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
@[email protected] 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.
@[email protected] 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
@[email protected] 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 CantaYears 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.
@[email protected] I just checked my S20 Ultra (Android 13), and it doesn’t seem to be on there.
I did disable the Facebook app, so maybe that controls it?@[email protected] but not on all Android? Only Samsung?
@[email protected] It seems that many brands are providing this “service”
@[email protected] That’s not a service, it’s a nuisance!
@[email protected] 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 :(
@[email protected] pervasive stuff
@[email protected] I get so mad when I see that icon
@[email protected] 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.
@[email protected] this works because most people don’t know or care :(
@[email protected] @[email protected] Some combination about being king of the world and knowing what the sheep need whether they want it or not.
@[email protected] i used ADB and removed that crap
@[email protected] 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.
@[email protected] 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.@[email protected] it’s present on my S24; I’ve had it disabled, and haven’t noticed any issues.
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.
