8 ms·

I uninstalled FB from my phone about a year ago. The main reason was that I didn't want to install Messenger, and was sick of them limiting the app. I discovere

I uninstalled FB from my phone about a year ago. The main reason was that I didn't want to install Messenger, and was sick of them limiting the app. I discovered a few other things: - Improved battery life, as the article mentions - Mobile web is actually much faster than the Android app - I spent a lot less time looking, getting notified about crap If you've got the app installed on your phone, I'd encourage you to give uninstalling it a shot.

mandlar 11y ago
And if you really want notifications, they can still be enabled via the Google Chrome app when you visit the Facebook website.
- untog 11y ago
  Not an iPhone user here - do you mean that the Chrome app on iOS has Web Push notification support?
  - fgandiya 11y ago
    It doesn't look like it does yet. http://caniuse.com/#search=Notifications http://caniuse.com/#search=Notifications
    - untog 11y ago
      Shame. I wonder if Google could shim it into Chrome iOS?
      - jon-wood 11y ago
        They should be able to. Embedded Safari allows you to define JavaScript APIs to interface with your app, and the app can register for push notifications.
      - jon-wood 11y ago
        They should be able to. Embedded Safari allows you to define JavaScript APIs to interface with your app, and the app can register for push notifications.
- StavrosK 11y ago
  I just tried that, apparently it doesn't work for messages, which is the only thing I need from Facebook (for the two people who message me there). I guess I'll just keep relying on the twenty-minute-late email notification for messaging.
  - Raphmedia 11y ago
    Personally, I uninstalled the Facebook app but kept the Messenger app (with disabled chat bubble). Works good enough for me. I browser Facebook on the browser when needed (never) and use Messenger for chat alerts. On desktop, I use http://messengerfordesktop.com/ http://messengerfordesktop.com/ to avoid going on the Facebook website. I also use custom CSS on the Facebook website to break some of it's linearity. This make it less likely that I will browse mindlessly. Facebook UI is designed as a precise drug and simply changing it a little bit will disrupt that. (I use a red UI, a noisy background, bigger fonts, etc.)
    - timonovici 11y ago
      I use pidgin, with the newer facebook plugin - it doesn't look as sexy, but it does almost all I need (except for uploading files), and I have a bunch of other accounts connected. When I need to upload stuff, I just go to https://messenger.com https://messenger.com
  - JohnTHaller 11y ago
    Use http://messenger.com http://messenger.com for Facebook messages. In settings, you can turn on notifications.
kough 11y ago
Went through the same process about 3 or 4 months ago. I was uninstalling from an android phone (so not exactly the same experience) but I was pleasantly surprised by how usable the mobile web app was. Also, how much happier I became when I wasn't killing time looking at inane "content". If you're at all curious, try uninstalling Facebook from your phone and doing your best not to visit it on your computer for a a few days, maybe a week. It started out (embarassingly, still is) harder than I thought it would be, even though I don't maintain much of a profile on there – it's made me realize exactly how addicting that behavior can be. I do keep the messenger app on my phone so that I can stay in touch with my friends, but in my mind Facebook vs. Messenger are two totally separate products and experiences.
- karlshea 11y ago
  When you do this Facebook starts emailing you more trying to get you to come back: "See what you've missed while you were away!"
  - bnj 11y ago
    This actually has the effect of encouraging me to stay away
    - antsar 11y ago
      This. Also, the emails taper off after you ignore a few.
  - martian 11y ago
    It's easy enough to disable all these emails in FB's notification preferences.
    - gherkin0 11y ago
      > It's easy enough to disable all these emails in FB's notification preferences. Actually no, I don't think that's even possible. In the notification preferences, it appears you don't get a list of all notifications that you can disable, you only get a list of notifications you've already disabled, so they don't let you be proactive about disabling things. I just tried clicking the "unsubscribe" link from one of Facebook's "So and so has updated their status. Please, come back, our algorithm misses you!" emails, and that added "Recent friend activity on Facebook" to my list of disabled notifications. Let's hope I still get emails for event invites and tagging notifications. They change stuff all the time, and I remember the last time I looked into this I was afraid I was disabling more than I wanted to, so I went with email filters instead.
EC1 11y ago
It's life changing being notification-free (only email + text). I used to have my phone loaded to the brim with apps, now I use maybe 3 or 4 apps regularly tops. Hell, I'm even debating going back to a super barebones flip phone.
- vevoo 11y ago
  I was in that debate too, at the end I chose to go with a two year windows phone...similar results :) , but still i can check the web if i need to.
- laumars 11y ago
  Comments like this is when I suddenly feel old. :) I remember a life before the web, let alone smart phones and social networks. For me, buying my first Android phone (HTC G1 - the one with a slide out keyboard) is what changed my life. eg being able to solve an drunken pub debate in real time, or check train times, etc. It was really liberating....at the time. It's funny because the prospect of being away from home with a flat battery is terrifying to many - and if I'm honest, not too appealing to myself either. Yet I've literally spent half my life without a mobile phone (smart or otherwise) and managed just fine. It's funny how dependant we can become on technology.
