5 ms·

I've had to start disabling notifications on just about everything due similar tactics across the app-o-system. Facebook spam was getting nuts; phone vibrating

by Rapzid 8y ago

I've had to start disabling notifications on just about everything due similar tactics across the app-o-system. Facebook spam was getting nuts; phone vibrating at 2AM because somebody I haven't had contact with in years has updated a picture? Google has even been getting really bad with TV show episode availability updates for shows I have never watched or searched for? Or is that some other app? I think the shark is well below us on notifications.

minimaxir 8y ago
If you are on iOS, I recommend scheduling Do Not Disturb at night.
- amake 8y ago
  Android also has very flexible Do Not Disturb settings.
  - xiphias 8y ago
    My favourite setting is to ring only for repeated calls. This way I'm relaxed and I know I don't miss something very important in a very rare occasion.
  - tripzilch 8y ago
    Hey xiphias (sibling comment), I can't reply to you directly since your comment shows as [dead]. It seems you've been hellbanned for more than three months, and nothing in your recent comment history suggests any bad behaviour. If you happen to read this, I suggest you email the HN mods and demand them to tell you why they have been tricking you to waste your time writing perfectly good comments that they have set to be invisible to a large portion of the userbase, for more than three months. FFS I can't believe they're still doing this hellbanning shit on HN. Just set an account to "scream into the void indefinitely" and forget about it. The admins are otherwise quite reasonable so I can't fathom how they're actually okay with this. FWIW, I clicked "vouch". AFAIK this sends a message to the admins to reconsider the hellban. But now I wonder what it actually does, cause I can't imagine nobody but me clicked that for all of three months.
- petters 8y ago
  I agree this is great and I use it on Android, but it is not a good solution to the spammy notification problem. Apps get one chance. One instance of spam and they are banned from ever notifying again.
  - LoSboccacc 8y ago
    > Apps get one chance. I go even stricter. Unless it’s a messaging app it goes silent straight off. That said apple notification center is doing a bad job at exposing app setting. I’ve forgot some app at vibrate only and it’s just too much hassle to go find it so every now and then the phone vibrates and I’ve no clue why.
    - petters 8y ago
      The reason I am not as strict as you is that sometimes (rarely) apps surprise with useful notifications. Example: streaming apps like Netflix showing a notification while playing to a Chromecast.
  - richjdsmith 8y ago
    >Apps get one chance. One instance of spam and they are banned from ever notifying again. I've been following this rule for over a year now and am down to very few apps that have any notification permissions these days. Maybe 5-10 of the near 30 apps on my phone are still allowed my attention.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
rangibaby 8y ago
I just turned everything off except for badges on some apps. Use your phone how you want to, not how Facebook wants you to.
tomjen3 8y ago
At this point I don't know why anybody would have the Facebook app installed. You can't even read messages on it. But yeah notifications in general needs a strong enforcement from Google if we don't have to turn them off completely.
- Symbiote 8y ago
  Facebook's mobile site pushes "Facebook Lite" so much, there's no way I'm installing it. It clearly has more tracking built in than they can do with the website.
- yetanother1980 8y ago
  Try mbasic.facebook.com
  - tomjen3 8y ago
    Indeed that is my goto, but that is not the app.
iamdave 8y ago
I've come to loathe this about social networking sites. Twitter (which I use for sports buffoonery and hot takes from the community) is the absolute worst about this. "Hey your friend did a thing, go congratulate them" "Hey, a friend knows this person. Go follow them too" "Hey, your friend just posted a picture of spaghetti, go signal your approval" Hey. How about I check in and interact with my friends on my time in a manner I want to?
- izacus 8y ago
  This is why I still use a third party Twitter client (Talon in my case) - it never added any of that stuff, still shows just the timeline.
- justinclift 8y ago
  Yeah, I deleted my Twitter account a while ago when they started to put random crap into my "Notifications", and it couldn't be turned off. Keeping on using a service like that just encourages further bad behaviour.
  - moviuro 8y ago
    FWIW, that stuff doesn't appear in Notifications on https://tweetdeck.twitter.com https://tweetdeck.twitter.com (on PC - never tried mobile for Twitter)
    - justinclift 8y ago
      Thanks. I didn't really use Twitter personally much any way. I do somewhat need to use it as a way to communicate with users for an OSS project (eg not a personal account), but that's still limited to maybe once a day at most. Not worth installing a client program for that.
      - moviuro 8y ago
        It's just a webapp, like twitter.com . Only, it has support for columns, lists, etc. built-in.
btreecat 8y ago
I switched to FaceSlim App on android a few years ago (when the messenger app switch happened) and am glad I did. I don't need the notifications going off all the time, the constant tracking etc.
jawilson2 8y ago
I switched to a Pixel 2 from iPhone a few months ago, and have generally been very happy. At first, though, I would get to the train station and get a notification like "There is a McDonalds 500 Feet Away! Could you review it for us?" Or Starbucks. What the hell? It was some "feature" in Google Maps I guess trying to crowdsource some goddamn thing for "My Places". I had to go through all of the google apps and disable a TON of notifications, tracking, etc.

