Free Apps Eat Your Smartphone Battery 214
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."
Not always true (Score:4, Interesting)
The custom firmware I use on my Android smartphone redirects all ad domains to 127.0.0.1, so no ads for me.
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Plus your phone is taking time to process/reject those calls.
why so much effort? (Score:2)
adblocker does this for you - as long as you have root, no need for custom firmware
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Re:Not always true (Score:4, Informative)
All you need is root access, then there is more that one app to setup a redirect.
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Which goes to the point: the equivalent of AdBlock Plus needs to be an app for these phones - as a local proxy/filter.
Use the AdBlock lists to populate. Half the work is already done...
Re:Not always true (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Not always true (Score:5, 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 [google.com]
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Actually, can't you just edit /etc/hosts, as you would on a desktop computer?
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Nope, that's outside of the SD card mountpoint, so you can't get to it from an external device - and applications can't modify system files (think if a normal user trying to edit in /etc without su/sudo - it's not going to work)
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Wasn't his whole point that you could just edit that file instead of rooting the phone? Well, no... because you need root to edit the file.
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Not necessarily. I rooted a Nook Simple Touch a while back, but before I rooted it, I booted from an easily downloadable older version of the rooting tool that, rather than doing the rooting itself, instead presents the entire built-in flash via USB as a mountable, multi-partition volume so that you could manually root it. By combining that tool with 'dd', I was able to make a virginal copy of the device.
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Sorry, submitted that before I was quite finished. The point of that explanation was that as long as you are booted from that flash card, you should be able to mount the uRamdisk to modify the files in /etc without rooting the device itself.
I'm not sure which Android devices can boot off a flash card, but any that do should be modifiable without the need to root the device.
Re:Not always true (Score:4, Informative)
You miss my point [slashdot.org].
Case in point, you have to have a rooted phone for that app to work.
Re:Not always true (Score:4, Informative)
One thing that is done is that once root is attained, create a symlink at /etc/hosts pointing to a file on the SD or external_SD and then you can edit it without root. But root has to have happened at some point and in some way.
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Considering windows batch scripting is really just a string of commands tied together with a few syntax options that in no way amount to what anyone with a sane mind would call "programming"... Yes, if you manage to construct a useful program out of nothing but a bat file, you sir are a God.
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DOS BATCH is turing complete, so is windows batch programming.
So is Intercal, that doesn't mean I want to do anything particularly complicated in it.
What Turing completeness doesn't imply (Score:2)
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In response to point 3, Combofix (basically the best virus / rootkit removal tool out there) is a collection of compiled programs strung together by several thousand lines of batch.
It can be maintainable the same as any other language, if you go to the trouble to make it maintainable. Theres nothing magical about C++ that makes it maintain or document itself.
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Any custom firmware that comes with a modified hosts file, I'd assume...
You can also just root the handset and modify the hosts file yourself. Or download "Adfree" from the market and have it done automatically.
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hosts file
Noooo! Now you've summoned APK!
Re:Not always true (Score:4, Informative)
Not necessarily custom firmware. Just root the phone, install AdFree and there you go.
It helps quite a bit. As I heard it, going to address 0.0.0.0 is faster that 127.0.0.1 though.
That said, I have done it and yeah, it saves time, screen space and all that.
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0.0.0.0 is the proper solution, even on an actual computer.
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Back in the day, I had apache running on my main computer, so I wrote a little script to serve up images whenever it was viewed. It was a little more complicated, but think of a web "page" that is just a single tag.
I then directed all ad traffic to 127.0.0.1 and suddenly all the ad-infested websites had pictures from my art folder instead.
It wasn't worth the effort, but it made me smile.
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Yeah, but then you're supporting the developers, and GP obviously doesn't want to do that.
Paid apps not available everywhere (Score:2)
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The GP didn't say what app it was, but one of the joys of Android is that you don't need to use their store to buy apps. The app in question could be available as a download from their website.
You have to sign up with some service to pay them, but you're not forced to use Google unless the author doesn't offer it.
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The app in question could be available as a download from their website.
But what would deter people from sharing the APK with someone else who hasn't paid?
Correction (Score:5, Insightful)
Ads Eat Your Smartphone Battery
Re:Correction (Score:5, Interesting)
More specifically, bad ad serving code eats your smartphone battery.
If your app connects to an ad server/framework every minute, or on particular events, etc. etc. each time... then yes, that's going to suck down energy real fast.
Instead, download multiple ads (in the background), serve from that pool.
Better yet, as somebody at a Dutch tech site suggested, let shared ad frameworks do this so that N ads downloaded can be shared across multiple apps.
