Why has Facebook removed the widget in the latest update?

[chrisjewell]

I was extremely disappointed to discover that, after updating the app yesterday, Facebook has removed its widget. The great thing about the widget was that you could instantly check out and access FB Friends' statuses without having to go through the Newsfeed.
I have been looking for an alternative, but have not found any: the social aggregator Hootsuite has a widget but the Newsfeed display just issues an error message from the FB API that the 'privacy API has been enhanced'. (That's some euphemism for 'is now closed to third parties!).
It seems to me that Facebook only wants you to access Facebook via the Newsfeed on its application and it's not difficult to see why, given that it makes its money with promoted pages and advertising.

 

[B. Diddy]

It seems to me that Facebook only wants you to access Facebook via the Newsfeed on its application and it's not difficult to see why, given that it makes its money with promoted pages and advertising.

Welcome to Android Central! I'll bet this is exactly right.

 

[sequoia462]

If I wasn't so angry and unsatisfied with Facebook and it's horrible resource hog, then I would probably go to apk mirror for an older version of the app. But at this point I've decided I've had enough and uninstalled as soon as my widget disappeared.

 

[B. Diddy]

... and to add insult to injury:

Facebook Plans To Put Ads In Messenger | TechCrunch

 

[chrisjewell]

So I uninstalled FB both on my Galaxy Tab S and on my Nexus 5, and installed a prior version (for Android 5 and 6 released on 02/03 - facebook-62-0-0-42-77-release) from APK Mirror.

I now have my widget back, and have turned off automatic updates until FB sees some sense and reinstates it in their latest version.

Of course, there is still the more general and egregious issue around FB now restricting third party API users from authorized access to their customers' NewsFeeds: various alternate third party widgets and aggregator applications have now been decimated by this foolishness.

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