How upset are you with Facebook’s decision to MAKE you use their messenger app? I’m not happy but it’s not like I am FORCED to use Facebook. If you haven’t heard, Facebook now requires you to use the standalone Messenger app for mobile chats.
Facebook knows you use their app more often than you use their web-based site. There’s also the news that Messengers’s EULA for Android-run devices are pretty invasive and really has people freaking out about privacy rights. Stuff like permitting the app to make calls without the user’s knowledge, taking pictures, and record audio and video at any time. The app can also go through your contacts and call logs.
Not so fast, says Facebook. They say they’re not responsible for the mobile app’s liberal access terms. If you want to blame someone, blame Google says Facebook. “Almost all apps need certain permissions to run on Android, and we use these permissions to run features in the app. Keep in mind that Android controls the way the permissions are named, and the way they’re named doesn’t necessarily reflect the way the Messenger app and other apps use them,” Facebook wrote.
So, here’s how to get around using the Facebook Messenger. First, you can open Facebook in your mobile browser, sign into your account, and access the service via its Web interface. Boom goes the dynamite. Everything pretty much looks the same including the navigation. You’re back to feeling comfortable. If you want to make sure that this route is the one you want to take everytime you check messages, just make that your permanent option, just bookmark the mobile Facebook site (m.facebook.com), then add a shortcut to your Home screen.
As for the app itself, I don’t like it. But it is easier to use than the aforementioned process. It doesn’t take up much space either, 35MB (for the iOS version, anyway — Android size varies).
All in all, we can’t really complain too much about being force-fed this app. We SHOULD raise a stink about it because that’s they way they judge if they will keep it around or not. Based on all of what that conglomerate does, I suspect the forced app will be around for a while.
Rock forth, Mitch
ISYWILAY
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