Study highlights Fitbit as a top battery-draining app

Fitness apps are great for staying on top of your activity and tracking your progress. But here’s the catch—they can seriously drain your phone’s battery. A recent study from OurPCB revealed that apps like Fitbit can chew through up to 85% of your battery life, even when you’re not actively using them.

Why fitness apps are so demanding

Why is this?

The thing is, fitness tracking apps often require multiple permissions to deliver a seamless experience. They need access to location and Wi-Fi to allow for Connected GPS, sync with wearable devices, and provide real-time updates. While these functions are necessary for the app’s core purpose, they run constantly in the background, making them significant battery drainers.

Essential reading: Top fitness trackers and health gadgets

Unlike some social media apps, fitness trackers typically don’t need access to your camera or microphone. But their reliance on real-time tracking and data synchronization still demands a lot from your smartphone.

Social and dating apps aren’t much better

While fitness apps are prime offenders, they’re not alone in the battery-draining game. Social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn also rank high on the list.

In fact, seven of the top twenty most battery-intensive apps are social platforms, highlighting how connectivity often drains energy. Instagram is one of the worst culprits. It requires permissions to access the camera, microphone, location, and stored photos, making it one of the most power-hungry apps available.

Dating apps like Tinder, Hinge, and Grindr are similarly demanding, consuming over 70% of battery life in many cases. Their need to constantly refresh location data and send notifications keeps them running in the background, even when not in active use.

How to protect your battery while staying active

So what can you do about all of this? For starters, you need to get on top of managing app permissions.

For Fitbit, these include access to your identity for notifications like step goals or low battery alerts, location for tracking activities through GPS, and photos for setting a profile picture. Contacts are used to find friends using Fitbit, while Bluetooth facilitates syncing with trackers. Telephony and SMS permissions enable call and text notifications on certain Fitbit models.

While these improve the app experience, they aren’t mandatory—users can disable them, though it may limit certain features. Fitbit emphasizes that it doesn’t sell identifiable user data and only shares information when necessary to provide services, in aggregated forms, or with user consent. Permissions can be updated anytime, allowing users to control their data as they see fit.

What’s more, fitness apps also don’t always need continuous location tracking when not in active use. Adjusting settings to allow location access only when the app is open can help conserve power.

Similarly, social and dating app permissions can often be restricted without compromising too much functionality. Many phones now provide tools to identify battery-draining apps in their settings, allowing users to make informed decisions about what to keep running in the background.

So there you have it folks. If you are wondering why your phone’s battery is draining so quickly, now you have the answer. Fitness and social apps bring convenience and connection, but their impact on battery life is hard to ignore. With a few simple tweaks, you can get the most out of these tools without wearing out your phone too quickly.

Like this article? Subscribe to our monthly newsletter and never miss out!