An empty shell
In fact, The Next web explains that the situation is more complex than that. A Facebook application is indeed installed by default on Samsung smartphones, but as Jane Manchun Wong, specialist in Android applications and in particular those of the social network, explains, it is only an empty shell. In other words, this application contains almost no code, and offers no functionality. It is just there to automatically download the latest version of the Facebook application from the Play Store when the phone is launched for the first time.
Samsung only ship the stub version of Facebook on their phones. It’s basically a non-functional empty shell, acts as the placeholder for when the phone receives the “real” Facebook app as app updates https://t.co/KHdkF9fFyK
— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) January 8, 2021
This means that by deactivating the app, since it is not possible to uninstall it, Android removes the updates and the app becomes an empty shell again. A Facebook representative confirmed this behavior to Bloomberg, specifying that the application will no longer collect data for the social network.
How to deactivate the Facebook application?
Unless you completely delete your Facebook account, uninstalling or deactivating the application is rather simple on Android. Here are the steps to follow.
- Open smartphone settings
- Find and choose the application management menu
- Select the Facebook app
- Choose the option "Disable" or "Uninstall"
These steps should gut the Facebook app of its substance. Unfortunately, it will be mandatory to keep the empty shell on your smartphone if the device does not have root rights.
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