Block Facebook Application on Mobile Phones?

[nic-coll]

When I block facebook.com in web filtering it works for the Facebook website on computer browsers but  the Facebok App on mobile phones still works, how can I block it?

Thank You

Nicola

[kpatullo1]

Is your phone connected to WiFi or a data plan when you are able to connect to the Facebook App? If you are blocking facebook.com or the Social Media category on your network it should prevent the app from working as well when connected to your WiFi, however, dataplans use a different DNS service so OpenDNS filtering would not apply to those connections.  

If you are connected to WiFi you may need to clear your device's caches in order for blocking to start working.  If you are unsure how to clear the caches for your device restarting it will clear its caches.

[tammyinmo]

No, blocking facebook is NOT possible on mobile devices at this time. Somehow, apps like youtube and facebook are bypassing the ordinary method of accessing content. Not only are these sites not blocked while using the apps, no logs are generated that even show you visited facebook or youtube while using the apps. 

[rotblitz]

Hard to believe unless these apps do not make use of DNS at all but use IP addressing only.

[tammyinmo]

I have been trying ALL DAY today to try to figure out a way to block facebook and youtube when accessed through the apps. Have not come up with a solution yet. If anyone has one, I'd love to know what it is. As it is now, I am just blocking wireless access at certain time of the day for ALL services. I'm much rather just be able to block facebook and youtube according to a schedule.

[tammyinmo]

I found a network tool that I could use on my iPad. The only open ports when using the facebook app are 80 and 443, both used by everything on the web. Facebook seems to be using IP addressing only. The IP address that I was given, when I checked for open ports for facebook is:  66.220.156.2. If you put that in your address bar, it will take you straight to facebook. Surely there is a way that we can block social networking sites by making it possible to tag the IP address of a site, as opposed to just their domain name.

[mattwilson9090]

Even if you do figure out which domains to block for these particular apps from different companies you still won't be able to block them according to a schedule with any OpenDNS product. You can block according to a schedule with a Netgar router that uses LPC, but that is a Netgear product that leverages OpenDNS for some of it's functionality, it's not actually an OpenDNS product.

If the Facebook app is indeed using direct IP addressing instead of a domain name there is no way to block it with OpenDNS since DNS is never even used. You'll need to block it at the hardware/software level, either with something running on the local devices, or using some of the options on your router. Some routers are capable of blocking IP's in addition to domain names or URL's so you'll need to look at the features offered by your router.

[Anonymous]

i found a way around.. all the whitelist i manage it from the open dns dashboard. but facebook especifically i block it from the router it self. that even blocks the app. 

[rotblitz]

Ensure that the smart devices use OpenDNS at all, by visiting http://welcome.opendns.com/
And ensure that your IP address is registered at https://dashboard.opendns.com/settings/
If these are not the case, then the dashboard settings do not take effect.