Facebook on Tuesday announced new tools in the App Dashboard to help streamline the app review process for developers. The updates will enable app developers to only request the necessary permissions for apps.

The new tools will also help Facebook better understand how developers are using and accessing its platform, the company said. With the updates, developers are able to request access to only the required permissions and information from the platform. These updates include:

More clarity around permissions. In the app review process, Facebook has made it easier for developers to understand which permissions they need with a new tool that sees beyond API calls and commonly used endpoints.

Remove unwanted permissions. Currently, Facebook notifies developers with messages about the permissions requested, along with the action needed by the developer. With the new feature, developers are able to remove permission access from the dashboard and will no longer receive messages related to it.

View App Review requests. Facebook has launched a new page where developers can access past permission requests made in App Review. This information gives teams insight into what permissions have been requested before and improves submissions moving forward.

Why we care. The new updates will enable developers to only access the permissions that they need, marking another step in Facebook’s efforts to create a more privacy-focused ecosystem for users in the wake of heightened scrutiny following years of playing it fast and loose with user data in its app ecosystem. The tools will streamline the app review process and help protect sensitive data in the long run, but it’s likely it will also require developers to jump through a few extra hoops at first. Facebook said it plans to continue releasing new features to make the process simpler.

Amid the holiday campaign season, Facebook has introduced updates to its reporting tools to help advertisers better measure ad performance across accounts, channels, and devices. These updates include a new cross-account reporting feature and a custom metric building tool.

The two new reporting features are designed to give advertisers more insight on cross-channel and cross-device measurement – especially crucial during the holiday season.

Users can access these new features from the dropdown in the Ads Manager dashboard:

Cross-account reporting. A reporting dashboard can display metrics across multiple ad accounts. According to Facebook, “this reporting surface serves as a one-stop-shop for a clear, concise report on your business’ performance and will allow you to save time that was previously spent manually building reports.”

This dashboard can show de-duplicated reach (unique people reached across accounts and campaigns) to help better express the types of audiences targeted. Additionally, advertisers will be able to see and analyze unique reach across accounts – a feature that isn’t available on exported reports.

Here’s how it looks:

Custom metrics. The platform has also added a custom metric building feature (pictured below), which allows advertisers to formulate and save custom metrics. They can be applied to reports directly within the Ads Reporting manager, eliminating the need to export data for metric-based analysis. Advertisers can apply custom metrics to cross-account reports.

Why we should care. The cross-account reporting feature will be most useful for enterprise-level advertisers running multiple campaigns across various accounts. These reports show an aggregated view of all ad accounts, giving advertisers the ability to quickly measure performance without having to pull reports for each account. The single-view dashboard gives businesses and advertisers a more streamlined way to reference performance more holistically across different ad accounts.

The custom metrics tool, on the other hand, can be used by both small businesses and enterprise-level advertisers to build reports based on the metrics that best align with the company’s goals. The tool provides a more efficient alternative to manually exporting and analyzing reports, and will likely save a significant amount of time and effort while delivering insights tailored to your objectives.

Following waves of criticism for its political ad policies, Facebook has launched a new set of tools designed to bring transparency and brand safety to the forefront. These include:

Streamlining access to controls. Now, in Business Manager and Ads Manager, advertisers will be able to create blocklists, obtain delivery reports, and set inventory filters at the account-level, rather than applying it one campaign at a time.

Improved delivery reports. The more robust reports allow advertisers to search by account ID or publisher without having to download it. Facebook said it will soon be adding content-level information to the delivery report.

New brand safety partner. Contextual data company Zefr is Facebook’s newest safety partner, joining alongside the ranks of DoubleVerify, Integral Ad Science, and OpenSlate to help ensure the brand safety controls and tools can continue to serve advertisers’ needs.

Dynamic content sets. Facebook is testing in-stream placements that use a content-level white listing tool for advertisers working with Integral Ad Science, OpenSlate, and Zefr. This initial test allows brands to routinely update and adjust the videos available to advertisers based on what works best for the brand.

Publisher White Lists. The company said it’s also testing white lists for advertisers in the Audience Network and with in-stream ads, allowing advertisers to white-list certain publishers for ad placement. Facebook said it plans to roll out the tool more broadly next year.

Why we should care. Facebook has generated concern about its decision not to fact-check political ads as well as the content and news sources that will be featured in the dedicated news section it is testing. The new set of brand safety tools are an attempt give advertisers added controls over how, where, and in what publisher inventory their ads may appear in in-stream and Instant Articles on Facebook or via the Audience Network. These controls add to earlier brand safety initiatives.

Facebook introduced a new corporate logo Monday that will soon appear across its products.

The plain all-caps logo has been “designed for clarity” to help differentiate the corporate entity from the social networking app, Facebook CMO Antonio Lucio said. Facebook the brand will still be indicated by its familiar blue and white lower-case “f” and “facebook”.

The corporate logo also will be added to Facebook-owned services and platforms, including Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp, Oculus, Workplace, Portal, and Calibra. Facebook first announced the branding plan in August.

Why we should care. While marketers understand the full breadth of Facebook’s portfolio, surveys indicate that many consumers do not know that Facebook owns Instagram or WhatsApp, for example. With Facebook’s less-than-sparkling reputation, it’s an interesting choice to make the connection clearer to consumers. The company isn’t shying away from its dominance, though, even with (or in spite of) mounting antitrust scrutiny.

As Facebook moves to enmesh the backends of its apps with encryption, it has also been building more options for advertisers to enable advertisers to reach users across Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger through the single Ads Manager hub. Advertisers we spoke to in August had mixed reactions about the branding move but let’s note the company’s reputational woes have yet to dent its advertising revenues.