The popular chat app WhatsApp recently found itself enduring a backlash from disgruntled users who blame it for causing a severe battery drain on their smartphones.
As the Daily Express notes, this glitch seems to be mostly affecting the users of OnePlus handsets.
“A week ago, I noticed that the battery on my OnePlus 6 started draining faster than usual. Battery wear is usually more gradual, and I started wondering”, one Reddit user complained. “This coincided with an update of WhatsApp which I installed on my phone - the one with fingerprint unlock”.
The Redditor added that his phone showed that “WhatsApp used battery ‘While in active use’ for 1.5 hours”, even though they only “opened the app for a minute”.
“Battery Leech! Ever since the last update, WhatsApp's background activity consumes the battery like it's free cupcakes. 25% in 2 hours according to the battery usage overview”, another person complained in a WhatsApp review quoted by the newspaper. "And that's even though I restricted background activity when I found out. That's ridiculous. Please fix your app.”
Complaints about this issue also emerged on social media, as well as on Google Play and on the OnePlus Forum.
@WhatsApp after latest update my phone's battery is draining like crazy. Even Android is showing me warnings of battery drain when using this app. Please quickly fix this. Meanwhile uninstalling. pic.twitter.com/JhRmT8rHqz
— Rajat Pal (@Rajat_Pal9) 9 ноября 2019 г.
@WhatsApp your recent update is draining battery faster than usual on my #MotoOnePower Android One device@Moto_Support look into this.
— Abdul Mujeeb (@muzeeb_7) 11 ноября 2019 г.
Anyone else on android have an issue with WhatsApp using way too much battery lately? pic.twitter.com/CkYCmO0eYf
— Greg M (@Greggory_M) 3 ноября 2019 г.
The new update of WhatsApp consumes a lot of battery in both Android and IOS. We are fixing this problem.
— Eduardo Saverin (@_EduardoSaverin) 10 ноября 2019 г.
At this time, the exact cause of this problem appears to be unclear.
