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Free Apps Eat Your Smartphone Battery

Posted by Soulskill on from the om-nom-nom dept.

judgecorp writes "Here's a reason to pay for smartphone apps: the free versions can spend three times as much energy finding and serving ads as they do serving their actual purpose. Research from a Purdue University scientist found that as much as 75 percent of the energy used by free apps (PDF) goes on accessing location services, finding suitable advertisements and displaying them."

2 of 214 comments (clear)

  1. free != ads by Kenja · · Score: 5, Informative

    There are free apps without ads and there are paid for apps with ads. Title should be that ads eat up battery life, which is kind of a no brainer.

    --

    "Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
  2. Re:Not always true by JackieBrown · · Score: 4, Informative

    Adaway works for me.

    It's even open source. You need root, first, though.

    https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.adaway&hl=en