How to change your Facebook App settings

When you take those quizzes that show up in your Facebook feed, play games, or log in to other websites with your Facebook account, you are actually using an app.

Apps plug into Facebook’s programming and can be both fun and helpful—but they’re not really free to use. They cost information, specifically, your information (the only question is how much!).

Facebook apps are in the spotlight right now because of a recent controversy surrounding a company called Cambridge Analytica. The company used a personality quiz Facebook app to collect a variety of information from user profiles. Eventually, according to reports, the company ended up with personal data from 50 million users without their knowledge.

This story gets even more alarming when you realize just how much information app developers can get about you. They can actually request more than 50 different data points from your profile or activity—and not just once. An app may continue to monitor those data points.

What can you do?

Some people are deleting their entire Facebook account, but if you don’t want to go that far, there is another approach: adjust your account settings for your apps and games (that’s right, NOT the privacy settings). Here are the three primary changes you can make to app settings according to Facebook: 

1. Change privacy settings for apps (or remove individual apps entirely)

Review the apps that are plugged in to your profile and delete or change permissions as needed. Here’s how to do it using Facebook on a computer:

  1. Click the down arrow in the top right of your Facebook menu bar. Scroll down and select Settings.
  2. Click Apps in the left menu bar.
  3. Click on an app or game to edit its settings—or delete it entirely by clicking the “X”.
  4. Click Save.

If you’re using a mobile device, Buzzfeed has great directions about how to get to the app settings.

 

2. Turn off Facebook’s integration with apps, games, and websites

Taking this action will remove any apps you’ve logged into using Facebook. This means you can’t use these apps, games, or sites anymore using Facebook and you may lose any information (scores, favorite places) that can’t be recovered. Translation: make sure you mean it.

Here’s how to do it:

  1. Click the down arrow in the top right of your Facebook menu bar. Scroll down and select Settings.
  2. Click Apps in the left side menu.
  3. Go to Apps, Websites and Plugins (top left square, below the main app settings menu) and click Edit. Then choose Disable Platform.

 

3. Control what information your friends see about you in THEIR apps

Because Facebook is a social network, the apps your friends use may pull information from your profile…unless you change some settings. Here’s what to do:

  1. Go to your App Settings.
  2. Scroll down to the area that says Apps Others Use (lower left corner) and click Edit.
  3. Check (or uncheck) boxes next to the information you want your friends to see in the apps they use and click Save.

For information about other privacy settings for popular social media sites, we have a roundup here.

 

 

 

Missy works on the Corporate Communications team and reports stories to TDS employees and customers. This is right up her alley because she’s an extrovert and also a big fan of research (really, she’ll look up just about anything that strikes her interest). Missy is a native of Madison, Wis. with an undergraduate in Anthropology and a master’s degree in Life Sciences Journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her interest in the Internet as a mass media shaped her work towards a PhD in Journalism and Mass Communications. She’s also worked as an editorial assistant, copywriter, and production artist. In her off hours, Missy is a crafter, Pinterest addict, reader, wife, and mom of two kids.

11 Comments

  1. Marie
    on March 23, 2018 at 2:14 pm •Reply

    Great article. Very informative and useful to know. I deleted all my apps and disabled plugins. On the third one – if you don’t want your friends getting any information do you leave them unchecked or do you check them all?

    • Missy Kellor
      on March 23, 2018 at 3:32 pm •Reply

      It’s my understanding you should leave them unchecked if you don’t want to share (only check what you want to).

      Thanks for reading!

  2. Mary Ann Mearini
    on March 28, 2018 at 10:07 am •Reply

    Thank you, very helpful!

  3. Missy Kellor
    on April 2, 2018 at 9:04 am •Reply

    That I don’t know—I’d recommend doing some digging on Facebook’s site and see if they have instructions for connecting that kind of app.

  4. Michele
    on September 21, 2018 at 9:28 pm •Reply

    My Facebook Facebook account was hacked and deleted with out my permission or my knowledge. Until I tried to log on . How do you fix this?

  5. Carol Mulhearn
    on November 27, 2018 at 9:47 pm •Reply

    Facebook and Messenger v 198 19/11/2018 no longer features turning MICROPHONE OFF!!!!

  6. Laura Deller
    on April 10, 2020 at 8:16 pm •Reply

    Hi
    The display on fb marketplace is too large so i can’t see the price properly. I have a samsung tablet. How can i adjust this?
    Much appreciate any help.

    • Missy Kellor
      on April 13, 2020 at 10:48 am •Reply

      Hi Laura,

      I wish I could tell you, but we don’t support specific devices or Facebook and I don’t happen to know off hand. Hopefully a little Googling will help you find an answer!

Leave a Comment