I came across the following post on CMSWire and found it interesting. Free, Ad-Supported Mobile Apps Drain Batteries Faster, Consume More Data by by J. Angelo Racoma (@jangelo). What attracted my attention initially was that it was co-authored by researchers at my alma mater, Purdue University. But after reading it, I thought it was a very informative study.
So it appears that ads and activity tracking in all those free mobile apps can use up to 75% of the energy consumption in your mobile device. That makes sense to me because these apps are downloaded to your device, but the ads come from the internet. So every ad is a call out to the mobile radio, which would naturally chew up more energy. Likewise with user analytics – more traffic going to the cellular network or through the wifi radio.
So the next time you decide not to spend a buck for that application on your phone, consider how much the free version is costing you in both battery recharges and data usage.
Agreed. Especially since on Android for example, apps continue to run even when you’ve ‘Homed’ out from them. Two other tips to hunt down battery wasting apps (on Android):
Settings->Applications (select the app and scroll to Permissions)
and
Settings->About phone->Battery use (see what’s using the battery).
Another related (free) app is: My Data Manager – shows which apps are consuming your data (separates Mobile and Wifi data)