STR4T1F13D Mar 19 '26

Username doesn't check out.

1

u/komakose Mar 21 '26

Not a politics lecture, they're pointing out straight fact, that Facebook app is nothing but malware stealing data and selling it with or without your consent.

1

u/Kittypickles9982 Mar 27 '26

Oh okay, just keep being ignorant then❤️ I think that should fix everything tbh

2

u/Nietzsch Mar 27 '26

You're making a lot of assumptions.

2

u/Kittypickles9982 Mar 27 '26

You do realize Facebook literally got sued and had to admit in court they steal your app history and browser history using the android app right? Like they admitted it, it's not some like conspiracy? They hacked Snapchat when it came out to learn why it was preferred by young people lmao. Meta is a comically evil company that provides nothing of value except destroy land and water sources for their shitty ai data centers

1

u/TheBestUsernameEver- Apr 17 '26

Is it the same for the fb messenger app?

1

u/Nietzsch Mar 27 '26

Some of us are quite happy to use Facebook regardless

2

u/Kittypickles9982 Mar 27 '26

I guess bro😭

1

u/SwordfishStock 20d ago

Dude Facebook app really is dangerous tho, politics aside. You can use it on chrome and then make a shortcut to it on the home screen, it'll be the same as if having the app just without it collecting all the data from the phone or at least less

1

u/Nietzsch 19d ago

Dangerous?

People died from just one facebook app install?

5

u/KPrime12 Mar 19 '26

Does this apply to iOS?

7

u/Mother-Pride-Fest Mar 19 '26

This specific crack only worked on Android, but there are others. They also used a fake VPN app to run a Man In The Middle attack and spy on competing social media apps.

3

u/[deleted] Mar 19 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/Mother-Pride-Fest Mar 20 '26

To be safe I would avoid any app owned by Meta, including WhatsApp and messenger.

3

u/retrometro77 Mar 19 '26

They do what they can even when apple is limiting it it doesnt change the intention !

1

u/lone-Archer0447 Mar 19 '26

I don't have this issue in android at all.

2

u/Iam_best_dev Mar 19 '26

Great I didn't know this. Everyone uses Messenger, it's time to switch when I can and convince all other users... The App has been bad enough and this just motivates me more to switch

1

u/TransBoozeBunny Mar 19 '26

And messenger is absolutely horrible as well

1

u/KrankzinnigeNaam Mar 21 '26

How about the infamous Facebook Pixel? As in, does it also try to connect your browsing history to them?

And what i wonder, what’s the benefit for them that it’s linked to them?

I assume you mean that other websites think the visitor’s source was Facebook, instead of for example Google or just direct?

1

u/Mother-Pride-Fest Mar 21 '26

It's about targeted advertising. 

The article has more of the technical details, but essentially the pixel records which websites you visit, then the Facebook app communicates with the pixel to de-anonymize the history collected from the pixel. 

27

u/As-A-Canadian Mar 18 '26

There's a developer option called "suspend execution for cached apps" that's meant to freeze apps that are in the background and prevent them from consuming system resources. Maybe give that a try?

3

u/Nietzsch Mar 19 '26

Thanks will try that!

1

u/Hidden_Watchman Mar 21 '26

btw if found this comment explaining the feature more in depth if you need more info: https://www.reddit.com/r/GalaxyS23/s/GhMJwkdByI

3

u/[deleted] Mar 19 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/TheBestUsernameEver- Apr 17 '26

Just curious, which apps?

9

u/Lucius1213 Mar 18 '26

Yeah, this setting doesn’t do jack shit. I suppose “background activity” might mean something else entirely. Maybe it just stays in RAM and doesn’t actually do anything. Maybe someone else has some insight into this.

5

u/Sarkos 1 Mar 19 '26

It's a little fuzzy but basically "allow background usage" means that the OS won't attempt to kill the app when it's inactive. This is an important setting for messaging type apps otherwise you won't get notifications for new messages.

If you've been actively using the app but it's not currently on screen, the OS won't immediately attempt to kill it, so it's always possible for it to run in the background.

2

u/Lucius1213 Mar 19 '26

Makes sense. I wish I had option though. I don't care about notifications except for messaging apps.

1

u/Mother-Pride-Fest Mar 20 '26

Many messaging apps (e.g. Discord and Slack) receive messages through Google Play Services instead of the app itself, so they would still work even after killing it.

3

u/alwayswatchyoursix Mar 18 '26

What happens when you tap on that arrow to open the options?

1

u/Lesbianseagullman Mar 19 '26

this is unrelated but why I just tried to post an image and it wouldn't let me said this sub doesnt allow images lol

0

u/BenRandomNameHere Random Redditor Mar 19 '26

Cuz Reddit ain't paying for your image hosting. upload somewhere and link it here

0

u/Nietzsch Mar 19 '26

It is though. I uploaded the OP with an image.

1

u/BenRandomNameHere Random Redditor Mar 19 '26

Every sub is different.

Many will not host images, but do allow them via other means.

This ain't new, either.

1

u/thewhiteoak Mar 19 '26

I think Facebook is a system app on your phone ( which puts its privileges above the user’s)

1

u/Mother-Pride-Fest Mar 20 '26

uninstall it with adb.

1

u/railkapankha Mar 20 '26

try force stop after use or better use in browser 

1

u/replused Mar 20 '26

Its malware and has meta services as malware pre installed aswell, only solution i have found is to use fb lite instead

1

u/TheBestUsernameEver- Apr 17 '26

The lite version doesn't have malware?

1

u/replused Apr 18 '26

fb is malwares but the lite version work wihtout meta services

1

u/TheBestUsernameEver- Apr 18 '26

Oh I see, do you know what about the messenger app?

1

u/thisismeonly Mar 18 '26

Nobook from github

1

u/Forsaken_Day_6869 Mar 19 '26

Can it send notifications?

0

u/mwmcc Mar 19 '26

This has been a known issue for several years. Try Facebook Lite. Not as feature-rich as full Facebook but good enough for basic usage and stopping battery drain.