Use Facebook on Android privately

Have you ever thought about what is done with your online information? A Smartphone also tracks you in several ways. However it is hard to discard the social network from your life. Facebook traces everything done online. You can make use of alternate apps to access Facebook without being tracked. Tinfoil for Facebook is one such Android app at your disposal.

Permissions are a defense between the phone and an app. If an app has malicious plan, all allow it on the phone with all-encompassing permissions to create issues. Brightest Flashlight Free requires several permissions; none of them are required to perform as a flashlight. It is used to access users’ locations as well as sell them to advertisers. You should be careful with the apps that you install.

Google has changed the way Android permissions works in Play Store recently. Each of them is grouped together by type. Google made it less visible. An app update can add new permissions without your approval if they belong to same group.

  

Facebook have an access to contacts, calendar events, exact location, where you are at what time, your camera text messages, calls internal storage and so much more.  

The social networking giant is known to sell user data to serve more relevant advertisements by accessing all the user information on the devices which has its Android App. Don’t you think its terrifying?

Know how to run your android phone in 2G mode for saving battery.

Audio Identification

Facebook had invasive features in its app and has added some more. Apps like SoundHound identify music to which you’re listening. The app can determine as to which song you are listening and would tag the user’s status with this minute detail.

This is an opt-in feature. Facebook is not good at opt-in features. Users were persuaded to accept Graph Search an opt-in feature.

Tinfoil  

Now you might be bent upon deleting the app. You can surely get rid of this and have a wonderful experience while social networking. TinFoil does not run in the background constantly therefore does not consume much battery. It is smaller in size app. This app would access the location if you permit. You would have to enable check-in feature which is not compulsory. It creates a wrapper for mobile version of Facebook’s website. It can be discarded from the menu once done which would stop its syncing.

You can post status as well as upload pictures. It can access all groups, settings, events. The buttons are a bit hidden but it can be slided away from the right to open up Tinfoil’s menu. You can go to the News Feed or notifications and access the few options as well as close it. Messages can be send, friends can be tagged in comments and search can conduct for places and people.  

Shortcomings

However it does have few negatives. It is just a wrapper for mobile version of Facebook, so any issues come up, Tinfoil is helpless. It looks a little less sophisticated than the Android polished. It lacks notifications. If you need FB notification instantly someone who needs Facebook notifications in real-time, this might not be for you.

IFTT

IFTTT, released an Android app which makes Android automation simple. With the help of new notification channel create your own alerts while you get a Facebook notification. First You would have to get a personalized notification RSS feed,. Log into FB and go to notification page.

After you click on the RSS link, a group of text appears. Just copy the URL which is the personal notification feed. You would require an IFTTT Recipe to send them to the phone. When you would get a notification on Facebook, it would send it right to the notification bar on your phone.

Get rid of Official App

Even if you use Tinfoil it would not be of much use in case the official app is there on your phone. So get rid of it from the device. Uninstall it by heading into Settings > Apps, Facebook, and clicking “Uninstall”. If the app is built into the phone then this is not the method. All Android devices are different and therefore the instructions would vary.

If you are not able to disable Facebook, just uninstall its updates and go back to the version where it had less permissions. This button is on the app page like the Disable button. Now remove the Facebook account from Sync menu off Phone, just go to Settings > Accounts and Sync > Facebook and click “Remove Account.”

These methods would ensure that the social networking giant’s data is not synced over official app.  

Happy private browsing  

If you are concerned about your privacy, want to enhance phone’s battery life then Tinfoil is the best. Most important if you do not want Facebook to rule your life lives, Tinfoil is the answer. You might miss on or two features from mobile app but you can sacrifice to get something better. If you’re looking to read more about Facebook’s practices, Philip has explained how Facebook might be used to spy on you.