Pocket Casts iOS battery usage is much higher than Apple Podcasts
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Pocket Casts seems to use more battery for the equivalent amount of play time when compared to Apple Podcasts. To get some stats, I used Pocket Casts exclusively for a week, followed Apple Podcasts exclusively for a week.
Results (full data set below)
- Pocket Casts – Played 6 minutes per percent of battery used
- Apple Podcast – Played 10 minutes per percent of battery used
This translates to Apple Podcasts giving me four more minutes per percentage point, significantly increasing daily battery life, as I listen to podcasts 2–6 hours/day.
While I admit this is a crude comparison, my daily usage of other apps is pretty consistent day-to-day and my second most-used app accounts for 10% or less of usage, any variability in daily podcast percent is not being influenced by excessive use of another app.
Are there any plans to address Pocket Casts’ battery usage in the near future?
Full data set:
Date App Percent Screen Time Background Total Minutes Minutes/Percent Wed, Jul 26 Pocket Casts 34% 0:16 3:15 3:31 0:06 Thu, Jul 27 Pocket Casts 35% 0:17 4:03 4:20 0:07 Sat, Jul 29 Pocket Casts 40% 0:17 3:02 3:19 0:05 Sun, Jul 30 Pocket Casts 39% 0:06 6:08 6:14 0:10 Mon, Jul 31 Pocket Casts 28% 0:15 2:02 2:17 0:05 Tue, Aug 1 Pocket Casts 32% 0:16 4:24 4:40 0:09 Wed, Aug 2 Pocket Casts 32% 0:19 1:39 1:58 0:04 Thu, Aug 3 Pocket Casts 36% 0:28 4:04 4:32 0:08 Sun, Aug 6 Pocket Casts 29% 0:13 1:18 1:31 0:03 Average 0:06 Fri, Aug 4 Podcasts 32% 0:31 4:15 4:46 0:09 Sat, Aug 5 Podcasts 24% 0:38 3:03 3:41 0:09 Mon, Aug 7 Podcasts 20% 0:22 3:32 3:54 0:12 Tue, Aug 8 Podcasts 18% 0:19 2:33 2:52 0:10 Wed, Aug 9 Podcasts 17% 0:20 3:06 3:26 0:12 Thu, Aug 10 Podcasts 28% 0:28 5:18 5:46 0:12 Fri, Aug 11 Podcasts 20% 0:14 3:08 3:22 0:10 Sat, Aug 12 Podcasts 37% 0:26 5:19 5:45 0:09 Average 0:10 -
Updated table to fit within fixed column width.
Date App % Total Min/Percent Wed, Jul 26 Pocket Casts 34% 3:31 0:06 Thu, Jul 27 Pocket Casts 35% 4:20 0:07 Sat, Jul 29 Pocket Casts 40% 3:19 0:05 Sun, Jul 30 Pocket Casts 39% 6:14 0:10 Mon, Jul 31 Pocket Casts 28% 2:17 0:05 Tue, Aug 1 Pocket Casts 32% 4:40 0:09 Wed, Aug 2 Pocket Casts 32% 1:58 0:04 Thu, Aug 3 Pocket Casts 36% 4:32 0:08 Sun, Aug 6 Pocket Casts 29% 1:31 0:03 Average 0:06 Fri, Aug 4 Podcasts 32% 4:46 0:09 Sat, Aug 5 Podcasts 24% 3:41 0:09 Mon, Aug 7 Podcasts 20% 3:54 0:12 Tue, Aug 8 Podcasts 18% 2:52 0:10 Wed, Aug 9 Podcasts 17% 3:26 0:12 Thu, Aug 10 Podcasts 28% 5:46 0:12 Fri, Aug 11 Podcasts 20% 3:22 0:10 Sat, Aug 12 Podcasts 37% 5:45 0:09 Average 0:10 -
Thanks for providing this data – this is definitely interesting to see!
We’re always working to improve performance and reduce battery life, so I’m curious about the methodology here – for instance, was Pocket Casts using the Trim Silence or EQ features during these tests? These features require additional CPU usage to do the required processing (which will result in higher battery usage).
For the most part, we offload most of the playback work to Apple’s APIs (which should be the same ones that Apple uses for their Podcasts app), so I’d expect the difference comes from the processing, but if there’s a significant difference if all of the effects are turned off we’d be interested to dig into what’s going on further!
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I don’t use the equalizer or volume boost, but I did have “trim silence” enabled in Pocket Casts (no equivalent in Apple Podcasts).
I’ll try another week with Pocket Casts without trim silence and report back.
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there is definitely something off with Pocket Casts on ios battery usage, I wrote a message with screenshots to support (via the in app support) about a month ago. (didn’t hear back)
I only use Pocket Casts to play back low bitrate MP3s of old Howard Stern radio shows , these are added directly onto my device, and then shared within the phone to Pocket Casts, I play them back, using the speaker with the screen off.Im on the latest iOS 16.4, and have an iPhone 13 Pro . you can see the battery usage in screen shots below below, in fact, my phone rarely goes under 70% battery usage on a normal day which is why I started noticing this.
(to be clear there is no Internet usage associated with my playback, even though I am connected to Wi-Fi- , and usually within about four hours. My battery will be totally drained while playing mp3s in pocket casts (and with the screen off)
I hope this will be looked into, thanks
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it seems I can’t get images to post, I don’t see a way to submit images to support in the app (only attached logs from the app), I will email them to (email visible only to moderators and staff) , tks
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Okay, I ran Pocket Casts for another eight days, this time with Trim Silence disabled. The result was an average of 7m 27s per percentage point, an improvement from 6m 15s. Though, still not as good as Apple Podcasts which was 10m 25s. I did have Apple Podcasts auto-download episodes during its test period.
Date App % Total Min/Percent 2023-08-04 Podcasts 32% 4:46 0:09 2023-08-05 Podcasts 24% 3:41 0:09 2023-08-07 Podcasts 20% 3:54 0:12 2023-08-08 Podcasts 18% 2:52 0:10 2023-08-09 Podcasts 17% 3:26 0:12 2023-08-10 Podcasts 28% 5:46 0:12 2023-08-11 Podcasts 20% 3:22 0:10 2023-08-12 Podcasts 37% 5:45 0:09 Average 0:10:25 2023-08-21 Pocket Casts 13% 1:23 0:06 2023-08-22 Pocket Casts 31% 4:05 0:08 2023-08-23 Pocket Casts 30% 3:33 0:07 2023-08-24 Pocket Casts 38% 4:10 0:07 2023-08-25 Pocket Casts 32% 4:14 0:08 2023-08-26 Pocket Casts 34% 5:13 0:09 2023-08-27 Pocket Casts 36% 5:44 0:10 2023-08-28 Pocket Casts 33% 2:44 0:05 Average 0:07:27 -
@joeyd20f6eec8ba and @bikrrr I’ve gone ahead and added the additional details to our existing bug report for this. If you’d like to follow along with the bug report, you can feel free to do so over on GitHub.
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thanks, to add some more data. I have switched over to using ever cast and playing the exact same content on the same phone, I do not see the issue at all
For example, currently I’ve played one hour and 45 minutes with the screen off / background audio via speaker phone speaker and my battery is still above 90%, with Pocket Casts I would be at 60% or less.
(I do still use Pocket Casts and will continue to. I also will add info and screenshots over on GitHub- thanks for moving this to a bug report over there)
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(sorry in the above post I meant the evermusic app , not ever cast app.
the forums are not letting me edit the post, when I try to it says you cannot reply to this forum post)
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Pocket Casts Forum 