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Facebook locking you out of Messenger unless you connect your Google account or add a Pin

Bishop89

Bishop89

What Are Ya' Selling?
Member
Oct 25, 2017
35,121
Melbourne, Australia
This may be old but seems to have just rolled out this week in Australia for Android at least.

I cannot access messenger chats now without picking one of these options, and I don't really like any of them.

It'll be a cold day in hell before I give FB access to any google credentials.
And the other 2 don't seem like good options either. Storing on my phone means it'll take up space and I'll lose if I ever switch phones. Not that I keep important info stored in one of those chats but still, and a pin seems like an easy hack.

Can't they just leave things the fuck alone

/rant

Screenshot-20240202-203822-Messenger.jpg
 
Jubilant Duck

Jubilant Duck

Member
Oct 21, 2022
6,075
Whatsapp has a PIN system too. Personally I like the extra layer of security and recovery.

Linking Google credentials is a bullshit option though yeah.
 
Arilian

Arilian

Member
Oct 29, 2020
2,372
Wouldn't you still require to connect through your Facebook account even with a 6 digit PIN added ?

Signal is, I think also using a 6 digit PIN.
 
julia crawford

julia crawford

Took the red AND the blue pills
Member
Oct 27, 2017
35,666
Makes sense for them to push this without circumvention. The Google thing... i suspect that Facebook wouldn't actually have those credentials. I would have to figure it out better but it's likely that Google would just say "yes this person exists, here take this unique key from me that identifies them, now give me the messages to save" and the Facebook side of things wouldn't be able to do anything with that. Like how SSO works.
 
Jonnax

Jonnax

Member
Oct 26, 2017
4,979
Bishop89 said:
I don't know, I feel like it could easily be compromised. And I don't really want to add another password to memorise.
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Well if you prefer not to have a pin, then why do you care about being compromised?

It's like saying that you don't want a lock on your door because someone might copy the key and come in.
 
Guppeth

Guppeth

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,945
Sheffield, UK
Might be a reaction to how often people get their accounts compromised. I'm not on FB, but my parents often get messages from friends' accounts after they've been stolen. At least this way, a scammer can't view chat history and use it to tell more convincing lies.
 
Rellodex

Rellodex

Member
Oct 29, 2017
2,191
Facebook has been a sea of big bang theory gifs and ftp MMO advertisements for like five years now.

They could charge me to view photos and I wouldn't care.
 
OP
OP
Bishop89

Bishop89

What Are Ya' Selling?
Member
Oct 25, 2017
35,121
Melbourne, Australia
Jubilant Duck said:
more easily compromised than your current situation of having no pin?
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Not so much my FB account being compromised, but the pin number itself which someone could use against another account of mine. And sure, I can just make a completely unique pin that isn't shared against any other account I have on the internet, but that's just another thing to remember which I don't want to.

Bottom line, this should be an optional thing, not forced on me.
 
Rosebud

Rosebud

Two Pieces
Member
Apr 16, 2018
44,068
Dr. Mario said:
6 digit pins are bullshit, like everyone doesn't just enter their birthdate.
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I still use my first bank acc and card I did as a teen, so the password is my favorite pop idol birthdate

Bishop89 said:
Not so much my FB account being compromised, but the pin number itself which someone could use against another account of mine. And sure, I can just make a completely unique pin that isn't shared against any other account I have on the internet, but that's just another thing to remember which I don't want to.

Bottom line, this should be an optional thing, not forced on me.
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Every single password/pin should be unique, use a manager
 
OP
OP
Bishop89

Bishop89

What Are Ya' Selling?
Member
Oct 25, 2017
35,121
Melbourne, Australia
Rosebud said:
I still use my first bank acc and card I did as a teen, so the password is my favorite pop idol birthdate


Every single password/pin should be unique, use a manager
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Most are nowadays, but I'd have some really old ones which are probably similar with each other which I can't remember what they are.

Anyways I caved and made a pin.
 
