Facebook disabling messaging in its mobile web app to push people to Messenger • Hacker News Board

Re: Facebook disabling messaging in its mobile web app to push people to Messenger

#381

Post by SomeCallMeTim » Sat, Jun 04, 2016, 5:03 PM UTC

calsy wrote: post #279

So much complaining. The web app version is crap, of course they want to move people over to the app. Why waste resources on an inferior web version when they can focus their attention on the very successful mobile app. Its just good business sense and seeing that 99.9999999999% of Facebook users already have Messenger installed, its a non issue.

The web app version has a whole lot of features that the installed app doesn't:

* It takes up zero phone memory. Yes, this is still an issue on really cheap Android phones. [0]

* It takes up zero phone resources, unlike the Facebook app, which is known for slowing down your entire phone. [1]

* The messenger app wants to send me notifications about stupid things and collect personal data using its over-broad permissions. I don't trust Facebook, and I'm not a tinfoil hat type.

* I don't want another chat ecosystem in my life, but if someone does message me on Facebook, I'd like to be able to see it on my phone without having to install an idiotic, resource-sapping, spyware app.

I really, really don't want a "good" Facebook chat solution. People want to chat with me, they can use Skype, Google Hangouts, or Slack. Or just send me an email and we can talk on the phone.

[0] http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_core_prime-6716.php

[1] http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/207468

Re: Facebook disabling messaging in its mobile web app to push people to Messenger

#382

Post by datapolitical » Sat, Jun 04, 2016, 5:04 PM UTC

It's incredibly difficult to do end to end encryption well in a mobile browser.

Facebook has hinted they are rolling that out and it will create all kinds of frustration for mobile web users.

Re: Facebook disabling messaging in its mobile web app to push people to Messenger

#383

Post by hk__2 » Sat, Jun 04, 2016, 5:05 PM UTC

TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #214

hk__2 wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Re: Facebook disabling messaging in its mobile web app to push people to Messenger

#384

Post by geggam » Sat, Jun 04, 2016, 5:09 PM UTC

Facebook has peaked... its downhill from here... annoying the users so they find something else small group by small group

Re: Facebook disabling messaging in its mobile web app to push people to Messenger

#385

Post by unholiness » Sat, Jun 04, 2016, 5:19 PM UTC

SturgeonsLaw wrote: post #30

jds375 wrote: post #11

So rather than fixing the problems that result in users messaging via the mobile web app instead of the messenger app, they're just going to "solve" the problem by forcing users to use the messenger app? This is why Facebook as a company doesn't have high levels of consumer trust. This will bite them in the future. Once you lose that level of trust it is extremely difficult to gain back.

I suspect it's less about solving problems and more about breaking out of that web browser sandbox to siphon up more of that juicy, juicy data.

More likely it's about getting more immediate attention from push notifications.

If you only ever use chat in the browser, you only see messages when you actively check it. With the app installed, you get a giant bubble that you can't ignore for every message. FB wants to be the messenger that people respond to immediately.

For me, I actually like the messenger bubble UI, and love that it's not built as a gateway to the massive time sink of the rest of Facebook. But I think it's clear that omnipresence is the goal here, and we have no reason to believe that it won't become a funnel to the rest of Facebook in the future.

Re: Facebook disabling messaging in its mobile web app to push people to Messenger

#386

Post by pikachu_is_cool » Sat, Jun 04, 2016, 5:21 PM UTC

k__ wrote: post #206

galistoca wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not a FB fanboy or anything, but sometimes it is a good choice to free yourself from legacy tech burden and build for the future. The web (html documents fetched via http requests) were not built with mobile devices in mind, especially websockets. In the mobile era, all messaging is based on push notifications which must go through the device vendor (APNS or GCM), and trying to support the legacy tech in this lan…

True story. Except native apps aren't the future :/

JavaScript and the DOM certainly aren't.

Re: Facebook disabling messaging in its mobile web app to push people to Messenger

#387

Post by dTal » Sat, Jun 04, 2016, 5:26 PM UTC

calsy wrote: post #279

So much complaining. The web app version is crap, of course they want to move people over to the app. Why waste resources on an inferior web version when they can focus their attention on the very successful mobile app. Its just good business sense and seeing that 99.9999999999% of Facebook users already have Messenger installed, its a non issue.

Easy on the 9s there buddy, that's one in a trillion.

Re: Facebook disabling messaging in its mobile web app to push people to Messenger

#388

Post by pikachu_is_cool » Sat, Jun 04, 2016, 5:27 PM UTC

gcr wrote: post #351

galdosdi wrote: post #295

This is kind of convenient; it gives me one more excuse not to use facebook. A few days ago I got the usual notification email that somebody had sent me a message on FB. Clicking is a low barrier so I clicked, curiously. Then I instead got the "No, now you have to install Messenger app" screen. That was enough of a barrier that I said "oh forget it, who cares, anybody who knows me would know better than to send me an…

I see it the opposite way. Using Messenge could give you a great way to use facebook without subjecting yourself to the News Feed Giant Tentacled Monster. Why not use Messenger without Facebook? My reason not to use Facebook was because it trivializes friendships. With Facebook, I wouldn't have to go out of my way to be "friends" with someone, so the relationship would be less meaningful. But Messenger doesn't share…

There's a ton of reasons to not use Messenger.

1. The mandatory "seen" indicator

2. All of your messages are beholden to a private company, permanently stored in plaintext

3. They analyze said messages to deliver advertisements. Seriously, one time I mentioned buying a Samsung SSD to my friend in chat, and all of a sudden I got a ton of SSD advertisements on the sidebar. Same thing when I mentioned Rick and Morty.

4. It's Facebook, for crying out loud.

Re: Facebook disabling messaging in its mobile web app to push people to Messenger

#389

Post by lelandbatey » Sat, Jun 04, 2016, 5:39 PM UTC

galistoca wrote: post #374

tuxracer wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you're saying is just factually incorrect. It is an open standard https://w3c.github.io/push-api/ currently supported by both Firefox and Chrome. Microsoft has also started implementing it in Edge https://twitter.com/jacobrossi/status/735153689501958144 . Additionally, Facebook already uses it today.

Tell me what's factually incorrect about "Chrome doesn't support push on iOS". Want me to spell it out for you? Here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/34588506/ios-web-notifica... I am amazed how many people on this thread are attacking me saying "Android Chrome supports push notification" when I said "Chrome doesn't support push on iOS". Are you even listening to what I say?

Every browser on iOS is just Safari with different UI (by order of Apple). No one else even could implement push notifications into their browser because only Apple has that control.

It's not that we don't hear you, it's that the reason you're in your position is because you're using a locked down platform that's trailing all other vendors in web technologies intentionally.

Re: Facebook disabling messaging in its mobile web app to push people to Messenger

#390

Post by Inlinked » Sat, Jun 04, 2016, 5:46 PM UTC

BurningFrog wrote: post #328

mattwad wrote: post #322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't use Facebook at all, though I have an account. Messenger is perfect for me because I only care about the [very rare] chances that someone sends me a message on Facebook. These have always been friends or family that I haven't talked to in a while, actually! And they don't always have my phone or email address...

The simple reason I do all the communication I can on FBM is that I know it won't get lost in some spam filter.

Perhaps a more nuanced reason is that you don't know it got lost in some spam filter. Out of sight, out of mind...

[1] https://consumerist.com/2012/01/04/how-facebooks-message-spa...

[2] http://www.askdavetaylor.com/how-to-check-facebook-spam-emai...

[3] http://www.cosmopolitan.co.uk/entertainment/news/a42460/anot...

[4] http://uk.businessinsider.com/facebook-filtered-message-requ...