Fake News: Samsung’s Uninstallable Facebook App
- Paul Thurrott
- Jan 09, 2019
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43
No, Samsung is not preinstalling an uninstallable Facebook app on some of its phones. Well, not really. Instead, it’s preinstalling a so-called “stub app” that can later be used to install Facebook and Messenger. And it doesn’t do anything malicious, let alone steal your data.
Not familiar with the issue?
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Earlier this week, Bloomberg reported that Samsung customers were “perturbed” to discover that they couldn’t delete the Facebook app that was preinstalled on their handsets. Instead, all they can do is disable the app, which hides it from the Home and All Apps screens.
“It just absolutely baffles me that if I wanted to completely get rid of Facebook that it essentially would still be on my phone, which brings up more questions,” a Samsung customer one presumes is a friend of the Bloomberg article said in an interview. “Can they still track your information, your location, or whatever else they do? We the consumer should have [a] say in what we want and don’t want on our products.”
Well, you can get off your high horse now, big guy. Because aside from the fact that your rights as a consumer extend only to the products you buy and not to the makeup of those products, what’s happening here is nowhere near as dramatic as it sounds.
Instead, the Facebook app that Samsung preinstalls on some of its phones is a “stub” or placeholder app called Facebook App Manager/Installer that is completely separate from the real Facebook app.
App researcher Jane Manchun Wong, cited by TNW, explains the difference.
“Samsung only ship the stub version of Facebook on their phones,” she writes in a series of tweets. “It’s basically a non-functional empty shell, acts as the placeholder for when the phone receives the ‘real’ Facebook app as app updates … The version of Facebook (i.e. stub) that comes with Samsung phones won’t be capable to do anything useful until it’s been updated to the real Facebook apps. As long as the app has been disabled, no need to worry, [The] Facebook app won’t somehow escape the disabled app jail.”
As for apps that can be disabled but not uninstalled, she notes that, “on Android, when a system app (in this case, Facebook app) is disabled, it’ll be reverted to the version that comes with the phone. In this case, on phones that comes with [the] Facebook app, when the app has been disabled, it’ll be reverted back to the non-functional stub anyways.”
In other words, nothing to see here. Beyond that fact that, yes, Samsung puts some weird shit on its phones. But we already knew that. And if that bothers you, feel free to shop elsewhere.
Conversation 43 comments
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pargon
Premium Member<p>Would you say the same thing about Windows, Paul? I bet not, you bitch endlessly about candy crush saga and the other things you can uninstall on windows. Yet it's just "shop elsewhere" for samsung. And yes, I know that windows is huge with not a lot of choice to shop….but Samsung IS Android to a lot of people.</p><p><br></p><p>No problem with the idea of shopping elsewhere, but your tone in the article is rather degrading and dismissive of really a legitimate complaint that a huge percent of consumers share. The more I read this site it seems that you so often look the other way when it's anyone other than Microsoft.</p><p><br></p><p>"Because aside from the fact that your rights as a consumer extend only to the products you buy and not to the makeup of those products, what’s happening here is nowhere near as dramatic as it sounds." That's something I would expect from a far less trusted outlet than you, Paul. In fact I was sure this was written by Mehedi at first, his views don't seem to line up with yours or Brad's very often, his articles are "dope" as he says.</p><p><br></p><p>Our rights as consumers are being subverted all over the place. You thought everyone was justified asking Microsoft all about their telemetry for years and they were forthcoming, why do we not expect the same level of transparency regarding privacy for other companies?</p>
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pargon
Premium Member<blockquote><em><a href="#393206">In reply to Bart:</a></em></blockquote><p>I'm not wound up by any of it personally. My point is that the article has legitimate questions, whether very technical users or not. Someone was concerned about privacy, as they should with Facebook….and Paul belittles them and says consumers don't have rights. I advocate for people to be informed about their tech decisions and purchases.</p><p><br></p><p>My main point is maybe Paul should explain it to the audience clearly without the condescending tone instead of saying you should've known better, most people probably don't know how bad Samsung's Android image is, but yet he harps on Microsoft for everything. </p><p><br></p><p>I guess I disagree with his assessment that he expects more from Microsoft than Google or Amazon….he gives them a pass repeatedly, and now Samsung too. </p><p><br></p><p>We should expect more from all of these companies that people blindly sign away their data to.</p>
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pargon
Premium Member<blockquote><em><a href="#393206">In reply to Bart:</a></em></blockquote><p>Also, I have Google phones, no crapware is important to me, though Google's reach is a bit concerning. My pixel 3 and pixel 2 work flawlessly and got them half price on Black Friday. Highlg recommend.</p>
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provision l-3
<p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">“In this case, on phones that comes with [the] Facebook app, when the app has been disabled, it’ll be reverted back to the non-functional stub anyways.”</span></p><p><br></p><p>That sentence is either incredibly poorly worded or it clearly says that the app comes installed on some phones and cannot be removed. </p><p><br></p><p><br></p>
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pargon
Premium Member<blockquote>Paul loves to claim he holds Microsoft to a higher standard. I find fault with that logic, he should hold all these companies to the same high standard. His opinion of "you're a moron for trusting samsung, you know they do shady stuff" doesn't help anyone. </blockquote><blockquote>He rails against Microsoft for doing far less than Facebook, Google, Samsung or Amazon. He's very trusting of anything those companies say but not Microsoft, oddly enough. I just find it odd, since Microsoft is the only one that's been severely roughed up by the Government investigations and media for 2 decades….and has the most to lose by putting a toe over the line.</blockquote>