14 ms·

Clean Your App Permissions in 2 Minutes

144 points by benjlang 15y ago

hkolk 15y ago
"Now click the icons and get ready for a surprise!". I was not surprised. Although one annoying thing is that Facebook auto-auths some websites such as Rotten Tomatoes. (Afaik it has that also for Yelp)
- kokonutt 15y ago
  I don't use fb much, but I'm sometimes logged in while doing other things and it was a huge wtf moment for me to see how many websites were authorized even tough I've never done such a thing.
  - benjlang 15y ago
    Same with me, this was helpful, but more could be done. Even just a monthly reminder overview with a list of new services I've connected to would be very helpful.
Scaevolus 15y ago
Neat idea! The Google Accounts button links to a Hebrew translation, "hl=iw" shouldn't be there.
- aviche 15y ago
  Fixed :) cheers
- benjlang 15y ago
  Good call, I'll let him know.
PStamatiou 15y ago
Nice! Just revoked access to about 40 things on Twitter , 30 on Flickr, 15 on Google, a handful on LinkedIn, 11 on dropbox, and about 150 (yikes!) on Facebook.
- benjlang 15y ago
  Not bad! Monthly email reminders listing all of the new services you signed up for would be a cool feature I think.
- aviche 15y ago
  Glad to hear :) share it so more can enjoy it
mark_l_watson 15y ago
Thank you! Very useful.
sacrilicious 15y ago
This inspired me to clean up my Boxcar too, and therefore see how little Github is notifying me about....
padobson 15y ago
Is it just me, or is Facebook the furthest behind on all things user experience? Case in point: three clicks to remove access from an app on Facebook (1. Click 'X" 2. Click 'Remove' 3. Click 'OK'). On Twitter, it was one click, and if you want to change it, there's an "undo" button right there waiting for you. Mix in that every incarnation of Facebook's own clients is almost completely different (iPhone vs. iPad vs. Android vs. Web), and you have a user experience nightmare. 90% of the phone calls I get from non-technical friends and family are "How do I do X on Facebook?". The first question I always have to ask: "Are you on an App or on the web?"
- illumin8 15y ago
  Facebook doesn't want to make it easy to revoke access to your data. They intentionally made it 3 clicks, just to make it more difficult. If it was super easy to revoke access to apps, developers might not be so interested in writing for their platform.
  - jackalope 15y ago
    That, or the incomplete user experience is simply due to Facebook's motto of "Done is better than perfect." There are plenty of areas where the UI is lacking that have no affect on app developers.
- kmfrk 15y ago
  I attribute this to their "Move fast and break things" mantra.
- danoc 15y ago
  To speed up the process, you can just click and hit enter twice. You do have a point though. They also make email notifications a pain to change: https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=notifications https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=notifications
- RobertKohr 15y ago
  Click x, and press enter, enter. You can keep clicking and entering until the list is empty.
phillmv 15y ago
1. It's extremely hateful to see how much information Facebook shares, and by default. I am fairly certain I never saw a permissions dialog to a lot of these sites. I also really hate how you can't allow or deny any given permission; 99% of apps I've seen use Twitter or Facebook as a single sign on. There is absolutely no reason for any of these to have that much access to personal information. 2. It requires Facebook in order to leave a comment? I extremely hate how this has become a "thing". I mourn the loss of anonymity on the internet. 3. The above site could be great for phishing.
- peteretep 15y ago
  > I am fairly certain I never saw a permissions dialog to a lot of these sites. Really? There's nothing on mine I didn't explicitly give permissions to, but then, once I add something that looks interesting, I explicitly go back and remove it again right then so I don't forget...
- ceejayoz 15y ago
  > I also really hate how you can't allow or deny any given permission Sure you can. There's a nice big cancel button. Also, the new version of the dialog allows you to remove most permissions on-the-fly if you don't like giving them. You can't remove the basic set of data or the e-mail requirement, but you can remove things like user likes etc.
Groxx 15y ago
Awesome site, thanks for creating it! I tend to keep mine pretty clean, but it's such a PITA to hunt down all the dangling ends that shortcuts are very much appreciated :)
Joe_Pineapples 15y ago
That surprised me a bit. I knew my facebook would have zero as I'm careful about that but twitter had a couple I didn't know about, as did dropbox.
peteretep 15y ago
Anyone else find absolutely no surprises here? I guess I am just anal about denying things access unless they need it...
erummee 15y ago
clean,thank u

144 points by benjlang 15y ago

hkolk 15y ago

"Now click the icons and get ready for a surprise!". I was not surprised. Although one annoying thing is that Facebook auto-auths some websites such as Rotten Tomatoes. (Afaik it has that also for Yelp)

kokonutt 15y ago
I don't use fb much, but I'm sometimes logged in while doing other things and it was a huge wtf moment for me to see how many websites were authorized even tough I've never done such a thing.
- benjlang 15y ago
  Same with me, this was helpful, but more could be done. Even just a monthly reminder overview with a list of new services I've connected to would be very helpful.

