Apps on your phone

[Duke87]

If you want access to Facebook messages but don't want to install their Messenger app, which may or may not take over your phone and start broadcasting your phone's cam to the world or all the other spooky stuff that makes people so wary of it, then use your browser to access the Facebook site and read and respond to your messages that way.

The fears over Messenger's permissions are overblown. A lot of apps have those permissions and they need them in order to perform various actions. Messenger needs access to your phone's camera so you can take pictures and message them to people. The ordinary FB app also has this permission so you can post photos. People need to stop paying only selective attention.

The problem I have with Messenger is not with the permissions but with the inherent philosophy behind making it a separate app. Messenger as its own package is pretty much designed to turn FB messages into a substitute for texting. Someone messages you, it's delivered to your phone instantly the same as a text, and you don't need to open full Facebook to read it. Makes it very convenient to send a lot of FB messages (so Facebook can analyze their content to learn more about you, of course).

But this goes directly against my desire to not be disturbed or distracted by my apps. My phone only makes a noise and pushes me a notification when one of two things happens: either I get a text, or someone calls me. That's it. I can access Facebook, Twitter, and email on my phone, but I have both notifications and auto-sync for all of these things turned off. I have therefore intentionally set them up so that I will only see any content generated by them if I deliberately go to check it. This, I find, is necessary to prevent them from distracting me. If my phone alerts me every time I have a FB notification, email, etc. I will be inclined to drop whatever I am doing to go and check it. This would prevent me from ever getting anything productive done and in turn drive me batshit insane.

So, essentially, having a separate Messenger app provides zero benefit to me, and were I to install it I would have to mess with settings in order to fight back against the very nature of it.

[hbelkins]

But this goes directly against my desire to not be disturbed or distracted by my apps. My phone only makes a noise and pushes me a notification when one of two things happens: either I get a text, or someone calls me. That's it. I can access Facebook, Twitter, and email on my phone, but I have both notifications and auto-sync for all of these things turned off. I have therefore intentionally set them up so that I will only see any content generated by them if I deliberately go to check it.

I don't have my Facebook app set to send me notifications on anything, and I don't have email pushed to my personal phone. If I want to check email messages on my phone, I actively check them. I wish I could turn texting off in a similar manner, like I can Google Voice. If I don't want to be bothered by GV, I simply sign out.

[Ian]

Tinder

That's pretty much it.

Swipe right, ask questions later...

As for what I have on my phone, other than the apps that came with my iPhone 5, I have Google News and Maps, First Class (a UMaine email system), Instagram, Twitter, iAlien (Reddit app), Snapchat, Flickr, Skype, Soundcloud, Facebook and Facebook Messanger, Tinder, Yik Yak, Pandora, and Fade.

[jwolfer]

No one has any porn apps? LOL

[Alps]

No one has any porn apps? LOL

Tinder

That's pretty much it.

[Molandfreak]

No one has any porn apps? LOL

Well, there's tumblr!

[jwolfer]

I did see some Snapchat

[bugo]

aCalendar, Facebook (no messenger), Juice Defender, Tapatalk, and Weather Bug Elite.

[Laura]

I did see some Snapchat

The ultimate teen sexting app

[J Route Z]

No one has any porn apps? LOL

I do.