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I use this because the main facebook app had bloated to taking over 300mb of my android phone. Unfortunately I can't get it through google play (not available

I use this because the main facebook app had bloated to taking over 300mb of my android phone. Unfortunately I can't get it through google play (not available in the UK) so I have to manually download and keep the apk updated. I wish they'd enable it for all countries. The separate messenger app is also going that way, hopefully they'll eventually create a Messenger Lite app too.

Grishnakh 11y ago
You don't need the Facebook messenger app or a Messenger Lite app. Just install "Trillian"; it does Facebook messaging, plus a bunch of other networks, and is fast and low-resource.
- jchendy 11y ago
  Wow, I used to use Trillian in when I was in high school (somewhere around 2002). I'm surprised and impressed that it's still a thing!
SixSigma 11y ago
I use the http version at http://m.facebook.com/ http://m.facebook.com/ None of those pesky permissions like snooping through my contacts
- giancarlostoro 11y ago
  I use FaceSlim which goes through the mobile version and is open source. I installed it through F-Droid.
- p4bl0 11y ago
  Also messenger works on the mobile web version while it does not in the native app, requiring an even more intrusive and abusive separate app.
- jonlucc 11y ago
  When Facebook first released an app, I downloaded it to my Android phone and it borked my contacts so badly that I've never logged into the app again (can't remove it from my Galaxy S6 without rooting). For every person in my Facebook friends list, it added an entry into my Google contacts list without asking. That's on top of all the reading of contacts, which feels far less invasive to me.
  - toomanybeersies 11y ago
    It's usually possible to display contacts from only certain apps/sources in your contacts. That may depend on what brand phone you have though, but my Lenovo and my Huawai used to be able to do it.
- DCKing 11y ago
  On Android 6.0, Facebook must ask you for accessing your contacts, location and doing most sensitive stuff. You can deny it those things and the app will keep on function normally. To their credit, Facebook is a lot quicker to update their app to work with the more restrictive Android 6.0 permission model than others. Combine that with something like Greenify that will stop the app from doing stuff in the background and killing your battery, and it's actually a better experience than the mobile website. It's just insane on how much you must tame the application to be acceptable to use. Wish Facebook engineers would take note of how bloated and overreaching their app is by default.
  - Phlarp 11y ago
    Bloated, overreaching, battery killing and permission hoarding could be used to describe 90% of apps on Play Market.
    - DCKing 11y ago
      I hold the Facebook engineers to a higher standard than the developers of those 90%. In fact I hold them to a higher standard than most engineers.
      - qubex 11y ago
        I hope you mean software engineers. A lot of engineering is life-or-death and intended to potentially last for centuries.
      - Phlarp 11y ago
        The sad truth is that the 10% that _don't_ do this are the lone wolf / indie devs or small shops focusing on a single app. It's the large corps that _should_ be held to a higher standard but aren't, and take advantage of this fact to data mine the shit out of their customers. For some reason every bank on the planet needs to know my location, send/receive text messages on my behalf and listen to my microphone in order to display a damned account balance.
- untog 11y ago
  Also, the mobile web site also provides notifications through Chrome's Push API these days.
- tdkl 11y ago
  I really like this wrapper app : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=me.jakelane.wrapperforfacebook https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=me.jakelane.wr... Because being logged in with FB in the browser tracks what sites you visit (or at least it did).
digi_owl 11y ago
Facebook seems to be the AOL of this decade.
- smrtinsert 11y ago
  A very apt comparison. AOL put out some stuff that was very well done technically but didn't necessarily catch on for the long term, for example AOLServer.
  - jdhawk 11y ago
    Never heard of AOLServer - pretty interesting read on Wikipedia! Thanks.
- Eridrus 11y ago
  Exactly this. It's the internet for people who don't realise there is an internet.
g4k 11y ago
Tinfoil is a great lean Android Facebook client https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.danvelazco.fbwrapper&hl=en https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.danvelazco...
- ionised 11y ago
  Seconded. Tinfoil is great. It's basically just a wrapper app for the mobile site but it basically allows much greater control over what data you want FB to have access to. In my case, nothing.
  - soylentcola 11y ago
    Thirded. Very rarely I need to open the full desktop site in my mobile browser to get something to work properly but for my casual checking of FB once or twice a week, Tinfoil is perfect.

