Do you regularly or actively use Google tools? Have you used your Google account to sign in to third party apps? Do you often take quizzes posted by your friends on Facebook? Or, as with Google, did you use your Facebook account to sign in to third-party apps or websites?
Finally, are you alarmed by the recent news of company privacy breaches on social media? Aside from strict password hygiene and mandatory two-factor authentication or simply ditching these companies, you can take it a step further towards greater security by periodically monitoring the apps / modules / websites that you’ve allowed access to your Google and Facebook accounts.
Below, we’ll show you how to view, check, calibrate and remove connected apps from your Google and Facebook account.
Connected Google Apps
Let’s assume that from time to time you use your Google account to sign in to third party apps. Even if you don’t remember how you did it, in many cases you don’t even know that you are giving the application access to your Google account.
Here is the google guide:
Remove third party access
Remove third-party access
Now, let’s learn how to track and uninstall these Google connected apps. Sign in to your Google account using a web browser.
In the upper right corner of the screen, you will see your profile photo. Click on it and then select My Account.
This My Account page includes several modules such as security, privacy, and preferences; it’s worth learning, especially the security check wizard.
For the purposes of this article, look down on the left under “Login and Security” and select “Applications with account access.”
On the Apps with account access page, click Manage Apps for a complete list of connected apps.
Notice how Google groups related apps by first showing 3 rd third-party apps that have access to your account. Below these three rd third-party apps, you’ll see a list of apps that Google trusts and has access to.
Now check these lists for apps you are unfamiliar with or no longer use. Click one of the applications. Here you will see detailed information, including when the application was authorized and what level of access it has. To remove it, click Remove Access.
Google then displays a pop-up explaining that you are removing apps from accessing your account, and in order to use that app or service again, you need to grant access. Click “OK” and Google will remove access to applications and remove it from the list.
Continue to close access to all applications that you are not actively using. And remember that if you ever need to use a third-party app or Google app that you uninstalled again, you just need to authorize it again.
Connected Facebook Apps
Many website logins ask new users to log in with Facebook. Plus, if you’ve used many of the popular Facebook co-op and quiz apps, those apps also have access to your personal information. Facebook now figures prominently in the news for the way that data is misused. In response, Facebook may soon simplify privacy settings. But for now, here’s the current, not-so-easy way to check and uninstall these Facebook connected apps.
After logging into Facebook, slide the toggle / down arrow on the top right corner of the Facebook screen. This will open your Facebook account and other functions. Select “Settings” at the bottom of the list.
On the General Facebook Account Settings page, scroll down and select Apps and Websites from the menu on the left.
The next page shows Facebook apps that have been granted account access in the ways described above. They range from fun apps like Words with Friends to automatic integrations like If This Then That (IFTTT) and productivity apps like Hootsuite.
You can easily uninstall the application completely by checking the checkbox on the right and choosing “Uninstall” as shown above.
If you select one or more applications and click Uninstall, you will see another dialog box. Notice the additional flag option related to the previous step. Consider whether Facebook should be instructed to also delete previous posts made with the app. So, for example, if you use IFTTT to automatically post to Facebook any posts posted to Blogger, you might still want the previous posts to remain.
There are a few more important notes here. Once removed, the app or website will no longer have access to your information, but it can still retain the information you previously provided. If the app or website has your email address, you can certainly “unsubscribe” to stop sending emails in the future, but you will need to contact the app or website developers directly to see if any of your information is saved.
Facebook allows users to easily connect with app developers by selecting “Report / Contact” in the lower right corner when clicking on the app. Thus, if you are concerned, you can use this contact tool first before uninstalling the application.
Change the privacy settings of the Facebook app
Edit the privacy settings in the Facebook app
Also note that Facebook allows users to specify the exposure allowed for each connected app. So even after completely uninstalling apps, consider visiting and changing your privacy settings for each remaining app. Here’s how.
For one of the applications, click View and Edit.
First, check the app’s visibility, that is, who on Facebook can see that you are using this app. For this visibility setting, you can select Public, Friends, Friends Except Acquaintances, Just Me, or Custom.
More importantly, check the personal information provided in the app. Many apps may require a public profile, but other information such as Facebook friends, date of birth, hometown, and email address can be canceled. Plus, in most cases, the app doesn’t need to access your pages or run your business.
So restrict access for each application or remove them entirely. Once uninstalled, you will no longer see this app or website in your Facebook connected apps list.
Congratulations on adding a small layer of privacy controls to the ongoing privacy battles we all face when using social media sites. Please let us know about any comments or questions. Enjoy!
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