by Rapzid 8y ago

minimaxir 8y ago

If you are on iOS, I recommend scheduling Do Not Disturb at night.

amake 8y ago
Android also has very flexible Do Not Disturb settings.
- xiphias 8y ago
  My favourite setting is to ring only for repeated calls. This way I'm relaxed and I know I don't miss something very important in a very rare occasion.
- tripzilch 8y ago
  Hey xiphias (sibling comment), I can't reply to you directly since your comment shows as [dead]. It seems you've been hellbanned for more than three months, and nothing in your recent comment history suggests any bad behaviour. If you happen to read this, I suggest you email the HN mods and demand them to tell you why they have been tricking you to waste your time writing perfectly good comments that they have set to be invisible to a large portion of the userbase, for more than three months. FFS I can't believe they're still doing this hellbanning shit on HN. Just set an account to "scream into the void indefinitely" and forget about it. The admins are otherwise quite reasonable so I can't fathom how they're actually okay with this. FWIW, I clicked "vouch". AFAIK this sends a message to the admins to reconsider the hellban. But now I wonder what it actually does, cause I can't imagine nobody but me clicked that for all of three months.
petters 8y ago
I agree this is great and I use it on Android, but it is not a good solution to the spammy notification problem. Apps get one chance. One instance of spam and they are banned from ever notifying again.
- LoSboccacc 8y ago
  > Apps get one chance. I go even stricter. Unless it’s a messaging app it goes silent straight off. That said apple notification center is doing a bad job at exposing app setting. I’ve forgot some app at vibrate only and it’s just too much hassle to go find it so every now and then the phone vibrates and I’ve no clue why.
  - petters 8y ago
    The reason I am not as strict as you is that sometimes (rarely) apps surprise with useful notifications. Example: streaming apps like Netflix showing a notification while playing to a Chromecast.
- richjdsmith 8y ago
  >Apps get one chance. One instance of spam and they are banned from ever notifying again. I've been following this rule for over a year now and am down to very few apps that have any notification permissions these days. Maybe 5-10 of the near 30 apps on my phone are still allowed my attention.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

rangibaby 8y ago

I just turned everything off except for badges on some apps. Use your phone how you want to, not how Facebook wants you to.

tomjen3 8y ago

At this point I don't know why anybody would have the Facebook app installed. You can't even read messages on it. But yeah notifications in general needs a strong enforcement from Google if we don't have to turn them off completely.

Symbiote 8y ago
Facebook's mobile site pushes "Facebook Lite" so much, there's no way I'm installing it. It clearly has more tracking built in than they can do with the website.
yetanother1980 8y ago
Try mbasic.facebook.com
- tomjen3 8y ago
  Indeed that is my goto, but that is not the app.

iamdave 8y ago

I've come to loathe this about social networking sites. Twitter (which I use for sports buffoonery and hot takes from the community) is the absolute worst about this. "Hey your friend did a thing, go congratulate them" "Hey, a friend knows this person. Go follow them too" "Hey, your friend just posted a picture of spaghetti, go signal your approval" Hey. How about I check in and interact with my friends on my time in a manner I want to?

izacus 8y ago
This is why I still use a third party Twitter client (Talon in my case) - it never added any of that stuff, still shows just the timeline.
justinclift 8y ago
Yeah, I deleted my Twitter account a while ago when they started to put random crap into my "Notifications", and it couldn't be turned off. Keeping on using a service like that just encourages further bad behaviour.
- moviuro 8y ago
  FWIW, that stuff doesn't appear in Notifications on https://tweetdeck.twitter.com https://tweetdeck.twitter.com (on PC - never tried mobile for Twitter)
  - justinclift 8y ago
    Thanks. I didn't really use Twitter personally much any way. I do somewhat need to use it as a way to communicate with users for an OSS project (eg not a personal account), but that's still limited to maybe once a day at most. Not worth installing a client program for that.
    - moviuro 8y ago
      It's just a webapp, like twitter.com . Only, it has support for columns, lists, etc. built-in.

btreecat 8y ago

I switched to FaceSlim App on android a few years ago (when the messenger app switch happened) and am glad I did. I don't need the notifications going off all the time, the constant tracking etc.

jawilson2 8y ago

I switched to a Pixel 2 from iPhone a few months ago, and have generally been very happy. At first, though, I would get to the train station and get a notification like "There is a McDonalds 500 Feet Away! Could you review it for us?" Or Starbucks. What the hell? It was some "feature" in Google Maps I guess trying to crowdsource some goddamn thing for "My Places". I had to go through all of the google apps and disable a TON of notifications, tracking, etc.