Jubilant Duck

Jubilant Duck

Member
Oct 21, 2022
6,075
Dr. Mario said:
6 digit pins are bullshit, like everyone doesn't just enter their birthdate.
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I, uh, came up with a new unique pin which I committed to memory (and saved in my password manager just in case) when FB messenger asked me to set a pin a few days ago.

Setting your birthdate as a pin is like using "password" as your password.
 
Jawmuncher

Jawmuncher

Crisis Dino
Moderator
Oct 25, 2017
38,831
Ibis Island
Imagine this is due to a lot of people getting their passwords stolen and then their account becomes something else.
Easiest way to add a bit more security and a way for someone to possibly recover their account back, as they're pretty bad about that if you're not famous.
 
Lampa

Lampa

Member
Feb 13, 2018
3,683
Bishop89 said:
Not so much my FB account being compromised, but the pin number itself which someone could use against another account of mine. And sure, I can just make a completely unique pin that isn't shared against any other account I have on the internet, but that's just another thing to remember which I don't want to.

Bottom line, this should be an optional thing, not forced on me.
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Pretty sure you would need to log in to the FB account and then enter a pin to restore that chat history. It's a 2 factor authentication. You said you use a password manager anyway, so just store that pin there?
 
Psychotext

Psychotext

Member
Oct 30, 2017
16,766
My main issue with this is that the only PIN I'm likely to remember (aside from my birthdate), is the one I'm using for my banking apps.

I really, really don't want to use that in this case. Password manager is useless as it takes forever for me to log into (as obviously I use a very strong passphrase for that).
 
Lampa

Lampa

Member
Feb 13, 2018
3,683
Psychotext said:
My main issue with this is that the only PIN I'm likely to remember (aside from my birthdate), is the one I'm using for my banking apps.

I really, really don't want to use that in this case. Password manager is useless as it takes forever for me to log into (as obviously I use a very strong passphrase for that).
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You will only be entering it the first time you sign in on a new device, not every time. Also, do you now use biometrics on a phone to access a password manager?
 
FrakEarth

FrakEarth

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,303
Liverpool, UK
I had this a week or so ago in the UK but don't remember seeing the Google option? Maybe a regulatory reason?

I'm in favour of them sorting out their messaging system(s) like Messenger and Whatsapp, and even DMs on Instagram and Threads, adding security etc. It seems like there's a lot of cross-over, where really they should probably be interoperable and share features. If this helps them decouple the useful utility of messaging from their awful social media services, all the better.
 

PSI Rockin’ Ω

Member
Sep 6, 2020
1,324
As others have said, it's not giving Facebook your Google credentials. That's not how single sign-on works. And if they request access to any Google profile information, it will be clearly shown to you to approve when you establish the link— and you can back out.

This is basically just a form of multi-factor authentication and is a good thing.
 
Mindwipe

Mindwipe

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,282
London
Psychotext said:
My main issue with this is that the only PIN I'm likely to remember (aside from my birthdate), is the one I'm using for my banking apps.

I really, really don't want to use that in this case. Password manager is useless as it takes forever for me to log into (as obviously I use a very strong passphrase for that).
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You literally only need to do this when logging into a new device, not every time. PW manager seems a very reasonable use case for that.
 
Mindwipe

Mindwipe

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,282
London
Infinity Times Two said:
I don't understand, "Access chat history", don't they do that by themselves?
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No, this is to enable them starting to end-to-end encrypt your chat history so they can't see it (they can still see some metadata etc).

So you have to have some form of pin to unencrypt it (the Google option is so they can stick a text file with the decryption key in your Google drive instead).
 
Psychotext

Psychotext

Member
Oct 30, 2017
16,766
Lampa said:
You will only be entering it the first time you sign in on a new device, not every time. Also, do you now use biometrics on a phone to access a password manager?
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No, I'm not a big fan of biometrics (not least because it's trivial to get past face recognition / fingerprint readers on phones).

I was unaware this was a one time only thing though.
 
