This morning a customer told me that the new Samsung Galaxy S25 (and probably also the previous ones – but I hadn’t noticed this on my S24) run, by default, a background service called “Meta Services,” which belongs to Meta. And it runs even if you don’t have any Meta apps, as it’s the result of an agreement between the two companies. I don’t have any information about this – does anyone know more?
#Samsung #Android #Privacy
@stefano@bsd.cafe Motorola here and this thing is indeed installed.
Despite been disabled, some android updates install the facebook app by itself. Too bad that there’s no custom ROM for this model :(
@michel@bsd.cafe pervasive stuff
@stefano@bsd.cafe I get so mad when I see that icon
@michel@bsd.cafe I don’t understand why people should be forced to run Meta services if they’re not running Meta software - but this is the same for all the companies.
@stefano@bsd.cafe this works because most people don’t know or care :(
@stefano@bsd.cafe @michel@bsd.cafe Some combination about being king of the world and knowing what the sheep need whether they want it or not.
@stefano@bsd.cafe It seems to be true https://r2.community.samsung.com/t5/Others/Unnecessary-meta-app/td-p/16333925
@stefano@bsd.cafe I don’t think it’s only Samsung, it could be a deal with Google/Android, because in my tcl phone I also see three #meta services preinstalled
com.facebook.system
com.facebook.appmanager
com.facebook.services
I could remove those with Canta@stefano@bsd.cafe
Years ago I uninstalled every social media app and went to only using the mobile web UIs after facebook killed all of my roaming data trying to cache posts so the page would load faster.
@stefano@bsd.cafe Would this be listed under apps? I’ve got a Fairphone 5 on Android 14 but no mention of Meta anything in apps. Phew! 😅
@pertho@bsd.cafe Not sure about it. Some reported they were able to detect it via adb only
@stefano@bsd.cafe hmm… guessing USB connection, developer mode… I’ll have to have another look at the phone with ADB then.
@stefano@bsd.cafe They are doing this for years. I had a Samsung for work years ago, you can disable the app with adb. But they eventually reactive it, and install other crapware, so you may need to also disable the app they are using to install other stuff.
I dont know if another vendor does it. Samsung is probably the worst of them
@stefano@bsd.cafe As I understand it, it’s been in many phones and usually comes with the Facebook app.
If It’s also trying to commonize functionality with Whatsapp, there’s an explanation.
@stefano@bsd.cafe I have an (Australian) S24 Ultra and while I can’t see these apps in settings on the phone, they show up with adb. So far, I have been unable to remove them. Thanks for letting us know about this.
Time for me to go get a pixel instead, and look at Graphene OS too. I have been quite disappointed with this device. I’m still migrating off iPhone so it’s a good time to change it.
@stefano@bsd.cafe Motorola (g200 with Android 12) here, for me those pieces of shi -ehhh- software are still called “Facebook Services/App Installer/App Manager”.
Thanks for pointing these out, I’ve now disabled them.@stefano@bsd.cafe Next time, it’s a @Fairphone
deleted by creator
Samsung partnered with Oculus sometime back and released the Gear VR. It was actually pretty cool for the time. By strapping your phone to your face, you could watch some VR content and play some basic games. Between the low resolution and limited field of view, it was pretty easy for it to induce nausea. The biggest downside was it was Samsung. So everything about the device was locked down, and proprietary. Once you weren’t on a supported phone, it was just a hunk of e-waste collecting dust. As for the service, Samsung is no doubt receiving a good amount of money to pre-install Meta’s spyware on your phone.
@stefano@bsd.cafe it’s present on my S24; I’ve had it disabled, and haven’t noticed any issues.
@stefano@bsd.cafe Meta Services as well as Facebook (and an updater if I remember correctly) have been pre installed on Samsung devices for a long time. I have disabled all of them on my phone after setting it up 2 years ago.
I think the “Meta Services” app is to bypass android battery optimizations that could affect push message delivery as it is installed as a system app.@stefano@bsd.cafe I ocnfirm on S20+ too.
It appeared a couple of months ago, noticed it because it was constantly re-activating Facebook app, depsite my actions to deactivate it.
