First and foremost, I’ll get this out of the way: I abhor all commercial social media. I don’t trust them, I know users are the product, and - ultimately, I feel they’re nothing but a cancer on society.

But, I also have to acknowledge that, for one or two use cases at least, they seem pretty unavoidable.

For me, that one use case is Facebook Marketplace. Here in Australia, there’s simply no better alternative if you want to reach a large number of potentially interested buyers (or even buy some stuff yourself). The supermarket noticeboard is no more; the Trading Post was bought long ago and died on the vine; and Gumtree has devolved into a cesspool of nothing but scammers and fuckwits.

So, I use FB Marketplace. My FB account isn’t in my name, uses a throwaway email address, and has no followers or friends. It’s only a member of the local buy/sell groups that I’m interested in, and it performs no “social” activities (posts, likes, etc) at all.

Until now, I generally only use FB marketplace with a “clean”, dedicated browser on my computer, running in private mode and via a VPN. But, it means I frequently miss messages from interested parties when I’m away from my computer.

I also sometimes use the mbasic.facebook.com site from a private Firefox tab on my iPhone, but FB has just started telling me I need to use Chrome (no. fucking. way.) or Safari (maaaaaybeeeee?) after October 28th.

When I was on Android, there were a few wrapper apps that I was able to use but, so far, my searches for an equivalent on iOS have turned up nothing.

So, knowing full well this may lead to nowhere, I thought I’d ask this community: does anyone have a good, privacy-friendly way to use FB on iOS?

Thanks in advance for any useful tips or suggestions.

  • @ExtremeDullardEnglish
    1•2 months ago

    I trust Google a LOT less than I trust Apple

    I have zero trust in both. So if I have to choose a dystopian surveillance device, even a stock one, I’ll choose the one that lets me sideload apps anyday, even if the experience is less polished.

    And of course, I run a deGoogled OS so the point is moot. I use it for work stuff and I have no issues. I feel no need for a regular Google or Apple piece of spyware.

    What you call a prison, I call a system where I don’t have to fuck around to make shit work. Everything Just Works.

    So, just like I said, you’re happy in your prison. It’s cool, to each his own 🙂 It wasn’t a value judgment. Me, I’d rather cut one of my testicles off than give a cent to Apple - or Google too for that matter - or let either decide what I can or cannot run on MY device.

    iOS is more fit for my purpose than Android.

    As long as it does what you want, then it’s fine.