Facebook Hit by Apple’s Crackdown on Messaging Feature • Hacker News Board

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

#161

Post by distances » Wed, Aug 07, 2019, 11:38 AM UTC

b_tterc_p wrote: post #63

Messenger app initiated a conversation between me and a random friend so we could talk about our 5 year friendship anniversary. Couldn’t fathom who thought that would work.

I've been getting these notifications now for a year at least. It's extremely annoying, and I haven't found any way to toggle it off. Such a colossal misfeature.

I nowadays only use mbasic.facebook.com to check messages every two to four weeks, as FB is still kind of a backup contact platform for many people if everything else fails.

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

#162

Post by vermilingua » Wed, Aug 07, 2019, 11:39 AM UTC

bashwizard wrote: post #102

peteretep wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Once I had Alexa in my home I stopped asking Siri for anything ever

Siri is probably pissed as fuck. I'd sleep with one eye open if I were you.

This still isn’t reddit.

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

#163

Post by vermilingua » Wed, Aug 07, 2019, 11:42 AM UTC

bertman wrote: post #153

obituary_latte wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That doesn’t mean encryption won’t work, just that you may not get instant notification of messages.

I wouldn't be so sure about that: https://twitter.com/moxie/status/1158852855291269120

You can test it yourself, by turning off background permissions. You will still receive messages.

Background processing simply allows it to have the message ready for you by the time you open the app.

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

#164

Post by hysan » Wed, Aug 07, 2019, 11:50 AM UTC

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…

Facebook isn't the only company to do this. I have a very,once in a blue moon, Twitter account. On the rare ocassion that I open the app, you can be sure that I'll get the red notification bubble soon after I stop using it. Open the app and are there any DMs or notifications? Nope. This pattern has happened enough times over the past few years that I finally got fed up and turned off notifications entirely last week.

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

#165

Post by Waterluvian » Wed, Aug 07, 2019, 11:51 AM UTC

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…

LinkedIn does this too.

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

#166

Post by RHSeeger » Wed, Aug 07, 2019, 11:56 AM UTC

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)

According to Moxie (https://twitter.com/moxie/status/1158852855291269120), this isn't a positive for user privacy.

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

#167

Post by giancarlostoro » Wed, Aug 07, 2019, 12:39 PM UTC

mattchamb wrote: post #152

giancarlostoro wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you tried messenger.com from your browser? Edit: Just went on it. On a browser you have to enable desktop mode for login to show. Also if you login this way and disable desktop mode it forces you out. If you reenable it renders the chat. Theres no reason the chat wouldnt work on Mobile desktop mode isnt using a different browser just lying to the web server and frontend JS. Amazing. I already rarely use Facebook…

I actually believe part of it is that they rely on this editor[1] for the messenger and anyone who tries to use it on any device that supports IME (like phones) will find that it does not work at all. [1] https://github.com/facebook/draft-js

That's a library made by Facebook though... How odd, I doubt they don't have the resources to fix that problem in their own library.

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

#168

Post by mkane848 » Wed, Aug 07, 2019, 1:00 PM UTC

utouq wrote: post #132

tjpnz wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Facebook engineers know exactly what is going on, and I don't think they actually care. I know of founders who would need to think carefully about even interviewing someone with Facebook on their resume. And I totally get these concerns given the attitude Facebook has towards the privacy of users.

What a witch hunt. This is akin to persecuting people for their politics.

Accountability == Witch Hunt? Where have I heard this before...

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

#169

Post by lm2s » Wed, Aug 07, 2019, 1:20 PM UTC

bertman wrote: post #155

The article focuses on making calls, but moxie (from Signal) had this to say: "PushKit is the only way to do e2e encrypted messaging in iOS. If they take that away, they're disabling the ability for messaging apps to function with e2e encryption. I don't see how Apple can frame that as "enhancing user privacy and security?" " https://twitter.com/moxie/status/1158852855291269120 So it's not only about being able to an…

I don't understand this commentary by Moxie. Why does removing PushKit functionality removes the ability for apps to do E2EE?

The only thing I can think of, is notifications maybe not being encrypted? But that seems like a bit of stretch to say you can't do E2EE messaging.

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

#170

Post by acdha » Wed, Aug 07, 2019, 2:32 PM UTC

dan-robertson wrote: post #137

comex wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It might be possible for companies like Facebook to rewrite their code to use an iOS 10+ Notification Service app extension to decrypt the notifications instead, but that requires major code changes and has additional limitations. Perhaps, but iOS 10 is now 3 years old; Facebook has had plenty of time to make those major code changes, as opposed to continuing to use VoIP push notifications for things other than VoI…

Facebook aren’t obliged to make a change just because they can. Taking something that works and changing it for its own sake is something people very often get annoyed about.

> Taking something that works and changing it for its own sake

That's a somewhat misleading way to characterize this: VoIP apps are still going to be just fine using the VoIP API. The question is whether legacy code should preclude Apple taking steps to act on their users' behalf. Given the number of people I know who uninstalled Messenger so their phone could make it through the workday without a charge, I'm pretty sure most people will shed no tears for someone at Facebook having to do the job they are very well paid to do.