Swipe and Simple Social, alternatives to the Facebook app, disappear from Google Play due to pressure from the social network

If the Facebook application is popular for something, it is because it is quite heavy. For this reason, some people who want to use Facebook on their mobile but not its official app, opt for alternative applications such as Swipe or Simple Social. Neither is available on Google Play anymore.

Facebook does not have an official API so that third-party applications can connect and obtain the data, but what these applications were basically doing is packaging the Facebook website and modifying its styles to change or eliminate things, such as ads. This does not seem to like Facebook that armed with a cease and desist order, has caused apps to leave Google Play.

Goodbye to unofficial Facebook customers

If you want to use Facebook on your mobile, you will have to use the application or official website, since Mark Zuckerberg’s social network seems to be closing the fence on third-party applications, known colloquially as FB wrappers. Name wrapper or wrapper comes from that they are basically apps that show the web version of Facebook, with a few modifications.

Swipe, created in 2016, was one of the most popular unofficial Facebook apps, with over a million downloads, integrates the Facebook website into a very cool native tabbed interface. Its extras included the use of different themes, ad blocking and support for Messenger with bubbles included.

Its author has shared a farewell letter on Reddit where he announces that he has received a cease and desist order from Facebook lawyers, in addition to being banned from his personal Facebook and Instagram accounts. Due, its author has removed both Swipe and Swipe Pro from Google Play.

On the other hand we have Simple Social, which had garnered half a million downloads as another lightweight alternative to the Facebook application. In this case, its author has commented to Android Police that he did not receive a notification from the lawyers, but decided to remove the application for fear of losing your personal accounts. Other alternatives to the Facebook app, such as Folio or Metal are still active, although it is not known for how long.

If you already have Swipe or Simple Social installed, the applications should continue to work for now, although it is foreseeable that sooner or later they will stop doing it. If you are going to use Facebook on your mobile, Zuckerberg gives you three options: Facebook, Facebook Lite or the Facebook website.

Via | XDA