Facebook App Privacy: How Your Data Is Shared With Apps and Websites

Every time you tap "Continue with Facebook" to sign in to a game, shopping site or quiz, you create a link between that service and your Facebook account. Over the years those links pile up. Some apps still have permission to see your name, profile picture, email address or friend list long after you've stopped using them. Data also flows the other way: websites and apps send Meta information about what you do on them.

This guide explains both directions and shows how to review and tighten what's shared, for yourself and for a teen who uses Facebook.

Two kinds of data sharing

It helps to separate the two:

1. Facebook to apps. When you use Facebook Login, the app asks for permission to receive certain information from your Facebook account, such as your public profile and email address. Some apps ask for more.
2. Businesses to Meta. Websites and apps that use Meta's business tools can send Meta information about your activity on them, such as visiting a page or making a purchase. Meta uses this mainly for ads and measurement.

The first you can review and cut off app by app. The second you can only partly control.

Review the apps and websites connected to your account

1. Open Facebook and go to Settings & privacy, then Settings.
2. Find Apps and websites (on most layouts it sits in the section about your activity and permissions). If you can't spot it, type "Apps and websites" in the Settings search bar.
3. You'll see tabs or lists for Active, Expired and Removed apps.
   • Active: apps you've used recently with Facebook Login. They can still request information you've allowed.
   • Expired: apps you haven't used in a while. Their access to new information has lapsed, but they may still hold what they received earlier.
   • Removed: apps you've disconnected.
4. Select an app to see what information it can access and what audience can see posts it makes on your behalf.
5. To disconnect, choose Remove and confirm.

When you remove an app, Facebook may give you the option to also delete posts, photos or videos the app published to your timeline. Data the app has already received isn't deleted by Facebook; you'd need to ask the app's developer, usually through its privacy policy or account settings.

Business integrations

Next to Apps and websites you'll usually find Business integrations. These are tools connected to Pages or ad accounts you manage, such as scheduling or customer-service software. Most personal users have none. If you see an integration you don't recognize, remove it.

What happened to Off-Facebook Activity

For several years Facebook offered a setting called Off-Facebook Activity, later renamed Your activity off Meta technologies. It let you see which businesses had sent Meta information about you, clear that history and disconnect future activity from your account.

In 2025, Meta announced it was retiring that control and replacing it with a setting called Activity from other businesses, starting in the US and several other countries. The key difference: the new setting controls whether Meta uses information from other businesses to personalize your ads and experience. It doesn't stop businesses from sending that information or Meta from receiving it.

You'll find the current version in Meta's Accounts Center, under Your information and permissions or in Ad preferences. Turning it off is still worthwhile if you'd prefer less targeted ads, but it's a narrower control than the old one.

Is "Log in with Facebook" a bad idea?

Not necessarily. Social login has real advantages: fewer passwords to remember and less chance of reusing a weak one. The trade-off is that it ties services together. If your Facebook account is compromised, every app you sign in to with it is exposed too, and deleting or losing your Facebook account can lock you out of those apps.

A sensible middle ground:

• Use Facebook Login for a few services you trust and use often.
• For everything else, create a separate login, ideally with a password manager.
• When an app asks for more than your public profile and email, ask why it needs it. You can often edit the permissions on the Facebook Login screen before you continue.
• Protect the Facebook account itself with two-factor authentication and login alerts, as described in our Facebook login notification guide.

Teens and connected apps

Teens often use Facebook or Instagram login to get into games and quizzes without thinking about what's shared. A quick review together is worthwhile:

1. Open Apps and websites on your teen's account with them.
2. Talk through each app: Do you still use it? Do you know what it can see?
3. Remove the ones they don't use.
4. Agree that new apps asking for a social login get a quick check first.

This fits naturally into the broader routine in our 5-minute Facebook Privacy Checkup, whose "Your data settings" card also lists connected apps. For the bigger picture on how a child's information spreads online, see controlling your digital footprint.

Download what Facebook holds about you

If you want to know what information Facebook itself has, use Download your information in Accounts Center under Your information and permissions. You can choose the date range and the categories, such as posts, messages, friends and ads information. It's eye-opening to look through, and it's also the first step if you're thinking about leaving; see our guide on how to quit Facebook.

App privacy checklist

• Open Apps and websites and remove every app you no longer use.
• Check the Expired list too; those apps may still hold old data.
• Remove any Business integrations you don't recognize.
• In Accounts Center, review Activity from other businesses and turn it off if you prefer less personalization.
• Use social login sparingly and protect your Facebook account with two-factor authentication.
• Repeat the review once or twice a year, and do it with your teen.