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Facebook Hit by Apple’s Crackdown on Messaging Feature

theinformation.com

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Re: Facebook Hit by Apple’s Crackdown on Messaging Feature

#31

Post by Forge36 »

romdev wrote: post #22
codeulike wrote: post #19

I've noticed something sneaky about Facebook on my phone. I refuse to install their apps but I do use Facebook a bit so I use it via the phone Browser (in my case, Chrome on Android). I've noticed that sometimes Facebook shows a fake 'youve got a message' icon to try and trick you into installing their messenger app. To re-produce this behaviour: (this works best if you dont get a lot of facebook messages. Also you n…

Bookmark https://mbasic.facebook.com to get the messenger features in a readable format on smaller screens.

You beat me to it. I refuse to install the app and consistently see the fake notification. I like the smaller images too, easier to view the feed at a glance.

Re: Facebook Hit by Apple’s Crackdown on Messaging Feature

#32

Post by rwc »

dang wrote: post #28

The submitted URL was https://www.theinformation.com/articles/facebook-hit-by-appl... , which was hard-paywalled. But The Information has been unlocking many of their articles for HN readers. I asked if they would do that for this one and they said yes, so everyone who clicks on the link above should be able to read it now.

Nice, thank you! And thank you to The Information for sharing quality journalism with the HN community.

Re: Facebook Hit by Apple’s Crackdown on Messaging Feature

#33

Post by Forge36 »

codeulike wrote: post #19

I've noticed something sneaky about Facebook on my phone. I refuse to install their apps but I do use Facebook a bit so I use it via the phone Browser (in my case, Chrome on Android). I've noticed that sometimes Facebook shows a fake 'youve got a message' icon to try and trick you into installing their messenger app. To re-produce this behaviour: (this works best if you dont get a lot of facebook messages. Also you n…

Mine is currently in this state. I want aware it ever stopped.

Re: Facebook Hit by Apple’s Crackdown on Messaging Feature

#34

Post by ballmers_peak »

rwc wrote: post #32
dang wrote: post #28

The submitted URL was https://www.theinformation.com/articles/facebook-hit-by-appl... , which was hard-paywalled. But The Information has been unlocking many of their articles for HN readers. I asked if they would do that for this one and they said yes, so everyone who clicks on the link above should be able to read it now.

Nice, thank you! And thank you to The Information for sharing quality journalism with the HN community.

No problem!

Re: Facebook Hit by Apple’s Crackdown on Messaging Feature

#35

Post by acdha »

codeulike wrote: post #19

I've noticed something sneaky about Facebook on my phone. I refuse to install their apps but I do use Facebook a bit so I use it via the phone Browser (in my case, Chrome on Android). I've noticed that sometimes Facebook shows a fake 'youve got a message' icon to try and trick you into installing their messenger app. To re-produce this behaviour: (this works best if you dont get a lot of facebook messages. Also you n…

I think simply ever having used Messenger does that - mine never shows up otherwise, even if I’ve just cleared out my messages. It reminds me of the dark pattern which got me to uninstall Messenger, where they’d send push notifications with fake alerts from your friends which when opened were simply telling you that the other person had Messenger.

The net effect is that I uninstalled all of their apps and only use https://mbasic.facebook.com/ a few times a month

Re: Facebook Hit by Apple’s Crackdown on Messaging Feature

#37

Post by acdha »

therealmarv wrote: post #12

Essence from this site (from my understanding, read the whole article): WhatsApp is using VoIP iOS features to display end2end encrypted notifications in iOS. This loophole will be closed on iOS13. So either WhatsApp does not display any notifications text on iOS13 with WhatsApp or WhatsApp will remove end2end encryption for the sake of having notifications with text on iOS. This is really alarming for privacy. Seems…

It has nothing to do with end-to-end encryption: they’re abusing the VoIP feature to stay running in the background, which is trading battery life for better surveillance of your activities. Apple is doing it to _protect_ privacy by closing one of the ways unscrupulous app developers keep trackers running.

Re: Facebook Hit by Apple’s Crackdown on Messaging Feature

#38

Post by zacwest »

therealmarv wrote: post #12

Essence from this site (from my understanding, read the whole article): WhatsApp is using VoIP iOS features to display end2end encrypted notifications in iOS. This loophole will be closed on iOS13. So either WhatsApp does not display any notifications text on iOS13 with WhatsApp or WhatsApp will remove end2end encryption for the sake of having notifications with text on iOS. This is really alarming for privacy. Seems…

It's not the case that they would need to give up encrypted notifications. Developers can support end-to-end encrypted notifications by creating a UNNotificationServiceExtension[1]. This is an extension which receives and can mutate the notification before it's shown to the user.

[1]: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/usernotifications/...

Straight from Apple's documentation:

> For example, you could use the extension to decrypt an encrypted data block or to download images associated with the notification.

Re: Facebook Hit by Apple’s Crackdown on Messaging Feature

#39

Post by misiti3780 »

dang wrote: post #28

The submitted URL was https://www.theinformation.com/articles/facebook-hit-by-appl... , which was hard-paywalled. But The Information has been unlocking many of their articles for HN readers. I asked if they would do that for this one and they said yes, so everyone who clicks on the link above should be able to read it now.

it is still pay-walled for me.

Re: Facebook Hit by Apple’s Crackdown on Messaging Feature

#40

Post by codq »

hart_russell wrote: post #2

+1 to Apple's track record for user privacy. I do not regret switching from Android to iOS (even if siri is woefully behind the voice assistant game)

Use the Google Assistant app for iOS if you need a voice assistant. No hands-free usage (unless you set up a cumbersome Siri shortcut), but it is light-years beyond Siri for practical purposes.
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