First and foremost, I'll get this out of the way: I abhor all commercial social media. I don't trust them, I know users are the product, and - ultimately, I feel they're nothing but a cancer on society.
But, I also have to acknowledge that, for one or two use cases at least, they seem pretty unavoidable.
For me, that one use case is Facebook Marketplace. Here in Australia, there's simply no better alternative if you want to reach a large number of potentially interested buyers (or even buy some stuff yourself). The supermarket noticeboard is no more; the Trading Post was bought long ago and died on the vine; and Gumtree has devolved into a cesspool of nothing but scammers and fuckwits.
So, I use FB Marketplace. My FB account isn't in my name, uses a throwaway email address, and has no followers or friends. It's only a member of the local buy/sell groups that I'm interested in, and it performs no "social" activities (posts, likes, etc) at all.
Until now, I generally only use FB marketplace with a "clean", dedicated browser on my computer, running in private mode and via a VPN. But, it means I frequently miss messages from interested parties when I'm away from my computer.
I also sometimes use the mbasic.facebook.com site from a private Firefox tab on my iPhone, but FB has just started telling me I need to use Chrome (no. fucking. way.) or Safari (maaaaaybeeeee?) after October 28th.
When I was on Android, there were a few wrapper apps that I was able to use but, so far, my searches for an equivalent on iOS have turned up nothing.
So, knowing full well this may lead to nowhere, I thought I'd ask this community: does anyone have a good, privacy-friendly way to use FB on iOS?
Thanks in advance for any useful tips or suggestions.
No
Double no.
You manage to sound somewhat clueless in 3 words! Congratulations
Ehhhh no. GrapheneOS or bust, and facebook?! Really now.
I'm fully aware of the contradictory nature of what I'm trying to achieve but, in the real world, not everyone can go and run alternative Android builds. At least, not practically speaking.
I was about to post something similar to your reply. But OP says this, which is a reasonable explanation why they need (not want mind you) to use Facebook:
As for iOS, OP said they abhorred commercial social media. They said nothing about their feelings towards abusive monopolistic OS platforms, so I assume they're happy in their Apple prison.
The sad part of this story is that fucking Zuckerberg managed to make himself unavoidable in Australia apparently. That's the real takeaway from OP's post.
I spent over 10 years on Android, after ditching my iPhone 4S (at the time).
The annoying reality is that I have no choice but to maintain a "mainstream" device for my work. Running alternative Android builds is not an option for me.
I've willingly gone back to Apple after so long away for one simple reason: I trust Google a LOT less than I trust Apple. That's not to say I trust either of them wholeheartedly, though. I just have no choice but to use one of them, and Google is just as an abusive, monopolistic platform as Apple, probably worse.
But, here's the thing. It wasn't until I moved back to iOS a few months back that I realised just how many hoops I'd been jumping through to make Android do the things I wanted.
I no longer have to tweak any number of Tasker routines just to make sure my automations do what I want when something in my life changes. I no longer get frustrated at Google's voice assistant misunderstanding me. My experience when driving (which I do a lot of for work) is far smoother with CarPlay than it ever was with AA.
Also, the rest of my family is in the iOS ecosystem, so there's en element of no longer being the odd one out, and now being able to benefit from shared features. Have you seen how simple it is to AirDrop a photo to another IOS device? In all my years of using Android phones, not one Android handset maker has gotten that simple thing right. Not one. Sure, you can play around with any number of BT transfer apps to try and transfer files to each other. But it's a lot of mucking about to do a very simple thing.
What you call a prison, I call a system where I don't have to fuck around to make shit work. Everything Just Works.
I've spent decades working in technology, and I've come to realise my time is a lot more valuable to me when I don't have to expend so much effort on things that should do what's written on the tin. This isn't a religious argument. Technology should be about fitness for purpose. iOS is more fit for my purpose than Android.
I have zero trust in both. So if I have to choose a dystopian surveillance device, even a stock one, I'll choose the one that lets me sideload apps anyday, even if the experience is less polished.
And of course, I run a deGoogled OS so the point is moot. I use it for work stuff and I have no issues. I feel no need for a regular Google or Apple piece of spyware.
So, just like I said, you're happy in your prison. It's cool, to each his own 🙂 It wasn't a value judgment. Me, I'd rather cut one of my testicles off than give a cent to Apple - or Google too for that matter - or let either decide what I can or cannot run on MY device.
As long as it does what you want, then it's fine.
Even then though it's still not privacy friendly, it's just that unfortunately you "need" the spyware.
That said, fine I guess lol, real answer:
Burner iPhone with no SIM, kept off when not in use, and only used for this singular purpose. Closest you can get, still not privacy friendly though lol.
Facebook Messenger is the default messaging app in Australia too. If you tell any someone that you’ll message them, you mean you’ll find them on Messenger. If you have their number it might mean SMS, but probably not.
That sounds terrible.
Really? That's not been my experience at all. In fact, the default for most Gen Z kids (I have two of them) is either iMessages on the iOS platform or Snapchat.
Yeah, younger generations use snap a lot more. When they want to interact with older people though, Facebook Messenger is the go. I don’t know any workplaces or community groups that use Snapchat to communicate with everyone, and not everyone has an iPhone, but getting on the work Messenger chat group is almost mandatory at every place I’ve worked at in the last ten years. My kids, who are Gen Z, have the same experience.
Dammit, I was going to say exactly that.