5 ms·

> Facebook with asking for/getting insane levels of permissions from Android for their apps. Why then use the app in the first place? I mean, the mobile sites

> Facebook with asking for/getting insane levels of permissions from Android for their apps. Why then use the app in the first place? I mean, the mobile sites of fb are pretty much functional to me. (Admittably, I am happy to have no notifications on my phone outside sms and calls)

shmageggy 8y ago
They've been progressively gimping the mobile site for a while. Now you can't use messenger from the mobile site, for zero good reason as far as I can tell. They just want to force people into using the app where they can harvest more data.
- slow_donkey 8y ago
  I regularly use the mobile site messenger - you have to request a desktop site with m.facebook and the overlay won't show. I suspect it'd be trivial to remove the overlay with CSS.
- sixstringtheory 8y ago
  mbasic.facebook.com still has messenger built in and doesnt take ages to load
  - rakoo 8y ago
    Thanks so much. I've been using m.facebook.com but they removed the messenger from there. I've been using messenger lite because it doesn't require as many permissions and is just so much lighter to use, but it lacks one of the most important things to me: gifs
    - parthdesai 8y ago
      privacy, battery life and ram >>> gifs.
  - reaperducer 8y ago
    In my experience, m.facebook.com and mbasic.facebook.com return far less content than the full web page. And mbasic gets the least. There have been times when mbasic has shown me two items, and that's it. Switching to m returned more. But only going to the full www showed me everything going on. So now I restrict myself to using Facebook just one day a week. It's not as good as cutting Facebook off entirely, but it at least reduces some of its data gathering on me.
    - dwighttk 8y ago
      You might do it on a big computer if you have one. I keep Facebook in a fluid instance on my Mac. About 3 times in the past few years I’ve wished I had my login on my phone to get an address for an event or something, but haven’t gone there since I can remember. I don’t really use messenger though.
- PascLeRasc 8y ago
  Have you tried Messenger Lite? I don't know about privacy implications of having it alone on your phone, no other FB apps, but it's quite good.
- rapnie 8y ago
  Google (YouTube, Search) and LinkedIn are doing that too. Especially if you are also using FireFox. Subtle differences in functionality, things missing here and there. Still I am opting for the web versions with my privacy settings and Privacy Badger, etc. LinkedIn app has a builtin Chromium browser that you can't control and may have custom code additions.
- gnicholas 8y ago
  You can still go to m.facebook.com and then request desktop version to get access to messenger. But this is annoying, and most people aren’t aware of workaround like this.
bossx 8y ago
+1 and even better: http://mbasic.facebook.com http://mbasic.facebook.com loads extremely fast and includes messenger.
LeifCarrotson 8y ago
I don't have a Facebook account. But the app is bundled with my 'unlocked' LG G5, and there's no option in the Play store to uninstall it. Only "update", which I refuse to do.
richliss 8y ago
I ended up not using the app but I know lots of non-tech people who are unaware and so carry on. That for me isn't great.

shmageggy 8y ago

They've been progressively gimping the mobile site for a while. Now you can't use messenger from the mobile site, for zero good reason as far as I can tell. They just want to force people into using the app where they can harvest more data.

slow_donkey 8y ago
I regularly use the mobile site messenger - you have to request a desktop site with m.facebook and the overlay won't show. I suspect it'd be trivial to remove the overlay with CSS.
sixstringtheory 8y ago
mbasic.facebook.com still has messenger built in and doesnt take ages to load
- rakoo 8y ago
  Thanks so much. I've been using m.facebook.com but they removed the messenger from there. I've been using messenger lite because it doesn't require as many permissions and is just so much lighter to use, but it lacks one of the most important things to me: gifs
  - parthdesai 8y ago
    privacy, battery life and ram >>> gifs.
- reaperducer 8y ago
  In my experience, m.facebook.com and mbasic.facebook.com return far less content than the full web page. And mbasic gets the least. There have been times when mbasic has shown me two items, and that's it. Switching to m returned more. But only going to the full www showed me everything going on. So now I restrict myself to using Facebook just one day a week. It's not as good as cutting Facebook off entirely, but it at least reduces some of its data gathering on me.
  - dwighttk 8y ago
    You might do it on a big computer if you have one. I keep Facebook in a fluid instance on my Mac. About 3 times in the past few years I’ve wished I had my login on my phone to get an address for an event or something, but haven’t gone there since I can remember. I don’t really use messenger though.
PascLeRasc 8y ago
Have you tried Messenger Lite? I don't know about privacy implications of having it alone on your phone, no other FB apps, but it's quite good.
rapnie 8y ago
Google (YouTube, Search) and LinkedIn are doing that too. Especially if you are also using FireFox. Subtle differences in functionality, things missing here and there. Still I am opting for the web versions with my privacy settings and Privacy Badger, etc. LinkedIn app has a builtin Chromium browser that you can't control and may have custom code additions.
gnicholas 8y ago
You can still go to m.facebook.com and then request desktop version to get access to messenger. But this is annoying, and most people aren’t aware of workaround like this.

bossx 8y ago

+1 and even better: http://mbasic.facebook.com http://mbasic.facebook.com loads extremely fast and includes messenger.

LeifCarrotson 8y ago

I don't have a Facebook account. But the app is bundled with my 'unlocked' LG G5, and there's no option in the Play store to uninstall it. Only "update", which I refuse to do.

richliss 8y ago

I ended up not using the app but I know lots of non-tech people who are unaware and so carry on. That for me isn't great.