Ad-Supported Mobile Apps Are Killing Your Battery


Filed under “you get what you pay for”: Researchers at Microsoft tested the energy consumption of various apps on Android and Windows Mobile (iOS restrictions kept them from testing the iPhone) and found that up to 75% of an app’s energy use goes to power the advertisements in free, ad-supported apps.

The numbers may not have much of an impact without tying them to an app you actually use, so what about an extremely popular game like Angry Birds:

In the case of Angry Birds, research suggested that only 20% of the total energy consumption was used to actually play the game itself.

Of the rest, 45% is used finding out your location with which it can serve targeted advertising.

The lesson: Next time you’re choosing the ad-supported version of an app over, say, its $1 counterpart, you may want to consider whether you’re willing to pay extra just to keep your battery going longer. Yet another way free stuff isn’t always worth it.

Free mobile apps ‘drain battery faster’ [BBC]


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