The iOS Facebook app can have a significant drain on your iPhone’s battery without you even having to use the app that much. In addition, you could be completely unaware just how much storage it is taking up on your device.

To check how much battery life the Facebook app is using on your iPhone, open the Settings app > Battery > wait for Battery Usage to populate. For a breakdown of foreground and background battery usage, tap Show Detailed Usage. Tap the Last 7 Days tab to get a broad look of battery usage over time.

If the Facebook app is using a large amount of battery compared to your actual usage, then there are some steps you can take to save your iPhone’s battery.

Turn off Facebook notifications

If you can cope with not receiving a Facebook notification every time someone likes your photo or tags you in a post then switching off Facebook notifications can have a positive impact on your iPhone’s battery life.

At the bare minimum, you should switch off Show on Lock Screen for notifications, so that your iPhone’s screen doesn’t light up every time someone clicks ‘Like’.

On your iPhone, launch the Settings app > Notifications > Facebook > toggle Allow Notifications to Off.

You can also turn off notifications in the Facebook app. Tap the More icon (three horizontal lines) > Settings > Account Settings > Notifications > Mobile. Select what you want or don’t want to be notified about.

Stop videos in Facebook from playing automatically

Not only will you save battery when you disable videos from auto-playing in the Facebook app, but you will also save data.

Open the Facebook app > tap the More icon > Settings > Account Settings > Videos and Photos > set Autoplay to Never Autoplay Videos.

Disable Facebook background app refresh and location services

To avoid the Facebook app running processes in the background and draining your iPhone battery make sure you disable these two features.

On your iPhone, launch the Settings app > Facebook > Settings > toggle Location to Never and toggle Background App Refresh to Off.

Delete and reinstall the Facebook app on your iPhone

Over time, Facebook can take up a lot of storage space on your iPhone. Deleting and reinstalling the app will free up space on your device.

To check how much storage Facebook is taking up on your device, launch the Settings app > General > Usage > Manage Storage > Facebook. You will see the number of megabytes or gigabytes Facebook is taking up on your device.

If the number is high, deleting and reinstalling the app can clear the cache and free up space on your device.

Use Facebook on your iPhone without the app

To avoid Facebook draining your battery and taking up storage on your iPhone you can also opt not to reinstall the Facebook app and rather access it via the mobile site.

Launch Safari on your iPhone and sign into facebook.com. Tap the Share button > Add to Home Screen > tap Add in the top right-hand corner.

You will now be able to access Facebook from your home screen, without the need to go through the app.

Image credit: Pixelkult, Pixabay