- palakchokshi 11y ago
  I think you will love https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/get/id960699421?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/get/id960699421?mt=8
  - scholia 11y ago
    Android version or equivalent?
    - palakchokshi 11y ago
      in development right now, sorry :(
      - 11y ago
LordKano 11y ago
I didn't have a choice about uninstalling the app on my old android phone. It was a built in app and all I could do was uninstall updates. I never installed the update that included the referenced version of messenger. On my new phone, I have never installed the app. I use use the website and it does 90% of what I want to do without the issue of running extra processes in the background on my phone. I'm waiting for the day that Facebook depricates and/or discontinues the mobile site to force people onto the app.
- noxToken 11y ago
  > I'm waiting for the day that Facebook depricates and/or discontinues the mobile site to force people onto the app. Messaging doesn't fully work in an Android browser. You might get a real-time notification badge, but my experience is 50/50. There is also an issue that if you do a manual refresh, you still might not get the new message notification. I imagine that there isn't a rush to fix these issues either.
  - LordKano 11y ago
    I use Chrome on my Android phone. I haven't experienced any problems with messaging. I don't want audible notifications. I'll get my messages the next time I check Facebook. This might not be ideal for everyone but it works for me.
vlunkr 11y ago
This is my experience almost exactly (iOS user). Since then I've started uninstalling all of my apps that have a reasonable mobile web alternative. I'd held on to them from the days when the mobile web wasn't so great.
- Sheepsteak 11y ago
  I've been doing exactly this too over the last few months. Safari iOS is so fast now on the iPhone 6s that I find the mobile sites faster than the apps in most cases.
- palakchokshi 11y ago
  It is interesting that many people don't know that most of their apps have perfectly good mobile web apps too. With the advent in web technologies and developers' focus on best practices the web apps have become very responsive. Personally I got tired of downloading and installing and signing up for apps only to find I didn't use them very frequently. Then I saw their web apps and they worked great. Now I don't have 100 apps on my phone. Just one that takes care of going to all those web apps quickly and easily. Full Disclosure: I built that one app, get@ app.
eatonphil 11y ago
When the Messaging app first came out, I installed it. But I also hated how intrusive the app is. I uninstalled it and switched to just using the web interface. Unfortunately, typing messages in the web interface on Android is absurdly awful. There is a bug such that the last message you sent remains in the text field invisibly and only shows up when you continue typing. So every time I sent a new message, I had to first hold backspace for ~10 seconds to delete the previous message and clean up the textarea. I got so frustrated doing this I switched back to the Messaging app a week ago.
meatsock 11y ago
i did the same thing and was also pleased with the results until the recent change that removed the submit button from the text entry field on comments - now there isnt a way to reply to conversations on facebook.
tomashertus 11y ago
Signing. I uninstalled the FB app 6 months ago and even log out from the web app. Best decision ever. Basically, I use only messenger.
woobar 11y ago
But if you switch to the web app from the native app, now Facebook is tracking all your web usage.
- justhw 11y ago
  You can dedicate one browser (say firefox mobile) for FB only and use chrome or Safari for regular web viewing.
  - jxn 11y ago
    There's a good alternative to this on Android, namely apps like Tinfoil for Facebook, which are simply convenience webkit wrappers around the Facebook WebView
  - woobar 11y ago
    So, instead of one app that sandboxes my FB usage, I would be using a different app (a separate browser) to do basically the same. It might work if Firefox is less of a battery hog then FB app.
  - technojunkie 11y ago
    If you use Firefox Mobile, you can add uBlock Origin to the browser so that it mimics what the desktop browser can do. And remember that you can enable Disconnect rules in uBlock Origin when you're in Advanced mode!
- palakchokshi 11y ago
  I'm sorry I don't understand how a web app can track ALL your web usage? Wouldn't that apply to using facebook.com on the desktop browser too then?
  - tdkl 11y ago
    It does. https://euobserver.com/digital/131029 https://euobserver.com/digital/131029
    - 11y ago
laacz 11y ago
Maybe someone could explain - how can mobile web be faster than (semi?) native app?
- jameshart 11y ago
  Because your phone's web browser can include an ad blocker, while the one in the native app has to make all those extra requests?
  - laacz 11y ago
    This is not applicable to majority of mobile web users outside of US (Android devices for example) or non-Safari users (Chrome on iOS).
    - charlesarthur 11y ago
      Android users can get adblockers by sideloading, and Chrome users on iOS are a tiny minority. The reason why the mobile web version is less sucky on your battery life is because it doesn't get the chance to break out of the browser to monitor your position, play silent audio so that it can stay "active" and push notifications at you, and generally push to the front of the queue.