There are down sides, of course:
- the ads in the pool may become outdated. I.e. if somebody searched for PNDs today, the ads downloaded yesterday won't be notifying you of the latest TomTom/Garmin/whatever offerings. This can be corrected by always refreshing after a set time.
- you may end up downloading more ads than you'll actually use before such a refresh, which means you actually used more energy (and bandwidth) than you would have under traditional methods.
But in general, all this opening/closing of connections which in turn may or may not lead to 3G / 4G modules kicking into action, etc. is just inefficient.
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Not quite. The ad networks (Google's, etc.) do just one thing.. serve up ads based on certain metrics that you send in a request.
If you send 5 requests, you get 5 ads.
There's no change required on that end.
Ad frameworks are a different matter. Most of the large ad networks also offer ad frameworks that make it easy to implement advertising based on their services - be that on your webs
Re:Correction (Score:5, Funny)
In other news:
Ads on television waste anywhere from 1/3rd to one-half the power used while watching TV. ;-) Back in the 1960/70s when ads were only 9 minutes per hour, TV ads only wasted 15% power.
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They do more than that. I have read where some ad based apps actually read and transmit your contacts database and other bits of information out of your phone to do unknown things with "our partners." (Not all of their partners are people who sell things... sometimes they are private intelligence and government.)
People are simply not careful when it comes to apps on Android... not like they are careful elsewhere, but you know?
I have been in discussions like these where "well meaning people" say things lik
AdAway (Score:4, Informative)
Android + AdAway (free, in the market) on a rooted device == no ads. It also mitigates the security risks associated with third party ads.
Re:AdAway (Score:4, Informative)
Mostly. I got bit briefly by Airpush ads, which seem to be immune to hosts redirections, which both AdAway and (my choice) AdFree use.
To locate the apps that sneak in Airpush capabilities, I use AirPush Detector, which (quoting the author) "detects other installed applications which appear to use known notification ad frameworks and offers the user the ability to easily uninstall them.... This app is open source...."
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Maybe DroidWall will work. It only allows network access to apps that you grant permission.
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Airpush got around droidwall on my phone, but then again, the app that was infested required internet access to perform it's primary function. Once I figured out which app used airpush (that was the hard part) I uninstalled it, and left detailed negative feedback for the app in the market.
It's one thing to put ads in your app, but what right does any developer think they have to put ads in my notification bar when the app isn't even running!?!?!?!
Ads? What are they? (Score:2)
Between not watching TV, having AdBlock on computers and AdFree on my phone, I can't remember the last time I saw one.
Re:Ads? What are they? (Score:5, Funny)
Since you obviously read Slashdot, I'd say you see at least a couple every day. They're just disguised as stories.
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There are stories on Slashdot?
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Yes, stories about products that you need to go buy... right now... go on... it will make you life better.
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Leela: Didn't you have ads in the 20th century?
Fry: Well, sure, but not in our dreams. Only on TV and radio. And in magazines and movies and at ball games and on buses and milk cartons and T-shirts and written in the sky. But not in dreams. No, sir-ee!
Re:Ads? What are they? (Score:4, Interesting)
You know, come to think of it.. I don't think I've ever dreamed (of) an ad.
Off-topic as this might be, I'm going to pose this as a serious question: have any of you ever dreamed an ad?
I've had a great many number of dreams that range wildly in topics and vividness. I once woke up remember several lines of text from a book I was reading in my dream - I googled the lines of text but as far as it was concerned, those lines were not written anywhere for it to find.
But I don't recall having ever seen an ad. Or even related. I.e. walking down a city, I remember stores, I remember cars, traffic, people, the rain, a gust of wind... I don't, however, remember any H&M ads in the bus stalls, or Heineken sign outside a bar.
( Of course now that I've written this, I'll bet I'll be dreaming of ads come tonight. Damn. )
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I've had a couple of nightmares that were pretty close to Santorum ads.
Oh. Wait.
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What?!? (Score:2)
Oh my, it's such a big surprise!!!
Next you're going to tell me that turning up the brightness to max takes up more battery too!
Re:What?!? (Score:4, Funny)
Apps that download ads use 100% more energy downlaoding ads than apps that don't download ads... Who knew?
Next up, parked cars consume 100% less gas than cars being driven down the road.
And there is a study underway in Europe that hopes to confirm my suspicion that empty boxes weigh less than full boxes.
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Then how about people start paying for the apps (Score:2)
App developers for iPhones and Android devices want to be paid for the work they do. Some of those developers release 2 versions of their apps: ones with ads for free, and another that costs money with no ads. Most people tend to vote for the "ads" version because it seems free to them.
If this article is right, it may be work paying for those $0.99 apps as it will save you money in electricity and time/announces.
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Not if you only charge your phone at work. Let your employer pay that extra energy cost!
