Facebook App Manager or why Facebook updates itself

Among the pre-installed apps for your Android cell phone you can find some from Facebook that are in charge of managing their applications automatically and improving their possibilities. Those are Facebook App Manager, Installer, and Services.

One of the main functions of Facebook App Manager together with Installer is to update Facebook applications on its own, independently of the Play Store, something that may not always suit you due to the frequent changes that there are in the updates. In addition, the extra battery consumption that they generate must be taken into account.

Unknown Facebook apps

Facebook App Manager: Inspecting this application a bit, you will find a menu with strings like check_updates, disable_updates, disable_apps, terms_of_service y third_party_notices.

Facebook App Installer: here there are permissions like ENABLE_APPMANAGER, INSTALL_PACKAGES, DELETE_PACKAGES.

Facebook App Services: In this app there is not much evidence as in the previous ones, but it may be related to Facebook Services, a tool to find local businesses based on your interests.

Facebook updates itself

With what has been said, we confirm that Facebook App Manager in conjunction with Facebook App Installer aims to search and apply updates in the background to Facebook and Instagram (also owned by Facebook). Therefore, if you want to prevent these apps from updating themselves, you must deactivate the first ones in Settings> Applications> Show all applications> Facebook App Manager> Disable. Same for App Installer.

Remember that the Play Store can also automatically update Facebook, so you must disable the automatic update there. Simply search for the Facebook app in the Play Store, tap the menu button, top right, and uncheck «Update. automatic«. You can also disable all updates in Play Store Settings> “Automatically update applications”.

If your cell phone comes with an additional app store, such as the Galaxy Store, you must also deactivate the «updates» there in a similar way: Settings> «Automatically update applications».

Disabling Facebook APPS is it safe?

The idea of ​​Facebook with its APP Manager and APP Installer is to update your applications independently. However, as they work in the background they can slightly increase battery consumption. By disabling Facebook APP Manager, Installer, and even Services, the Facebook and Instagram apps should continue to function normally (or at least that’s what I’ve seen on my Samsung). But in case you see something irregular, you can turn them back on. The update can be done manually by searching for the app in the Play Store or by installing an updated APK. Or simply use the browser or alternatives to Facebook that do not depend at all on those apps, something in fact highly recommended.