mandlar 11y ago

And if you really want notifications, they can still be enabled via the Google Chrome app when you visit the Facebook website.

untog 11y ago
Not an iPhone user here - do you mean that the Chrome app on iOS has Web Push notification support?
- fgandiya 11y ago
  It doesn't look like it does yet. http://caniuse.com/#search=Notifications http://caniuse.com/#search=Notifications
  - untog 11y ago
    Shame. I wonder if Google could shim it into Chrome iOS?
    - jon-wood 11y ago
      They should be able to. Embedded Safari allows you to define JavaScript APIs to interface with your app, and the app can register for push notifications.
    - jon-wood 11y ago
      They should be able to. Embedded Safari allows you to define JavaScript APIs to interface with your app, and the app can register for push notifications.
StavrosK 11y ago
I just tried that, apparently it doesn't work for messages, which is the only thing I need from Facebook (for the two people who message me there). I guess I'll just keep relying on the twenty-minute-late email notification for messaging.
- Raphmedia 11y ago
  Personally, I uninstalled the Facebook app but kept the Messenger app (with disabled chat bubble). Works good enough for me. I browser Facebook on the browser when needed (never) and use Messenger for chat alerts. On desktop, I use http://messengerfordesktop.com/ http://messengerfordesktop.com/ to avoid going on the Facebook website. I also use custom CSS on the Facebook website to break some of it's linearity. This make it less likely that I will browse mindlessly. Facebook UI is designed as a precise drug and simply changing it a little bit will disrupt that. (I use a red UI, a noisy background, bigger fonts, etc.)
  - timonovici 11y ago
    I use pidgin, with the newer facebook plugin - it doesn't look as sexy, but it does almost all I need (except for uploading files), and I have a bunch of other accounts connected. When I need to upload stuff, I just go to https://messenger.com https://messenger.com
- JohnTHaller 11y ago
  Use http://messenger.com http://messenger.com for Facebook messages. In settings, you can turn on notifications.

kough 11y ago

Went through the same process about 3 or 4 months ago. I was uninstalling from an android phone (so not exactly the same experience) but I was pleasantly surprised by how usable the mobile web app was. Also, how much happier I became when I wasn't killing time looking at inane "content". If you're at all curious, try uninstalling Facebook from your phone and doing your best not to visit it on your computer for a a few days, maybe a week. It started out (embarassingly, still is) harder than I thought it would be, even though I don't maintain much of a profile on there – it's made me realize exactly how addicting that behavior can be. I do keep the messenger app on my phone so that I can stay in touch with my friends, but in my mind Facebook vs. Messenger are two totally separate products and experiences.

karlshea 11y ago
When you do this Facebook starts emailing you more trying to get you to come back: "See what you've missed while you were away!"
- bnj 11y ago
  This actually has the effect of encouraging me to stay away
  - antsar 11y ago
    This. Also, the emails taper off after you ignore a few.
- martian 11y ago
  It's easy enough to disable all these emails in FB's notification preferences.
  - gherkin0 11y ago
    > It's easy enough to disable all these emails in FB's notification preferences. Actually no, I don't think that's even possible. In the notification preferences, it appears you don't get a list of all notifications that you can disable, you only get a list of notifications you've already disabled, so they don't let you be proactive about disabling things. I just tried clicking the "unsubscribe" link from one of Facebook's "So and so has updated their status. Please, come back, our algorithm misses you!" emails, and that added "Recent friend activity on Facebook" to my list of disabled notifications. Let's hope I still get emails for event invites and tagging notifications. They change stuff all the time, and I remember the last time I looked into this I was afraid I was disabling more than I wanted to, so I went with email filters instead.

EC1 11y ago

It's life changing being notification-free (only email + text). I used to have my phone loaded to the brim with apps, now I use maybe 3 or 4 apps regularly tops. Hell, I'm even debating going back to a super barebones flip phone.

vevoo 11y ago
I was in that debate too, at the end I chose to go with a two year windows phone...similar results :) , but still i can check the web if i need to.
laumars 11y ago
Comments like this is when I suddenly feel old. :) I remember a life before the web, let alone smart phones and social networks. For me, buying my first Android phone (HTC G1 - the one with a slide out keyboard) is what changed my life. eg being able to solve an drunken pub debate in real time, or check train times, etc. It was really liberating....at the time. It's funny because the prospect of being away from home with a flat battery is terrifying to many - and if I'm honest, not too appealing to myself either. Yet I've literally spent half my life without a mobile phone (smart or otherwise) and managed just fine. It's funny how dependant we can become on technology.
palakchokshi 11y ago
I think you will love https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/get/id960699421?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/get/id960699421?mt=8
- scholia 11y ago
  Android version or equivalent?
  - palakchokshi 11y ago
    in development right now, sorry :(
    - 11y ago