Or your Mom (in her basement).
The word "Free" is superfluous (Score:2)
Apps eat your smartphone battery.
And.. Who knew? We all thought it was the multicore faries.
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multicore faries
do you know how much of a pain they are to catch when they make it in to your data center?? especially now that most are getting rid of their Sun boxes, they just wander and hide in the closest glowing box, which are everywhere..
Most apps suck (Score:3)
As an app developer and heartless cynic, I'd say if the ads make up 3/4 of the power budget, that sounds like a really stupid and useless app. If it's not busy presenting content, calculating something, or entertaining the user, then it's a total waste of CPU not even worth the ad pennies.
There are so many moronic apps out there, designed with the sole purpose of duping the user and profiting the developer. Humanity is wasting countless man-millenia defrauding each other via these gadgets, thanks to undiscerning advertisers and the plague that is in-app purchasing. If you want to save energy, start by raising the standards for mobile apps a little higher than "paid the developer signup fee".
Re:Most apps suck (Score:4, Informative)
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Well, part of that reason is that phone/tablet apps are very limited subsets of their desktop analogs. It's a toy platform, you can't expect people to spend professional-level money on its software. I'm not going to drop $45 on a photoshop clone when all I can realistically do with it is finger-painting and morphing people's faces into goofy caricatures. The few apps that are truly valuable tend to come with the base OS: web browser, email, notepad. I could maybe use a simple spreadsheet, but Google web
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The idea is that you DON'T maintain two packages....
Instead, you give the single app away for free, and use in-app purchasing to unlock additional features, as well as disable the advertisements.
I'm personally not a big fan of this sort of paradigm... I much prefer to buy software outright than spend money incrementally to get more functionality, but as a professional software developer who's been witness to these trends, it's hard to argue with the fact that this sort of software business model seems
Instead of buying ad-free versions . . . (Score:2)
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You could just purchase ONE application that manages all of this for you. Besides, I don't generally make it a habit of using applications that request location services yet don't seem to have a reason to do so. Oh right, you use an iPhone and you can't see those permissions before you download. Sorry.
Oh quit trolling. On an iPhone the app will ask after you download and if you don't like that, just delete it. BFD!
free != ads (Score:5, Informative)
What ads? (Score:2, Offtopic)
Use free software, don't support them by "seeing ads", support them with direct donations.
Poor title (Score:2)
That should really read "Adware drains your battery" which is not only more accurate, but makes the article both banal as well as un-surprising.
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JuiceDefender (Score:5, Interesting)
I rarely shill for a product but if you have an Android phone with a less-than-optimal battery (like me), JuiceDefender [juicedefender.com] does wonders. It turns off your phone's wi-fi and data connections (except for situations you configure like a streaming radio app is open) when your screen is off, turning them back on every X minutes so apps like email an sync on a reasonable schedule while not killing your battery. This by itself can save a huge amount of battery life (though it can do a lot more).
By its own calculations (which I of course take with a grain of salt) it has more than doubled my effective battery life, and I would guess from practical use that it's nearly correct.
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Free Apps (Score:2)
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Why would you duck?
One "ducks" to avoid a proverbial projectile tomato hurled at a stand-up comedian who just told a really bad joke.
In this case, the joke is on the confusion between the Slashdot meaning of "free" (as in speech) and the App Store/Google Play meaning of "free" (as in beer). Occasionally, these are called "small f free" and "big F Free" or "gratis" and "libre" respectively. But there are reasons for the lack of free software and ad-free freeware. For one thing, iOS application developers feel that they have
Here is the problem. (Score:2)
1. Charge for the app. Because it cost money a lot of people will not want to pay for it even though they wast more money a day on coffee, as there is a risk involved making the choice for the app... And for those early iPod owners they realize a dollar per song/app adds up overtime if you are not careful.
2. Free App with adds. Basically give the app for free as a something useful enough for them to to
Rooted phone with AdAway (Score:2)
Use "AdAway" by Dominik Schurmann. Free in Google Market.
Also you could run "DroidWall" which allows you to white list what apps may connect to the web.
Since everyone else is mentioning their custom ROMs I'm running Blu Kuban on a Sumsung Galaxy S2 (Sprint Epic Touch version)
Does this apply to my Kindle too? (Score:2)
It talks over 3G and retrieves ads for display on the Homepage and screen saver. I never thought about how much battery power that would drain. (Of course it lasts over month so not really an issue I guess?)
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All things considered (Score:2)
Google App store should allow filter by funding (Score:2)
The solution here is to ensure that the app store shows the funding model of the app to the user before installation.
Personally, I *really* object to adverts on my phone: it's my personal space, my privacy, and screen/bandwidth/battery are far too limited to waste.
