Facebook apps and games offer a way to kill some time, some cool features, a challenge, a way to interact with friends, or all of the above. A big downside to almost any app or game is that they like to advertise themselves on your Facebook Timeline. Here’s how to stop them.
Facebook apps and games get their money’s worth from data, even though they don’t require any financial costs. The more users they have, the more data they can sell. A great way to get more users is to get you to advertise for them. Some games will force you to include your Facebook friends in the game and offer you this boost or extra level. Others will post your every move in that app or game on their Facebook Timeline.
Stop apps posted to your Facebook Timeline
While some may see this as a price to pay for a free game or app, you can have some control over what gets released and when. It all starts with the Apps page.
- Login to Facebook.
- Select the down arrow icon to access the menu and select Settings.
- Select Applications from the left menu.
- Select the app you want to stop publishing. If you can’t see it, select Show all.
- In the application menu, navigate to where you see WHAT THIS APP CAN:
- Uncheck the Post to stop it from posting on your Facebook Timeline.
- To do this, select Save.
If desired, rinse and repeat for each app and game posted to your Facebook Timeline.
Not all apps allow you to change this setting. You can see that the box next to the post is grayed out or unselectable and next to it (required). This means that you cannot use your authority over the app and prevent it from being posted to your Facebook Timeline. I have an answer to such applications. Remove them.
- Go back to the Apps menu on Facebook.
- Hover over the app in question and select the little X and Uninstall.
- Confirm the removal by selecting Uninstall in the drop-down box.
Forcing you to accept posts on Timeline is bad form in my opinion. It is your Timeline to do as you wish. An app doesn’t need to tell you what to do. So you may lose a game or a few features, but if the ball is not playing then the app deserves to be removed. This is my opinion anyway.
It might be a good time to uninstall games or apps you no longer use. There’s no point in letting them access your data if you can’t get anything back, right?
Other Facebook privacy options you might want to check
Once you start reclaiming ownership of your Facebook Timeline, now may be the time to quickly review your other privacy settings. Now that you’ve taken control of the apps, let’s take a quick look at some of the other settings you can control.
Let’s start with the basics.
- Open your Facebook profile and open Settings.
- Select Privacy from the left menu to access the basic settings.
- Who can see my items? Check all settings next to . to make sure you’re happy.
- Do the same with Who can contact me and Who can call me.
- Select Public posts from the left menu.
- Check Who Can Follow Me, Public Comments, Notifications, and Profile Info to make sure you’re happy with the settings.
If you’re happy to be found and contacted, leave the settings to Public or Public. If you want to restrict access, make the changes you see fit. For example, in the Who can see my items section, you can select Public to allow everyone to see everything; this allows you to further filter who can and cannot see your items, limiting your viewing to your Facebook Friends or Friends.
Finally, you can choose Specific friends to only allow people you nominated to see your account, or Just me, which seems pointless but is still there.
It’s worth periodically reviewing your Facebook privacy options just to make sure you’re completely happy with the way it’s set up. The platform is always changing, as is your life. Every few months, spend a few minutes checking what’s being shared about you and where your time is being used well. I think so too.
Know of other ways to stop apps and games from being posted to your Facebook Timeline? Do you know how to stop the (required) posts? If you do, tell us below!
