With over 2.93 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most used online social network worldwide. But even with that astonishing number, it’s sad to see the Facebook app is running slow lately, especially on Android. Contents are loading slow on the news feed, comments take 30 to 60 seconds to pop up, and some Facebook pages just don’t scroll. So what’s wrong with the Facebook app?
Overview
Ever since Facebook launched its mobile app for both ios & android users in 2007, It has been accused of being slow to load, crashing here & there, and not to mention the worldwide outage! The situation got worse after 2016 and continues to till day. Now you may wonder why a company that has a net worth of 524 billion in 2022 and a lot of expertise in the industry can’t simply fix their mobile app.
Why Facebook is So Buggy?
There could be many reasons; maybe it’s the slow internet, less RAM and storage on your phone, issues with third-party apps, and tons of others. But the problem we see the most is in the app optimization issue. See, the Facebook app brings out new features from time to time. Now, there’s a MarketPlace, a separate section for Groups, Facebook Videos, and lots of others. And that’s totally understandable; you have to bring in new features to keep your audience hooked. But for Facebook, they bring in updates so much faster that, the developers don’t even get the time to optimize them!
Another fact, Facebook isn’t shy of copying the best features, such as launching stories on Facebook & Instagram inspired by Snapchat, Facebook gaming from twitch, Facebook workplace from slack, Facebook groups from Reddit, and the list goes on. This isn’t a bad thing. because, as the saying goes: good artists copy; great artists steal But, with all of that, it’s becoming heavier and more resource-hungry day by day. Overall, it’s not well optimized for the device, especially on Android. Because when we switch to other platforms like iOS and mobile and desktop browsers, we get different results. It was much smoother on these platforms; scrolling was okay, and content and comments loading time were faster. It wasn’t all perfect but drastically better.
We remembered one of the earlier videos from Mrwhosetheboss where he explained how well the apps are optimized on iOS. It’s because Apple has a limited number of iPhone and iPad models. Each year they release 4 or 5 iPhones and two or three iPads. Over the years, they released a total of 34 iPhones, including the latest iPhone 13 lineup and the iPhone SE third generation. As for the iPads, Apple released 30 different iPads, including the latest iPad Mini 6 and iPad Air 5. So, it’s easier for app developers to optimize the software for iOS devices. Plus, Apple designs its own hardware and operating system. So, it’s bound to be highly optimized. Compared to this, Android has nearly 1300 brands that produce over 24,000 distinct Android devices. And each year, more than 600 Android phones release with different chipsets, displays, and customized Android skins.
So, instead of making a high-quality, tailored experience, Facebook has to make one solution that fits all sizes. Aside from that, Apple even has complete control over its App Store, where only the best-optimized apps can make their entry. In order to submit an app to the store, developers have to enroll in the Apple Developer Program, and the annual fee for that is $99. Google, on the other hand, asks for a one-time registration fee of $25 before uploading any apps.
Wrapping Up
Despite years of improvements, the Facebook mobile app remains far from perfect. Recently it’s been uniquely slow, and loading content has become frustrating. Facebook must address these issues ASAP and bring improvement to the app and overall user experience.
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