LordKano 11y ago

I didn't have a choice about uninstalling the app on my old android phone. It was a built in app and all I could do was uninstall updates. I never installed the update that included the referenced version of messenger. On my new phone, I have never installed the app. I use use the website and it does 90% of what I want to do without the issue of running extra processes in the background on my phone. I'm waiting for the day that Facebook depricates and/or discontinues the mobile site to force people onto the app.

noxToken 11y ago
> I'm waiting for the day that Facebook depricates and/or discontinues the mobile site to force people onto the app. Messaging doesn't fully work in an Android browser. You might get a real-time notification badge, but my experience is 50/50. There is also an issue that if you do a manual refresh, you still might not get the new message notification. I imagine that there isn't a rush to fix these issues either.
- LordKano 11y ago
  I use Chrome on my Android phone. I haven't experienced any problems with messaging. I don't want audible notifications. I'll get my messages the next time I check Facebook. This might not be ideal for everyone but it works for me.

vlunkr 11y ago

This is my experience almost exactly (iOS user). Since then I've started uninstalling all of my apps that have a reasonable mobile web alternative. I'd held on to them from the days when the mobile web wasn't so great.

Sheepsteak 11y ago
I've been doing exactly this too over the last few months. Safari iOS is so fast now on the iPhone 6s that I find the mobile sites faster than the apps in most cases.
palakchokshi 11y ago
It is interesting that many people don't know that most of their apps have perfectly good mobile web apps too. With the advent in web technologies and developers' focus on best practices the web apps have become very responsive. Personally I got tired of downloading and installing and signing up for apps only to find I didn't use them very frequently. Then I saw their web apps and they worked great. Now I don't have 100 apps on my phone. Just one that takes care of going to all those web apps quickly and easily. Full Disclosure: I built that one app, get@ app.

eatonphil 11y ago

When the Messaging app first came out, I installed it. But I also hated how intrusive the app is. I uninstalled it and switched to just using the web interface. Unfortunately, typing messages in the web interface on Android is absurdly awful. There is a bug such that the last message you sent remains in the text field invisibly and only shows up when you continue typing. So every time I sent a new message, I had to first hold backspace for ~10 seconds to delete the previous message and clean up the textarea. I got so frustrated doing this I switched back to the Messaging app a week ago.

meatsock 11y ago

i did the same thing and was also pleased with the results until the recent change that removed the submit button from the text entry field on comments - now there isnt a way to reply to conversations on facebook.

tomashertus 11y ago

Signing. I uninstalled the FB app 6 months ago and even log out from the web app. Best decision ever. Basically, I use only messenger.

woobar 11y ago

But if you switch to the web app from the native app, now Facebook is tracking all your web usage.

justhw 11y ago
You can dedicate one browser (say firefox mobile) for FB only and use chrome or Safari for regular web viewing.
- jxn 11y ago
  There's a good alternative to this on Android, namely apps like Tinfoil for Facebook, which are simply convenience webkit wrappers around the Facebook WebView
- woobar 11y ago
  So, instead of one app that sandboxes my FB usage, I would be using a different app (a separate browser) to do basically the same. It might work if Firefox is less of a battery hog then FB app.
- technojunkie 11y ago
  If you use Firefox Mobile, you can add uBlock Origin to the browser so that it mimics what the desktop browser can do. And remember that you can enable Disconnect rules in uBlock Origin when you're in Advanced mode!
palakchokshi 11y ago
I'm sorry I don't understand how a web app can track ALL your web usage? Wouldn't that apply to using facebook.com on the desktop browser too then?
- tdkl 11y ago
  It does. https://euobserver.com/digital/131029 https://euobserver.com/digital/131029
  - 11y ago

laacz 11y ago

Maybe someone could explain - how can mobile web be faster than (semi?) native app?

jameshart 11y ago
Because your phone's web browser can include an ad blocker, while the one in the native app has to make all those extra requests?
- laacz 11y ago
  This is not applicable to majority of mobile web users outside of US (Android devices for example) or non-Safari users (Chrome on iOS).
  - charlesarthur 11y ago
    Android users can get adblockers by sideloading, and Chrome users on iOS are a tiny minority. The reason why the mobile web version is less sucky on your battery life is because it doesn't get the chance to break out of the browser to monitor your position, play silent audio so that it can stay "active" and push notifications at you, and generally push to the front of the queue.