People, calm down

I’ve been seeing posts left and right about how Facebook’s new messenger app is a “privacy nightmare” on, ironically enough, my Facebook News feed. If you don’t know what Facebook Messenger is, here’s the short version: Facebook is forcing people to download a separate app, Facebook Messenger, to be able to access their messages from their mobile phones and devices. Now, the contention of people is that the Facebook permissions that the Facebook app is asking for is just waaaay too invasive, with some even saying that the app will be able to send SMS messages and record audio without you knowing!

That’s actually not true. Some of you may be asking, “well why does it need all those permissions then?” The answer is simple: because it needs those permissions to be able to do what it says it’s able to do.

See, The Facebook Messenger app isn’t just an extension of Facebook chat functionality, which some people think it is. It’s a full blown messaging application, similar to another popular messaging application, Viber. If you don’t believe us, check it out yourself. You’re able to send SMS messages through the app, make calls – the works. That’s the main reason why it’s asking so many permissions that, at first glance, may violate your privacy. Speaking of permissions, let’s take a good look at the permissions that Facebook is asking for…..

and compare it to the ones that Viber is asking for….

If you didn’t catch that, both the Facebook Messenger application and Viber are asking almost the same amount of access to your device, which includes the ability to read your messages, record both audio and video as well as send phone calls. If you didn’t catch it, Viber actually asks for more access to your phone compared to Facebook, but you don’t see anyone boycotting Viber, now do you?

So why all the uproar? Well, this has to do with a December Huffington Post article which sensationalizes the permissions being asked for by the app. Facebook has said that the worries started because of an outdated language which Google has updated last December. Here’s Facebook’s explanation for their permissions request when you try to install Facebook Messenger:

“If you install the Messenger app, you should see a screen letting you know that the app is asking for your permission to access information or use features from your Android phone or tablet. Almost all apps need certain permissions to run on Android, and we use these permissions to run features in the app. Keep in mind that Android controls the way the permissions are named, and the way they’re named doesn’t necessarily reflect the way the Messenger app and other apps use them.”

So there you go. Facebook’s Messenger app isn’t a cause for concern to be honest. A lot of application nowadays ask for multiple permissions in your device. Before you start saying that an app is evil or start a personal boycott of a particular service (a free service, if I may add), you might want to read more and spread sensationalist articles less.