iPhone Tricks > How To
Posted in How To by Patricia on September 26, 2022
Facebook background activity issue on iPhone
Are you looking for a way to stop Facebook background app activity on iPhone? You’ve disabled the permission in Settings but FaceBook keeps running in the background and drains the battery of your iOS device?
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FaceBook Background Activity Problem
This unexpected behavior has been reported by Omar:
“Seeing significant facebook background activity although the Background App Refresh is turned OFF! anyone else?”
We’ve found several other reports on Reddit:
“Facebook background activity too high”
and another user showing 4h and 45 minutes of usage in the background:
“Why is Facebook background usage so high?”
Are you experiencing the same issue? Confirm the problem in the comments please!
How to Stop FaceBook Background Activity
Mashable reports that Facebook and Instagram are still secretly tracking iPhone users, although the permission is denied in Setting!
This is done thanks to a loophole that allows them ot inject javascript tracking codes into websites that users visit via the in-app browsers in Facebook and Instagram for iOS. Here is what you should do:
- 1. Open Settings -> General -> Background App Refresh.
- 2. Scroll for Facebook and make sure that the switch is turned OFF.
- Open Settings -> Privacy & Security -> Tracking.
- Search for Facebook under the Apps That Requested to Track section and make sure that permission isn’t allowed!
- Open Facebook in Safari and log-in to your Facebook account.
- Use the Share icon and tap Add to Home Screen to create a shortcut to your Facebook timeline on your iPhone’s Home Screen, for easy access.
- Delete Facebook App from iPhone.
1. Turn Off In Settings
First, make sure that Facebook background activity is restricted on your iPhone:
Tip: To be extra cautious, you can disable Background App Refresh completely on your iPhone.
2. Request App Not To Track
Next, make sure that you’re not allowing Facebook to track you. This also leads to background app activity:
Fact: as mentioned above, this might be not enough as Meta has found a loophole and continues to track your iPhone even without your consent.
3. Facebook With Safari
This is extreme if you’re a Facebook-fan, but it will surly stop the unacceptable Facebook background activity:
Fact: The downside of this workaround is that if you administrate Facebook Pages you won’t be able to do it from the browser version.
4. Update To iOS 16
It seems that most users are experiencing not allowed Facebook background activity are running iOS 15. Apple might have patched additional loopholes used by Meta to track iPhone users in the new OS.
We recommend you to update to iOS 16 if you haven’t already!
Have you managed to fix Facebook background activity issue? Do you have a better solution? Share your feedback in the comments.
Related: Check out the new Facebook widgets for the redesigned iOS 16 Lock Screen!
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