Facebook and Messenger are two of the most common mobile apps, but they both ask for extensive permissions and consume a lot of battery. One alternative is to use the Facebook mobile website, which is less resource-intensive and minimalist. You can also find third-party messaging clients like Friendly that handle all of Messenger’s functionality in […]

Early 2019 marks the fifteenth anniversary of Facebook’s launch. Since the winter of 2004, social media has come a long way, becoming deeply ingrained in the live of billions of people worldwide. According to the Pew Research Center, 73 percent of Americans used YouTube in 2018 and 68 percent were on Facebook. Even smaller network […]

You might have tried viewing a video on Facebook or another social site, only to be prompted to download a special codec or plugin to actually watch it. These requests are almost always spurious, given the wide compatibility of video formats between browsers and operating systems. Basically, if you did not go looking for a […]

If you’ve ever signed into a website or another app with your Facebook account, then you’ve given a third party access to some information from your profile. Not every third party can be trusted; always review the permissions you’ve granted and revoke any that you’re unsure about.

A majority of Americans don’t know that Facebook owns Instagram. That can lead to risky decisions, such as leaving microphone access enabled in your Instagram settings, which in turn informs what goes into your Newsfeed. You might even see some targeted ads based on recent phrases you uttered in the vicinity of your phone.

Platforms like Facebook and Twitter have a seemingly endless array of settings you can tweak for security and privacy. Don’t leave the defaults on – instead look through the options to find the ones that limit who can see your data and reduce your overall exposure. Twitter’s option to mute specific accounts and keywords is […]