Skip to main content

Prepared to be horrified, because it turns out everyone knows you’re using BangWithFriends

embarrassedWell, fun time is over, everybody. Turns out, the oh-so-necessary anonymity that comes with the BangWithFriends Facebook app is not quite as complete as we all thought it was. In fact, there’s a very easy way to find out which of your Facebook Friends are using it. While we noticed this when first playing around with the app way back when it was launched, we thought a fix had been issued – it has not, as the Daily Dot originally noticed.

If you’re logged into your Facebook account, all you have to do is click here.

bwf not anonymous
Image used with permission by copyright holder

And now you will never be the same because you know who is wanting of the banging with the friends. It’s just something you can’t unsee. 

BangWithFriends just launched its mobile apps, complete with some new features to make us more – ahem – comfortable using the app: You can request to “hang” instead of “bang,” and you can deselect friends you’ve drunkenly accidentally chosen, or changed your mind about.

If you have the BangWithFriends Facebook app (no shame, some of us haven’t uninstalled it since initially testing … *points at self*), you can easily change your privacy settings so that people can’t see this. Not to be that person, but at launch, we did warn that you should pay attention to the permissions screen telling you what information it would use and what it would display.

bwf install screen
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Let this be a lesson to us all: With great banging, comes great responsibility. Get thee to your privacy page, stat. 

[UPDATE]

Anonymous creator of BangWithFriends “C” just sent this statement over regarding the privacy issue: 

We take privacy very seriously at Bang With Friends and the vast majority of users will not show up in such a search.  If you installed the app after January, you won’t show up (unless you manually changed your privacy setting).

We launched right before Facebook’s Graph Search functionality opened up to a wider audience.  For the first few days after we launched, the default setting in Facebook when a user installed our app was set to the user’s default setting for all apps.  For many users, that was “Public” or “Friends”.  

We quickly adjusted this (back in January) once we realized that Graph Search did this.  After we discovered this issue, we made the default for our app “Only Me.”  

Any user who installed our app after January should have seen that default setting and will not show up in Graph Search (nor the link you provided in the article).  For any users who do show up, you have full control over this in your Facebook settings as you mentioned: https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=applications&view

Damn you, Graph Search. Ruining all our sexy fun. 

Molly McHugh
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Before coming to Digital Trends, Molly worked as a freelance writer, occasional photographer, and general technical lackey…
Bluesky barrels toward 1 million new sign-ups in a day
Bluesky social media app logo.

Social media app Bluesky has picked nearly a million new users just a day after exiting its invitation-only beta and opening to everyone.

In a post on its main rival -- X (formerly Twitter) -- Bluesky shared a chart showing a sudden boost in usage on the app, which can now be downloaded for free for iPhone and Android devices.

Read more
How to make a GIF from a YouTube video
woman sitting and using laptop

Sometimes, whether you're chatting with friends or posting on social media, words just aren't enough -- you need a GIF to fully convey your feelings. If there's a moment from a YouTube video that you want to snip into a GIF, the good news is that you don't need complex software to so it. There are now a bunch of ways to make a GIF from a YouTube video right in your browser.

If you want to use desktop software like Photoshop to make a GIF, then you'll need to download the YouTube video first before you can start making a GIF. However, if you don't want to go through that bother then there are several ways you can make a GIF right in your browser, without the need to download anything. That's ideal if you're working with a low-specced laptop or on a phone, as all the processing to make the GIF is done in the cloud rather than on your machine. With these options you can make quick and fun GIFs from YouTube videos in just a few minutes.
Use GIFs.com for great customization
Step 1: Find the YouTube video that you want to turn into a GIF (perhaps a NASA archive?) and copy its URL.

Read more
I paid Meta to ‘verify’ me — here’s what actually happened
An Instagram profile on an iPhone.

In the fall of 2023 I decided to do a little experiment in the height of the “blue check” hysteria. Twitter had shifted from verifying accounts based (more or less) on merit or importance and instead would let users pay for a blue checkmark. That obviously went (and still goes) badly. Meanwhile, Meta opened its own verification service earlier in the year, called Meta Verified.

Mostly aimed at “creators,” Meta Verified costs $15 a month and helps you “establish your account authenticity and help[s] your community know it’s the real us with a verified badge." It also gives you “proactive account protection” to help fight impersonation by (in part) requiring you to use two-factor authentication. You’ll also get direct account support “from a real person,” and exclusive features like stickers and stars.

Read more