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Remove access to your info by Facebook's third-party apps in these 4 easy steps

By Craig Johnson
By Craig Johnson

The security of your personal information on Facebook has recently taken on heightened importance in the wake of a data sharing scandal involving a controversial firm called Cambridge Analytica.

The company is accused of accessing people's information under questionable circumstances via a third-party app inside Facebook. As a result, the social networking site's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, told CNN that his company will audit "thousands" of apps for privacy concerns.

How to revoke access for Facebooks’ third-party apps in 4 steps

Those of us familiar with third-party apps know that they are commonly used in tandem with social media sites. They typically require you to enter your information to grant access to the app, usually a game or some added functionality feature.

But because of the increased scrutiny on Facebook, you may be in the mood to break the apps’ access to your account altogether, at least until you know more about how your data is being used. So just how much of your data are you sharing when you grant access to a third-party app?

Facebook says on its website: "Keep in mind when you install an app, you give it permission to access your public profile, which includes your name, profile pictures, username, user ID (account number), networks and any info you choose to make publicly available. You also give the app other info to personalize your experience, including your friends list, gender, age range and locale."

And if you’re a typical Facebook user, you may be (unwittingly) linked to scores of apps through your account.

So with that in mind, here’s a step-by-step look at how to stop Facebook’s apps from accessing your data.

How to unlink any third-party apps from your Facebook account

Facebook allows you to choose the privacy settings for each app or game that you use. That means that if you want to keep the app but limit the amount of info you give it, you have a measure of control.

To edit the privacy and settings for your apps and games, this is what you need to do:

  1. Click in the navigation panel on the top right of Facebook and it will prompt a pull-down menu. Select Settings.

2. In the vertical menu on the left-hand side of the page, you'll see a number of topics. Click on Apps.

3. It will pull up a grid of all the apps and games that you have allowed access to via your Facebook account. You’ll have to click on an app or game to edit its settings.

4. If you click on “Edit” for any particular app, it will tell you all of the personal data it has on you. Here is where you can adjust it accordingly.

If you click “Remove,” the app will be deleted from your Facebook account. But there’s more…

Just because you hit “Remove” doesn’t mean the app doesn’t still have the data you shared with it. If you want your data removed from their system, you’ll have to contact each respective app’s developer via their privacy policy inside Facebook or the app’s website. That’s where you’ll typically find their email address and other contact info. In either case, you may be prompted  to fill out a form to unsubscribe.

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