Scheduling tools, analytics dashboards and agencies all need some access to your social accounts. There is a safe way to give it and a risky way. The safe way never involves your password.

The risky way: sharing your password

When a tool or person logs in with your password:

  • they have full control, including changing your email and password,
  • the platform may treat logins from unfamiliar locations as suspicious and lock the account,
  • if their systems are breached, your password leaks with them,
  • you cannot remove their access without changing your password everywhere it is used.

The safe way: official sign-in (OAuth)

Major platforms (Meta, Google and YouTube, TikTok, LinkedIn, X) offer an official way for apps to connect. You see the platform’s own login screen, you approve specific permissions (for example “publish posts” or “read insights”), and the platform gives the app a token limited to those permissions. The app never sees your password.

Benefits:

  • Limited access: the app can do only what you approved.
  • Revocable: you can remove the app at any time from your account settings, without changing your password.
  • Accountable: platforms review apps that request sensitive permissions.

How to review connected apps

  • Meta (Facebook and Instagram): Settings → Accounts Center → Apps and websites (or Business Integrations for Pages and business tools).
  • Google and YouTube: Google Account → Security → Your connections to third-party apps and services.
  • TikTok, LinkedIn and X: look for Security, Apps or Connected apps in settings.

Remove anything you don’t recognise or no longer use.

For agencies and teams: use the platform’s role system (for example Meta Business portfolio roles, YouTube channel permissions) to give people their own access. Never share one login among several people.

Red flags

  • A tool or “growth service” that asks for your username and password.
  • Anyone asking for your two-factor or login code.
  • Apps requesting far more permissions than their job needs.

DrutoScan connects to platforms only through their official sign-in, and never asks for your password, for Multi-Platform Publishing or any other service. If an account has already been compromised, see our recovery guides.

Frequently asked questions

What is OAuth?

An industry-standard way for apps to get limited, revocable access to your account through the platform’s own login screen, without seeing your password.

How do I remove an app’s access to my Facebook or Instagram?

Go to Settings, then Accounts Center, then Apps and websites (or Business Integrations), and remove the app.