Keep Your Apps Close, and Your Enemies Closer

facebookapps

Last week, we examined the various security settings that are available to Facebook users. We discussed everything from login notifications to what you can do with your account after you die. Click here if you missed “Thumbs Up for Facebook Security”. There’s another large component of Facebook to consider: Apps. What do we mean by Apps? Here’s a VERY partial list: Candy Crush Saga, Farm Heroes, Bitstrips, Spotify, Pandora, The Weather Channel, Ancestry, TripAdvisor, Microsoft, Bing, Viber, and about a million others. Why should we care about these? Because you’re sharing personal information, that’s why! Ever wonder why you constantly see what level your friend is on on Candy Crush? I can almost guarantee you that your friend doesn’t want it posted. Do you not want the world to know that you’re listening to “Friends in Low Places” by Garth Brooks on Spotify on repeat? App settings can save you the embarrassment!

In order to access App settings from your Internet browser, look at the top of the screen and look for the box that says “Search Facebook”. Move your mouse to the right, and you’ll see your profile picture, name, “Home”, “Find Friends”, the four icons that show notifications, new messages, friend requests, and privacy, and an arrow pointing down. Click the dropdown arrow, then click “Settings”. Look on the left hand side of the screen, and click “Apps”. If you’re accessing Facebook from an Apple device, go to the app, and look to the bottom of the screen. Look all the way to the right, past “News Feed”, “Requests”, “Messenger”, and “Notifications”, and tap “More”. Scroll down to the bottom of the settings screen, and click on “Account Settings” which is three from the very bottom. The same options are available in both ways, but may be worded differently. A change made on your computer will effect your account globally, meaning your phone will reflect that change as well. The opposite is also true. Scroll down until you see “Apps” and tap that. The arrow to the right of “Logged in with Facebook” will show which Apps are shared with friends, then will show a second section below displaying Apps that aren’t shared with others.

Again, for the purposes of this post, I’ll be using Google Chrome on my desktop P.C. to reference the Facebook settings in question. When you click on “Apps” you’re greeted with two tabs at the top of the screen: “Logged in With Facebook”, and “Logged in Anonymously”. Simply click on the title to toggle between tabs. If you hover over an app (hold the mouse over, don’t click), you’ll see a pencil and an x displayed. If you click on the pencil you may edit the settings of that app. If you click on the x you can delete that app. When editing the settings, you’ll see just how much information you’re sharing with others while using that app. It’s a little unnerving when it’s all laid out in front of you! The only things you can change on this screen are “App visibility” and “Send you notifications”. If you click on the dropdown arrow to the right of “App visibility” you can change who on Facebook can see that you use this particular app. Your choices are: “Public”, “Friends of Friends”, “Friends”, “Only Me”, or you can make “Custom” edits. If you click “Custom” and click the dropdown arrow to the right of “These people or lists”, you can select “Friends of Friends”, “Friends”, “Specific People or Lists…”, or “Only Me”. You can also specifically choose who NOT to share the app with. As you can see, “Custom” gives you the greatest amount of flexibility, but it also requires the most effort.

If you’d rather not use, and therefore have to manage any Apps at all, you can disable them completely. To do this, click on “Edit” under the “Apps, Websites and Plugins” heading. A window will pop up explaining everything that you’re turning off. If you still want to do it, click “Disable Platform”. If you don’t want to be bothered with games posting status updates to your timeline, you can change that too. Look for “Always Play Anonymously” and click “Edit”. Another explanatory window will appear. If it doesn’t change your mind, click “Turn on Play Anonymously”. Another important list of settings is the “Apps Others Use” category. I’ll let Facebook explain what that’s all about: “People who can see your info can bring it with them when they use apps. Use this setting to control the categories of information people can bring with them.” If you click “Edit” you’ll see all of the information you’re sharing with these apps. From your birthday to pictures, videos, and activities and interests. I bet you didn’t know you were sharing all that! Simply uncheck the things you don’t want to share, and click “Save” when you’re finished. There’s one more section that could be of interest: “Old Versions of Facebook for Mobile”. Again, here’s Facebook: “This setting controls the privacy of things you post using old Facebook mobile apps that do not have the inline audience selector, such as outdated versions of Facebook for BlackBerry.” Not everyone will be affected by this, but if it applies to you, you can choose from the same groups of people you could share information with before: “Public”, “Friends of Friends”, “Friends”, “Only Me”, or “Custom”.

There’s nothing I hate more than giving away my personal information. You never know what others who you entrust it to will do to it. It’s even worse when that information is taken from you without your knowledge. Looking at the Apps settings on Facebook was an eye opening experience for me, just looking at the sheer number of Apps alone. I never had to download and install any of them myself. Always Keep Your Apps Close, and Your Enemies Closer!

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