Hacker News Reader

Comment by rietta | Hacker News Reader

I dislike this change. I specifically only access Facebook on my phone via the web app because (1) it saves significant battery and (2) I absolutely do not want the popup bubbles during the work day from church and other social groups I am connected to on Facebook. Ultimately, all this means is that I will stop accessing Facebook Messenger on my phone all together. I will communicate with the people who matter most over the Signal app or plain old SMS or email.

View on HN

Not to mention that Facebook has intentionally changed the email address of contacts in people's phones without asking them [0].

This does not change my mind about banning all Facebook apps from my devices, it just means even less Facebook for me.

[0] http://www.cnet.com/how-to/facebook-changed-your-e-mail-addr...!

I was bitten by a similar problem one of the very first versions of the FB app, and I haven't tried it again. It synced my Google Contacts (what I use as my canonical contacts list) with Facebook, resulting in duplicates and a whole bunch of mess that still isn't completely resolved years later. Now that I'm on Marshmallow, I might risk it, but I'm very hesitant to do so.

> Not to mention that Facebook has intentionally changed the email address of contacts in people's phones without asking them

They changed it on FB, not in people’s phones.

That's not true, the Facebook app was "syncing" local contacts with Facebook, and thus modifying them.

Oh I wasn’t aware of this "syncing" feature; I thought it had a read-only access to your contact, that’s all. Thanks.

That's not what the article says. They changed people's own listed emails on Facebook.com, no indication they changed anything on devices.

I wonder where that leaves the say 10% of users that use a browser because they are on an device that isn't supported by Messenger (obsolete Android, iPhone, Windows Phone, Blackberry, Fire, etc).

They are redirected to mbasic.facebook.com which still works. Most Android FB wrappers have used that as a workaround for now to still reach Messenger.

Thank you, this is the way to keep accessing messages in the browser. Deleting Messenger app again.

It's possible they could detect those devices and leave chat active in the web app.

Mob site still works on my blackberry

you can turn off the bubbles...

Tyranny of the defaults goes both ways; If you're software doesn't have sane defaults, I will search for another.

That's a very weak reason not to use the messenger. You're confirming that if you want to create a good app, you should not listen to complaining users.

Judging by your comments you're not going to use the app period. You can just say so instead of creating artificial reasons which don't hold true for you anyways.

Sane defaults are a very good reason to decide to use an app. It's very common to reset user settings back to defaults during a "major" (or just marketing) upgrade of an app.

We may have very different samples but I'd be shocked to see that behavior in any app that I'd consider worth using. That would easily knock a couple stars off of my (mental or otherwise) rating of an app.

That's interesting, because from your comment history you're in favour of user-specified preferences: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11114154

That's not incompatible with having sane defaults though...

I am.

You have to sign in every single time on mobile web to get to their website, which is pretty much the only reason I use the apps - you stay signed in.

Protip: www.messenger.com works on computers.

Doesn't seem to work on mobile tho

> Doesn't seem to work on mobile tho

Did you try the Android "Request Desktop Site" checkbox?

Edit: just saw that Zem says that works: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11835060

Edit 2: Jeswin says it isn't useable: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11834996

This is a good work around. However I will not be relying on this. I'll just reduce my use of Messenger (and probably Facebook) all together.

I'm currently not that dependent on Messenger since most people just text or call me anyway. The rest of Facebook I usually avoid anyway as it's in a different wavelength than I am.

it's usable for me if you switch to desktop, but still go to m.facebook.com rather than www.facebook.com (easiest way is to go to facebook first and then switch to desktop). i'm guessing that whatever ajax call clicking on the message icon triggers gets a "this is a desktop" token attached to it even if you are visiting the site via m.facebook.com

I can confirm, go to facebook website, request the desktop version (messaging works there too) and go back to m.facebook.com, messages are there.

This. I installed the FB app a loooong time ago and was perfectly happy with occasionally checking the mobile website.

I use the facebook app quite a bit, and its never used more than a few precent of my battery in the battery stats on Android, and usually significantly less than my mail client(K-9 Mail) so I never understood the meme that the facebook app uses a ton of battery. Just having the screen on is going to use more battery than the facebook app.

"It turned out other Android services including Android system and Android OS showed reduced battery consumption when the Facebook app was uninstalled. Those services act as a buffer for many apps to the outside world when running in the background. So while Facebook didn’t look like it was using that much power, it was actually just being displayed elsewhere in Android’s statistics." From: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/feb/01/uninstall...

The final straw that pushed me to delete the app - thanks! Had already been living 95% free of Facebook by turning off push notifications anyway

YMMV, but on my phone (HTC One M8), Facebook is almost always the top battery user as shown in the Android battery usage report.

And on my old phone (a venerable HTC Desire HD), Facebook's decision to make me install Messenger in addition to the regular app some time ago was the turning point from low latency and good user experience to overall lag in the phone.

I have a Nexus 5 and its never shown up as the top battery user, usually it's the actual phone app or the screen.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com