20 Apr How to Get Rid of Embarrassing, Annoying, and Unneeded Facebook Apps

We’ve all had them . . . You know, those embarrassing Facebook apps that show up at the worst times in the Facebook feeds of our friends, relatives, and co-workers. The ones that tell others you’ve been playing games (that you haven’t even been playing); taking surveys (when is the last time you’ve actually even had time to take a survey?); or checking out weird, or even incriminating videos (come on, now).

How do apps get away with this, and more importantly, how can you make it stop?

As Facebook explains on its site, “when you install an app, you give it permission to access your public Facebook profile, which includes your name, profile pictures, username, user ID (account number), networks and any info you choose to make publicly available. You may also give the app other information to personalize your experience, including your friends list, gender, age range and locale.”

Once you’ve given an app this permission, the app maintains whatever permissions you gave it… until you rescind those permissions. If you’re like me, you have likely lost track of the many apps you’ve granted permissions over the years. Just recently, after reading about the Cambridge Analytica scandal, I visited the dashboard of my Facebook profile, and learned that 74 apps had permissions. Most of these apps were no longer being used, and many of them I could not even remember using at all.

Fortunately, the app removal process is quite simple.

First: Click on the white triangle at the top right of your Facebook profile, and then click on the “settings” selection in the drop down.

Second: Click on “Apps and Websites” in the column at left.

Third: Go to the “Active Apps and Websites” section. Check off the ones you’d like to remove, and then click the “Remove” button. You can always choose to give an app permission again in the future if the need arises.

If you have social media questions, send them to chris@wowproduction.com, and I will answer some of them on this blog.