AVG: Facebook’s app for Android has the biggest impact on battery life, data usage, storage use

If you have a smartphone, there is a better than average chance you use Facebook. The company endures as the world’s most popular social network by a wide margin, and the majority of its users access Facebook using mobile.

However, according to a report from the anti-virus software company, AVG, the Facebook app for Android placed a dubious first place on its ranking for overall performance impact.

Perhaps not coincidentally, Instagram, wholly owned by Facebook, is also on AVG’s short list of apps that impacts overall performance of Android devices. Taken together as apps, Facebook and Instagram perform very well, but AVG measured that the cost of those apps is paid in reduced battery life, increased data use, and use larger amounts of device storage.

Part of the reason for that is due to how long an app may have been installed on a device. The longer an app resides on a device, particularly social media applications, it may aggregate larger and larger blocks of data, then neglect to clear the cache periodically. Facebook in particular undergoes regular updates, you can almost set your watch by them. As updates roll out, extra features can also impact performance and storage positions on the device.

Also on AVG’s short list of performance pinchers and battery drainers is another popular applications, Spotify, social network Path, Amazon Android, and some of Samsung’s bloatware. The Daily Mail Online chews up the most data along with Tumblr, while Facebook, Instagram, and Spotify round out the top 5.

Are there ways to abate any performance problems that might be caused by heavy use of these apps? Simply put, follow the common battery saving methods, screen brightness, clear out an app’s cache every now and then, and adjust settings for updates and location data.

sources: AVG via BGR and Business Insider