Delete apps linked to your Facebook account that you are not using

If you’ve ever logged into a third-party app or website using your Facebook account, you should take a moment and update some security settings.

Facebook recently discovered that apps that had been removed, either automatically after 90 days of inactivity or manually by the user himself, were still able to access some Facebook data. Facebook blog post the error uses the specific example of someone using an exercise app “to invite their friends from their hometown for a workout, but we did not recognize that some of their friends had been inactive for many months.” The app could collect more data without obtaining user authorization, simply because it was used before.

While there doesn’t appear to be any malicious intent, errors like this could still lead to security issues. Fortunately, Facebook fixed the issue right away and found no evidence of leaks or mishandled data, but this is a good time to remove any app linked to your Facebook account that you are no longer using, just to be safe.

How to unlink third-party applications from your Facebook account

1. Open the Facebook app on iOS or Android, or head to Facebook.com in a browser if you’re on a desktop computer.
2. Open the Settings menu, then scroll down and click / tap “Applications and websites. ” This opens a new menu with a list of all third party applications and websites that you are logged into with Facebook or that have been granted access to your Facebook account in any way.
3. Delete the apps that you no longer want to link to your Facebook account (note: make sure to back up and / or delete any data from these apps / websites that you want to save before unlinking it from your Facebook account).
4. If you don’t see any apps listed, it means that you’ve never logged in to a third-party app that uses Facebook, or that it’s been long enough for Facebook to remove them from your account (Facebook automatically starts removing user apps from accounts if they are not accessed for 90 days). Deleted / unlinked apps may still have the data they previously collected about you, but will not be able to track you after deleting them.

the “Applications and websites” The menu also allows you to edit your account’s default interactions with third-party applications through Facebook.

Click on the “Edit” button below Applications, websites and games or Game and app notifications panel to activate / deactivate the functions. Disabling apps, websites, and games will also remove all external apps from your account. Doing so also prevents you from sharing / liking content on other websites or platforms that use Facebook’s built-in shortcuts, but it’s the best way to prevent other websites (and Facebook, in fact) from tracking your account activity.