Grishnakh 11y ago

You don't need the Facebook messenger app or a Messenger Lite app. Just install "Trillian"; it does Facebook messaging, plus a bunch of other networks, and is fast and low-resource.

jchendy 11y ago
Wow, I used to use Trillian in when I was in high school (somewhere around 2002). I'm surprised and impressed that it's still a thing!

SixSigma 11y ago

I use the http version at http://m.facebook.com/ http://m.facebook.com/ None of those pesky permissions like snooping through my contacts

giancarlostoro 11y ago
I use FaceSlim which goes through the mobile version and is open source. I installed it through F-Droid.
p4bl0 11y ago
Also messenger works on the mobile web version while it does not in the native app, requiring an even more intrusive and abusive separate app.
jonlucc 11y ago
When Facebook first released an app, I downloaded it to my Android phone and it borked my contacts so badly that I've never logged into the app again (can't remove it from my Galaxy S6 without rooting). For every person in my Facebook friends list, it added an entry into my Google contacts list without asking. That's on top of all the reading of contacts, which feels far less invasive to me.
- toomanybeersies 11y ago
  It's usually possible to display contacts from only certain apps/sources in your contacts. That may depend on what brand phone you have though, but my Lenovo and my Huawai used to be able to do it.
DCKing 11y ago
On Android 6.0, Facebook must ask you for accessing your contacts, location and doing most sensitive stuff. You can deny it those things and the app will keep on function normally. To their credit, Facebook is a lot quicker to update their app to work with the more restrictive Android 6.0 permission model than others. Combine that with something like Greenify that will stop the app from doing stuff in the background and killing your battery, and it's actually a better experience than the mobile website. It's just insane on how much you must tame the application to be acceptable to use. Wish Facebook engineers would take note of how bloated and overreaching their app is by default.
- Phlarp 11y ago
  Bloated, overreaching, battery killing and permission hoarding could be used to describe 90% of apps on Play Market.
  - DCKing 11y ago
    I hold the Facebook engineers to a higher standard than the developers of those 90%. In fact I hold them to a higher standard than most engineers.
    - qubex 11y ago
      I hope you mean software engineers. A lot of engineering is life-or-death and intended to potentially last for centuries.
    - Phlarp 11y ago
      The sad truth is that the 10% that _don't_ do this are the lone wolf / indie devs or small shops focusing on a single app. It's the large corps that _should_ be held to a higher standard but aren't, and take advantage of this fact to data mine the shit out of their customers. For some reason every bank on the planet needs to know my location, send/receive text messages on my behalf and listen to my microphone in order to display a damned account balance.
untog 11y ago
Also, the mobile web site also provides notifications through Chrome's Push API these days.
tdkl 11y ago
I really like this wrapper app : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=me.jakelane.wrapperforfacebook https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=me.jakelane.wr... Because being logged in with FB in the browser tracks what sites you visit (or at least it did).

digi_owl 11y ago

Facebook seems to be the AOL of this decade.

smrtinsert 11y ago
A very apt comparison. AOL put out some stuff that was very well done technically but didn't necessarily catch on for the long term, for example AOLServer.
- jdhawk 11y ago
  Never heard of AOLServer - pretty interesting read on Wikipedia! Thanks.
Eridrus 11y ago
Exactly this. It's the internet for people who don't realise there is an internet.

g4k 11y ago

Tinfoil is a great lean Android Facebook client https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.danvelazco.fbwrapper&hl=en https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.danvelazco...

ionised 11y ago
Seconded. Tinfoil is great. It's basically just a wrapper app for the mobile site but it basically allows much greater control over what data you want FB to have access to. In my case, nothing.
- soylentcola 11y ago
  Thirded. Very rarely I need to open the full desktop site in my mobile browser to get something to work properly but for my casual checking of FB once or twice a week, Tinfoil is perfect.