WARNING: iPhone 6 & Facebook App Problem

tecknomage · Oct 18, 2016

RE: iPhone 6, iOS 10.0.2, Facebook App v67.0

When using the Facebook App my phone was getting hot.
Noticed Facebook was constantly loading.
Checked [Settings][General][Background Refresh] (overall) and it was set to OFF.
Looked under [Settings][Facebook][Settings] and Background Refresh was grayed-out but showed ON.

To get Background Refresh to stop in Facebook, I had to set [Settings][General][Background Refresh] (overall) to ON, then set the individual setting for Facebook to OFF.

Turned [Settings][General][Background Refresh] (overall) to OFF.
Now the Facebook App is no longer constantly refreshing, iPhone not getting hot.

The problem is the Facebook App (v67.0) is ignoring the overall Background Refresh setting in [Settings][General][Background Refresh]. The overall setting should be overriding ALL App settings.

Junior · Oct 18, 2016

Is Facebook really that important?

Looks like you went through a lot of trouble.

crf8 · Oct 18, 2016

FB is important to me because I can see photos of my grandchild and other family members. I just checked my settings, took 30 seconds.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

ardchoille · Oct 18, 2016

tecknomage said:
RE: iPhone 6, iOS 10.0.2, Facebook App v67.0

When using the Facebook App my phone was getting hot.
Noticed Facebook was constantly loading.
Checked [Settings][General][Background Refresh] (overall) and it was set to OFF.
Looked under [Settings][Facebook][Settings] and Background Refresh was grayed-out but showed ON.

To get Background Refresh to stop in Facebook, I had to set [Settings][General][Background Refresh] (overall) to ON, then set the individual setting for Facebook to OFF.

Turned [Settings][General][Background Refresh] (overall) to OFF.
Now the Facebook App is no longer constantly refreshing, iPhone not getting hot.

The problem is the Facebook App (v67.0) is ignoring the overall Background Refresh setting in [Settings][General][Background Refresh]. The overall setting should be overriding ALL App settings.

Facebook ignores the Background App Refresh setting because the app registers itself as a Skype app and will continue to work in the background. If you turn the overall Background App Refresh off, then the entire system is affected - including system services. The best way to solve these problems is to set the overall refresh to on, delete the Facebook app and use Facebook in a web browser so it cannot work in the background.

tecknomage · Oct 19, 2016

Junior said:
Is Facebook really that important?

Looks like you went through a lot of trouble.

That is a snide remark. To millions of Facebook users the answer is YES.

But the real issue is a bug in the iPhone system. The [Settings][General][Background Refresh] (overall) NOT overriding any individual App setting.

scifan57 · Oct 19, 2016

tecknomage said:
That is a snide remark. To millions of Facebook users the answer is YES.

But the real issue is a bug in the iPhone system. The [Settings][General][Background Refresh] (overall) NOT overriding any individual App setting.

The problem is not with the iPhone but with the Facebook app and the methods it uses to circumvent restrictions imposed by apple on how apps are permitted to work in the background. The Facebook app will override whatever background app refresh settings you have set on your iPhone. As previously mentioned, the best way to stop the problem is to delete the Facebook app and use the website version instead. You can set up a home screen shortcut that looks just like the app icon.

ardchoille · Oct 19, 2016

scifan57 said:
The problem is not with the iPhone but with the Facebook app and the methods it uses to circumvent restrictions imposed by apple on how apps are permitted to work in the background. The Facebook app will override whatever background app refresh settings you have set on your iPhone. As previously mentioned, the best way to stop the problem is to delete the Facebook app and use the website version instead. You can set up a home screen shortcut that looks just like the app icon.

Agreed. The fact that the Facebook app was intentionally coded with this behavior is unsettling.

scifan57 · Oct 19, 2016

ardchoille said:
Agreed. The fact that the Facebook app was intentionally coded with this behavior is unsettling.

Apple does have the authority to demand that Facebook change the way it's app works in the background.

tecknomage · Oct 21, 2016

But that does not address the issue of WHY iPhone iOS ALLOWS Apps to override global settings.

scifan57 · Oct 21, 2016

tecknomage said:
But that does not address the issue of WHY iPhone iOS ALLOWS Apps to override global settings.

In the case of Facebook, it's because Facebook is registered as a Skype app which gives it far more freedom to operate in the background than it otherwise would. Facebook is pushing the envelope as far as it can in abusing the wishes of the users.

ardchoille · Oct 21, 2016

tecknomage said:
But that does not address the issue of WHY iPhone iOS ALLOWS Apps to override global settings.

It could very well be that this was not the intended purpose. There will always be one player in any group that attempts to operate contrary to the intended purpose and no set of rules can prevent such behavior. Take a look at any technology and you'll find that rules and features change as time progresses - life is a journey rather than a destination.

The best thing we can do is to report the behavior to Apple and hope for a change. Apple could be waiting for enough people to complain and they'll force Facebook to change their app.

Russtopher · Dec 31, 2016

scifan57 said:
The problem is not with the iPhone but with the Facebook app and the methods it uses to circumvent restrictions imposed by apple on how apps are permitted to work in the background. The Facebook app will override whatever background app refresh settings you have set on your iPhone. As previously mentioned, the best way to stop the problem is to delete the Facebook app and use the website version instead. You can set up a home screen shortcut that looks just like the app icon.

What is the procedure for doing this?

scifan57 · Dec 31, 2016

If you mean deleting the app, press and hold on the app icon until it starts wiggling then tap the X in the upper left corner of the app icon. On the pop up that spears, confirm the deletion. Once deleted, you can then create the home screen bookmark by going to the website and tapping on the box with the upward pointing arrow at the upper right corner of the screen. (Bottom centre on an iPhone screen)In the pop up menu that appears, tap on Add to Home Screen and tap on the Add button at the top right of the next pop up box. The home screen bookmark should now be displayed on your home screen. Taping on it will take you directly to the Facebook website without having to open the Safari app and doing a search for it.