Scaevolus 15y ago

Neat idea! The Google Accounts button links to a Hebrew translation, "hl=iw" shouldn't be there.

aviche 15y ago
Fixed :) cheers
benjlang 15y ago
Good call, I'll let him know.

PStamatiou 15y ago

Nice! Just revoked access to about 40 things on Twitter , 30 on Flickr, 15 on Google, a handful on LinkedIn, 11 on dropbox, and about 150 (yikes!) on Facebook.

benjlang 15y ago
Not bad! Monthly email reminders listing all of the new services you signed up for would be a cool feature I think.
aviche 15y ago
Glad to hear :) share it so more can enjoy it

mark_l_watson 15y ago

Thank you! Very useful.

sacrilicious 15y ago

This inspired me to clean up my Boxcar too, and therefore see how little Github is notifying me about....

padobson 15y ago

Is it just me, or is Facebook the furthest behind on all things user experience? Case in point: three clicks to remove access from an app on Facebook (1. Click 'X" 2. Click 'Remove' 3. Click 'OK'). On Twitter, it was one click, and if you want to change it, there's an "undo" button right there waiting for you. Mix in that every incarnation of Facebook's own clients is almost completely different (iPhone vs. iPad vs. Android vs. Web), and you have a user experience nightmare. 90% of the phone calls I get from non-technical friends and family are "How do I do X on Facebook?". The first question I always have to ask: "Are you on an App or on the web?"

illumin8 15y ago
Facebook doesn't want to make it easy to revoke access to your data. They intentionally made it 3 clicks, just to make it more difficult. If it was super easy to revoke access to apps, developers might not be so interested in writing for their platform.
- jackalope 15y ago
  That, or the incomplete user experience is simply due to Facebook's motto of "Done is better than perfect." There are plenty of areas where the UI is lacking that have no affect on app developers.
kmfrk 15y ago
I attribute this to their "Move fast and break things" mantra.
danoc 15y ago
To speed up the process, you can just click and hit enter twice. You do have a point though. They also make email notifications a pain to change: https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=notifications https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=notifications
RobertKohr 15y ago
Click x, and press enter, enter. You can keep clicking and entering until the list is empty.

phillmv 15y ago

1. It's extremely hateful to see how much information Facebook shares, and by default. I am fairly certain I never saw a permissions dialog to a lot of these sites. I also really hate how you can't allow or deny any given permission; 99% of apps I've seen use Twitter or Facebook as a single sign on. There is absolutely no reason for any of these to have that much access to personal information. 2. It requires Facebook in order to leave a comment? I extremely hate how this has become a "thing". I mourn the loss of anonymity on the internet. 3. The above site could be great for phishing.

peteretep 15y ago
> I am fairly certain I never saw a permissions dialog to a lot of these sites. Really? There's nothing on mine I didn't explicitly give permissions to, but then, once I add something that looks interesting, I explicitly go back and remove it again right then so I don't forget...
ceejayoz 15y ago
> I also really hate how you can't allow or deny any given permission Sure you can. There's a nice big cancel button. Also, the new version of the dialog allows you to remove most permissions on-the-fly if you don't like giving them. You can't remove the basic set of data or the e-mail requirement, but you can remove things like user likes etc.

Groxx 15y ago

Awesome site, thanks for creating it! I tend to keep mine pretty clean, but it's such a PITA to hunt down all the dangling ends that shortcuts are very much appreciated :)

Joe_Pineapples 15y ago

That surprised me a bit. I knew my facebook would have zero as I'm careful about that but twitter had a couple I didn't know about, as did dropbox.

peteretep 15y ago

Anyone else find absolutely no surprises here? I guess I am just anal about denying things access unless they need it...

erummee 15y ago

clean,thank u