ZeoVGM

ZeoVGM

Member
Oct 25, 2017
76,361
Providence, RI
Bishop89 said:
Not so much my FB account being compromised, but the pin number itself which someone could use against another account of mine. And sure, I can just make a completely unique pin that isn't shared against any other account I have on the internet, but that's just another thing to remember which I don't want to.

Bottom line, this should be an optional thing, not forced on me.
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No, this should definitely be forced on you. Your messages contain the data of the people you interact with. Not just you.

This is the most minor of inconveniences and only benefit you.
 
Dervius

Dervius

Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,975
UK
Psychotext said:
(not least because it's trivial to get past face recognition / fingerprint readers on phones)
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I'm not sure this is still really the case.

Early implementations were often fairly easy to fool, but the sensors have gotten more advanced and there are more robust checks in place now to determine the 'liveness' of a user.
 
joedick

joedick

Member
Mar 19, 2018
1,398
I always thought these increased security measures were so companies could get your cell number and more easily link you to your data. I might be wrong but sadly this is the type of cynicism we need to have in the world today.
 
Psychotext

Psychotext

Member
Oct 30, 2017
16,766
Dervius said:
Early implementations were often fairly easy to fool, but the sensors have gotten more advanced and there are more robust checks in place now to determine the 'liveness' of a user.
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iPhones are probably good now, I've not tested them recently. My S23 is a joke (I work in IT security so I like to mess around with this sort of thing at times).
 
julia crawford

julia crawford

Took the red AND the blue pills
Member
Oct 27, 2017
35,666
Dervius said:
I'm not sure this is still really the case.

Early implementations were often fairly easy to fool, but the sensors have gotten more advanced and there are more robust checks in place now to determine the 'liveness' of a user.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Yeah biometrics has gotten a fair bit better with the years. But honestly it's still working on a kind of data that i would never really consider reliable across time. Body parts change, get damaged, and you're relying on a level of execution that gets higher and higher preventing companies who don't have as many resources from providing that solution without depending on very successful vendors. Also you're handling a kind of data that is extremely personal, which raises a lot of concerns on data acquisition/treatment by those same vendors. Biometrics is honestly a dream of futures past and i would not expect or want it to become a dominant security feature. Even though... well yeah i use Face ID. Wish i didn't though!
 

Tanerian

Member
Feb 24, 2018
1,380
Adding a pin... seems like they could hack it... as opposed to having no pin..

It's like someone forcing you to put a lock on your door, and you not wanting to because it seems like somebody could pick the lock.
 
Dalamar86

Dalamar86

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 30, 2017
298
Do everything you can to lock that up tight. I had two factor and still had my account accessed, had my business pages stolen, then they attached a bogus Instagram account that I have no access to and got it banned so my Facebook account would be suspended. Its been a nightmare and there's no way to get Meta to do a thing.
 
Teiresias

Teiresias

Member
Oct 27, 2017
8,263
Are they making people do this even if they already have 2FA setup on their Facebook accounts?
 
BLEEN

BLEEN

Member
Oct 27, 2017
21,965
My dad was forced to do something like this last year but it's (likely) due to the fact he's (kinda) famous as a weird stats baseball guru guy.

The fact you can't disable it or use your account otherwise fucking sucks. Had to use the Authenticator app and my dad is lost as hell with any of that 2FA shit. I set it up for him anyway (What, dad? Do you just wanna not use it anymore? 'Cause that's what you'll get!), but he's not happy lol
 
Dervius

Dervius

Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,975
UK
Psychotext said:
iPhones are probably good now, I've not tested them recently. My S23 is a joke (I work in IT security so I like to mess around with this sort of thing at times).
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Also work in security, and was soundly against biometrics until reasonably recently. As with most things, it's the balance of risk against utility. For most people's usecases the risk seems reaosnably know now the features have improved and the biometric information is being handled more securely.

What kinds of things are you doing to break the S23 out of interest?
 
MattB

MattB

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
2,975
People legit complain about everything it's crazy to me... Push out a pin and move on. It's honestly not that serious.
 
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