Lance Whitney / Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNET
Running low on battery power is a common complaint among mobile phone users. Beyond complaining, you want to preserve the juice before it runs out. One way to do that is to determine which apps are draining your battery the most. Here's one expert who can steer you in the right direction.
Blame the cloud
In an analysis shared with ZDNET, Thomas Davy, CEO and co-founder of cloud optimization firm Cloud ExMachina, blames one particular factor for battery drain: the cloud itself, or more specifically, hidden background cloud operations.
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Popular apps often process data in the background, even if you exit them. That requires a constant connection to servers, thereby draining the battery in a way that you may not even see.
"Your phone sitting in your pocket is not inactive like you might think," Davy said. "Those innocent-looking apps are often firing up enormous server farms miles away, processing data nobody asked for."
Which apps are the worst offenders?
Davy pinned much of the blame on apps for streaming platforms, smart home devices, and certain social media platforms. By continually syncing with cloud-based systems, these apps are essentially burning the candle at both ends, eating into your battery charge as well as data center electricity.
Also: I changed 8 settings on my Motorola phone to significantly improve the battery life
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