Facebook threatens to corrupt Contacts, Calendar with no recourse?

Question

Level 1

23 points

Facebook threatens to corrupt Contacts, Calendar with no recourse?

I went to set up Facebook in my phone's settings for the first time. After entering my credentials, I was presented with a warning saying that logging into Facebook would pollute Contacts with all of my Facebook friends and would pollute my calendar with Facebook events. That warning also claimed that I could turn these "features" off in Settings. But you can't; there are no such settings. Check it out:

Is this just defective UI design, or is this thing really going to corrupt my contacts and calendar as soon as I log in? I mean it's clearly defective UI; I'm just wondering what exactly is going to happen and when.

Thanks for any insight.

Posted on Jan 30, 2013 5:29 PM

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Answer 1

Jan 30, 2013 5:35 PM in response to Stokestack

http://howto.cnet.com/8301-11310_39-57549165-285/how-to-remove-facebook-friends- from-your-iphones-contact-list/, https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3639555?start=0&tstart=0

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Answer 2

Stokestack Author

Level 1

23 points

Jan 30, 2013 6:00 PM in response to shldr2thewheel

Thanks. Unfortunately, that talks about cleaning up the mess AFTER it has happened. I'm not going to risk that.

Here's a more complete view of the screens, proving that there are no settings:

This design is unbelievable.

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Answer 3

Jan 30, 2013 6:11 PM in response to Stokestack

What is the risk?

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Answer 4

Stokestack Author

Level 1

23 points

Jan 30, 2013 6:16 PM in response to shldr2thewheel

Having my entire contacts collection and calendar corrupted! I've been through that before with Outlook. No way.

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Answer 5

Jan 30, 2013 7:23 PM in response to Stokestack

Why would syncing your FB contacts corrupt your contacts? Certainly didn't do that to mine.

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Answer 6

Stokestack Author

Level 1

23 points

Jan 31, 2013 1:59 PM in response to IdrisSeabright

Look at some of the other reports.

The fact is, this feature doesn't even make sense, and polluting one's contact list without any option to prevent it is inexcusable. How is it going to reconcile the fact that many of your Facebook friends are already in your contacts, but with differing details? Apparently it also blows away photos in your contacts with ones from Facebook. How will it back out all of these changes if you deactivate the feature?

If I want someone's personal info in my Contacts, it's already there. The broken UI is insufferable, but the assumptions made by this feature are asinine in the first place.

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Answer 7

KiltedTim

Level 10

195,933 points

Jan 31, 2013 2:07 PM in response to Stokestack

Stokestack wrote:

Thanks. Unfortunately, that talks about cleaning up the mess AFTER it has happened. I'm not going to risk that.

Here's a more complete view of the screens, proving that there are no settings:

This design is unbelievable.

The settings for Calendar and Contact sync will not appear until you actually sign in. The 2nd screen in the sequence you posted above will CHANGE once you are logged in.

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Answer 8

Stokestack Author

Level 1

23 points

Jan 31, 2013 2:11 PM in response to KiltedTim

KiltedTim wrote:

The 2nd screen in the sequence you posted above will CHANGE once you are logged in.

Which is too late; this "syncing" occurs when you log in. That's why this whole design is broken.

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Answer 9

Jan 31, 2013 2:28 PM in response to Stokestack

I recommend passing on your displeasure of the tighnknit iOS/Facebook integration directly to Apple: http://www.apple.com/feedback/.

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Answer 10

KiltedTim

Level 10

195,933 points

Jan 31, 2013 2:37 PM in response to Stokestack

No. It doesn't. When you are first setting it up, the sync will not take place until you complete the settings and exit that page.

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