Is your phone’s battery always running low? Spotify might be the reason.
Spotify is the world’s most popular music streaming app. But, according to a new study, it’s also one of the most battery-draining options, surpassed only by Audiomack.
Music Apps Ranked by Battery Usage
Researchers recently compared battery drain and data access across the top 100 entertainment apps to find out which music streaming services are the hardest on your phone’s battery.
| Rank | Entertainment | Number of Reviews | Average Rating | % of user data the app has access to | Battery Drain Score | Popularity Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Audiomack - Play Music Offline | 1600000 | 4.8 | 64% | 18 | 57.6 |
| 2 | Spotify - Music and Podcasts | 32400000 | 4.8 | 54% | 15 | 95.1 |
| 3 | SoundCloud: Discover New Music | 1000000 | 4.8 | 46% | 13 | 59.5 |
| 4 | TuneIn Radio: Music & Sports | 1000000 | 4.8 | 43% | 12 | 51.1 |
=5 | Pandora: Music & Podcasts | 10400000 | 4.8 | 39% | 11 | 69.2 |
=5 | Apple Music | 491300 | 4.7 | 39% | 11 | 64.1 |
=5 | YouTube Music | 1200000 | 4.8 | 39% | 11 | 61.0 |
=5 | iHeart: Radio, Podcasts, Music | 593200 | 4.8 | 39% | 11 | 55.1 |
=5 | TREBEL Music - Download Songs | 150600 | 4.7 | 39% | 11 | 48.8 |
Audiomack turned out to be the biggest battery hog for iPhone users, scoring 18 out of 20 on the battery drain scale and accessing 64% of user data.
But the real surprise? Spotify, despite being everyone’s go-to music app, isn’t far behind. It scored 15 and can access 54% of your data, which is more than almost every other music app out there!
SoundCloud comes in next with a score of 13. Then, other popular choices like Apple Music, Pandora, and YouTube Music sit more comfortably at 11, only needing access to 39% of your data.
Why Does Spotify Drain Your Battery Faster?
Spotify’s high battery usage comes from three main factors:
Background activities
Even when you’re not actively using the app, Spotify keeps working behind the scenes.
Take Spotify Connect, for example. Even when you’re not using the app, it’s constantly on the lookout for speakers, TVs, or other devices you might want to connect to.
At the same time, the app is also pretty busy keeping everything up to date. It updates your playlists, refreshes podcast episodes, and downloads new content to keep your offline library current.
Cross-platform design
Apple Music is designed specifically for iPhones so its processes are more ingrained and in tune with the OS.
In contrast, Spotify is running more on a one-size-fits-all approach. It’s designed to work on different types of phones and operating systems and that comes with some load in the app’s system.
It works, but it’s not as efficient, especially on iPhones where Apple’s own apps have the home field advantage.
Spotify’s rich features
The app does more than just play music; it displays real-time lyrics, enables social sharing, and shows dynamic visuals. Each of these features needs extra processing power.
Add in the constant notifications about new releases and playlist updates, and you’ve got an app that’s always asking your phone for more battery power.
What Spotify Users Can Do to Conserve Battery
For Spotify loyalists who don’t want to switch, there are several ways to limit the app’s impact on battery life:
- Use Offline Mode: Download your favorite playlists while you’re connected to Wi-Fi, then flip on Offline Mode. This stops Spotify from constantly pulling data from the internet, which is one of the biggest battery drains. It’s perfect for long trips or days when you know you’ll be listening a lot.
- Force Close the App: After finishing with Spotify, force close the app to prevent background processes, like Spotify Connect, from continuing to run and drain battery power.
- Manage Location and Background Data Permissions: Go to your phone’s system preferences and adjust Spotify’s access to location data and background refresh. This limits how much the app can do when you’re not using it. However, you might miss some features like device discovery and automatic updates.
- Clear Cache Periodically: This won’t dramatically improve battery life. But, it helps the app run more efficiently overall. You can find this option in Spotify’s settings under ‘Storage.’