WhatsApp is one of the most popular apps used for messaging across the world, but this week many smartphone users are reporting that the app is draining their phone’s batteries incessantly.
Interestingly, brands like OnePlus, Xiaomi and Google Pixel seem to be the main victims of the issue. OnePlus forums are flooded with queries that have probably picked up since the new version 2.19.308 was released.
We decided to test the claims ourselves and found that WhatsApp running on OnePlus phones, sourced from multiple people, was using over 50 percent of the battery with basic use of the app.
We have reached out to both WhatsApp and OnePlus to see if they have any plans of fixing this specific issue, which has also affected other OnePlus models.
The latest version, co-incidentally is also getting the fingerprint lock option on WhatsApp.
The feature has been rolled out to all Android users, who will be able to lock WhatsApp using the same fingerprint ID they use to unlock their phones. For iPhone users, the feature is only available on the Face ID sensor, limiting its usage to variants like the iPhone X, XS and the new iPhone 11 series.
Users will be able to customise the time duration before the app locks to between "immediately and 30 minutes".
With an increasing number of complaints coming, we hope WhatsApp rolls out a patch soon to fix this apparent bug.
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