We should be able to filter the app funding model. For example, when given 50 different apps that do basically the same thing, I'd consider:
[Best] ; F0SS (GPL/BSD etc) ; Free beer, closed source without ads. ; Paid ; Advert funded ; Demo
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And apple not allowing scumbag app authors adding in apps on an update. I have bought a couple of apps that suddenly had ad's. the ONLY apps that should be allowed ad's are free ones.
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I've made very little money with my paid, no ads app. My next app is going to have ads just so I can see if there's any difference.
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Please allow your users to upgrade to a paid, ad-free version, or include it as a "pro" version in the app store.
Paid apps not available in all countries (Score:2)
[Best] ; F0SS (GPL/BSD etc) ; Free beer, closed source without ads. ; Paid ; Advert funded
So how would one fund the development of, say, a video game that is either FOSS or "Free beer, closed source without ads"? There are a bunch of countries where Google Checkout doesn't work. The only applications that show up in Google Play (formerly Android Market) in these countries are the free ones. So to make applications available to the widest audience, developers have had to make them ad-supported instead of paid. This glut of ad-supported "free" apps has established a customary price point [wikipedia.org], which ha
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Well, you can always do an out-of-band payment method, or simply use the honour system:
"If you like my app, donate what you think it's worth by paypal, then check this box to hide the ad".
I can't be the only one who thinks that adverts on a smartphone are intolerable (perhaps with the exception of on the settings or about page).
I'm a bit reluctant to use adblock on a free app, but that is the alternative: if an app shows annoying intrusive ads in the user's private, personal space, it's so v
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Well, you can always do an out-of-band payment method, or simply use the honour system
I was under the impression that app stores banned applications from doing this [macstories.net].
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Only Apple do. The Android Market isn't locked down in this way - and even if it were, you can install apps from "non-market sources" on any android phone, just by clicking the checkbox (no need to root it).
Obvious Guy says (Score:2)
Not for me. (Score:3)
Jailbroken and custom hosts file makes them not serve any ads. I did not agree to pay for airtime for the ad's, so Until they pay for my data plan, I'm doing what I can to block ad's on my phone.
They are serving their "actual purpose". (Score:3)
And they are not Free: merely gratis.
you thing that is bad try roaming with them and yo (Score:2)
you thing that is bad try roaming with them and your data bill can be X50-X100+ time the cost of buying the app.
Misleading article is misleading (Score:5, Insightful)
A lot of "free" apps don't have ads and don't use more power than any other app. Many behave actually way better than paid ones.
Stupid article is stupid.
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For most users, the vast majority of free apps are ad-laden and (for many therein) functionally crippled versions of better, paid applications.
sounds like flawed research (Score:3)
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First of all, not all free apps are adware. That's because some app developers (myself included) write apps for the fun of it.
So how do you pay the bills while devoting sufficient time to "the fun of it" including promotion and user support? What's an ideal split between a day job and a hobby of developing Free or freeware applications?
Turned-off (black) pixels don't drain the battery.
This might be true of AMOLED panels, but the fluorescent or LED backlight of an LCD panel uses the same power no matter how many pixels are darkened.
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How many kilowatts can I buy for the 99 cents you think I should pay for a non-free app without ads?
How long will it take me to use that many kilowatts in my cellphone?
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I go weeks without charging my smart phone sometimes...
true... my smart phone isn't really a smart phone... it's actually a dumb phone- about as dumb as they come.
OK... my phone is an ancient flip phone... but still... point in tact... I go at least a week without charging usually (unless I'm talking alot).
Re:Free? (Score:5, Insightful)
Of course, just like writing Slashdot posts on a "free" operating system with a "free" desktop environment and a "free" browser is just drowning me in ads.
"Apps" have been around longer (Score:2)
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Well, as a counter example, I was sick of ads on my Droid "Free" metronome app, so I wrote an ad-free one, and yes, it was produced via "Good Will". And unlike the ad-festooned apps, mine comes with both Cowbell and Fart [google.com] sounds!
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The problem is there are too many people who want to get rich quick. Make a junk app, make money off the adds, then just be happy that they made the money then go to the next scheme.
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make money off the adds
I can't tell if that's a typo for ads or you mean attention deficit disorder sufferers - it seems to work either way...
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-17431109 [bbc.co.uk]
"Due to restrictions built into Apple's mobile operating system, the team was unable to run tests on the iPhone."
Re:Not a problem (Score:5, Funny)
You can get angry birds easily on any platform.
1) Place phone on birdfeeder.
2) Fill birdfeeder with catfood.
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Just FYI, you can easily install both Android and WP7 (and also Maemo/Meego and Ubuntu) on an HD2. Most versatile smartphone I know of.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/index.php [xda-developers.com]