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Here's a way in which they can save 100% of the size: Stop stubbornly barring mobile clients from using the web interface. This is why I don't use Facebook Mes

Here's a way in which they can save 100% of the size: Stop stubbornly barring mobile clients from using the web interface. This is why I don't use Facebook Messenger at all.

wilkystyle 7y ago
If I request the desktop site, I am able to access Messenger (iOS, Safari)
- monocasa 7y ago
  Yeah, I do that in firefox mobile as well.
- joking 7y ago
  That’s a workaround for a on purpose decision to cripple the mobile website, where the chat and messages worked flawlessly. Another decision against users was to use messages as notification in some cases. I didn’t pull the trigger on canceling the account as from time to time I find news and event from pages that I follow, but there’s no way I’m installing an app that uses so many shady tactics.
skizm 7y ago
mbasic.facebook.com
monocasa 7y ago
But then they don't have permissions to slurp up all of your contacts, watch all of your SMS, and listen to your microphone...
- Scapeghost 7y ago
  I really wish iOS would allow you to select which contacts/photo album to give an app access to, instead of all hundreds/thousands of them.
  - DelightOne 7y ago
    Maybe group-based, and some apps only get the selected.
  - alpaca128 7y ago
    I wish Android/iOS would let the user decide individually on every single file/contact/etc access, at least in an optional setting. Would be interesting to see how many seemingly harmless apps start to break, I would expect similar results to surfing the web with a JS blocker.
  - amarshall 7y ago
    For photos, I wish iOS would not require a permission at all in the case where I just want it to open an OS-controlled file picker and then give the app the one photo, akin to copy-pasting it. No reason to give access to every photo when only N are picked.
    - kitsunesoba 7y ago
      It’s been a while since I worked with the photo library APIs in iOS, but as I recall there in fact is an API that apps can use to request the user to pick individual photos from an OS picker without further permissions. Most apps just don’t use it because they all want to do their own custom photo picker UIs (even privacy focused apps fall victim to this).
    - monocularvision 7y ago
      https://developer.apple.com/documentation/uikit/uiimagepickercontroller https://developer.apple.com/documentation/uikit/uiimagepicke... iOS 2.0+
- MikusR 7y ago
  Wait! Somebody found evidence of them listening to your microphone?
  - pbhjpbhj 7y ago
    Well I have messenger lite on Android and they, as the parent says, "ask permission to listen to your microphone". Presumably they do voice chat, which needs that permission, surely.
  - lord_braleigh 7y ago
    Still no. If an iOS app is using your microphone while backgrounded, your phone's taskbar at the top of the screen will be red. iOS does not allow apps to use the microphone while the screen is off. The microphone thing is a myth fueled by paranoia and confirmation bias. FB already has plenty of data on you and doesn't need to run NLP on everything you say in order to show you relevant ads.
    - monocasa 7y ago
      > iOS does not allow apps to use the microphone while the screen is off. Isn't the screen off in nearly all of the legitimate uses of a microphone, ie. "I'm replicating the ux of a phone call in my chat app"?
- ajscanlan 7y ago
  The apps don't have permission to do that either unless you grant them.
thepangolino 7y ago
For some reason I can access the chat using Firefox Mobile on iOS but not through Safari.
- kreetx 7y ago
  I used mbasic.facebook.com for a while when it was not possible to use it from the regular mobile web. But for like a year or something they appear to have turned the web back on (at least for firefox, haven't tested anything else).

Here's a way in which they can save 100% of the size: Stop stubbornly barring mobile clients from using the web interface. This is why I don't use Facebook Messenger at all.

wilkystyle 7y ago

If I request the desktop site, I am able to access Messenger (iOS, Safari)

monocasa 7y ago
Yeah, I do that in firefox mobile as well.
joking 7y ago
That’s a workaround for a on purpose decision to cripple the mobile website, where the chat and messages worked flawlessly. Another decision against users was to use messages as notification in some cases. I didn’t pull the trigger on canceling the account as from time to time I find news and event from pages that I follow, but there’s no way I’m installing an app that uses so many shady tactics.

skizm 7y ago

mbasic.facebook.com

monocasa 7y ago

But then they don't have permissions to slurp up all of your contacts, watch all of your SMS, and listen to your microphone...

Scapeghost 7y ago
I really wish iOS would allow you to select which contacts/photo album to give an app access to, instead of all hundreds/thousands of them.
- DelightOne 7y ago
  Maybe group-based, and some apps only get the selected.
- alpaca128 7y ago
  I wish Android/iOS would let the user decide individually on every single file/contact/etc access, at least in an optional setting. Would be interesting to see how many seemingly harmless apps start to break, I would expect similar results to surfing the web with a JS blocker.
- amarshall 7y ago
  For photos, I wish iOS would not require a permission at all in the case where I just want it to open an OS-controlled file picker and then give the app the one photo, akin to copy-pasting it. No reason to give access to every photo when only N are picked.
  - kitsunesoba 7y ago
    It’s been a while since I worked with the photo library APIs in iOS, but as I recall there in fact is an API that apps can use to request the user to pick individual photos from an OS picker without further permissions. Most apps just don’t use it because they all want to do their own custom photo picker UIs (even privacy focused apps fall victim to this).
  - monocularvision 7y ago
    https://developer.apple.com/documentation/uikit/uiimagepickercontroller https://developer.apple.com/documentation/uikit/uiimagepicke... iOS 2.0+
MikusR 7y ago
Wait! Somebody found evidence of them listening to your microphone?
- pbhjpbhj 7y ago
  Well I have messenger lite on Android and they, as the parent says, "ask permission to listen to your microphone". Presumably they do voice chat, which needs that permission, surely.
- lord_braleigh 7y ago
  Still no. If an iOS app is using your microphone while backgrounded, your phone's taskbar at the top of the screen will be red. iOS does not allow apps to use the microphone while the screen is off. The microphone thing is a myth fueled by paranoia and confirmation bias. FB already has plenty of data on you and doesn't need to run NLP on everything you say in order to show you relevant ads.
  - monocasa 7y ago
    > iOS does not allow apps to use the microphone while the screen is off. Isn't the screen off in nearly all of the legitimate uses of a microphone, ie. "I'm replicating the ux of a phone call in my chat app"?
ajscanlan 7y ago
The apps don't have permission to do that either unless you grant them.

thepangolino 7y ago

For some reason I can access the chat using Firefox Mobile on iOS but not through Safari.

kreetx 7y ago
I used mbasic.facebook.com for a while when it was not possible to use it from the regular mobile web. But for like a year or something they appear to have turned the web back on (at least for firefox, haven't tested anything else).