User Friends permission in Facebook

Question

I'm trying to add user_friends permission from facebook in my app. But I'm unable to test this feature cause i'm unable to get user_friends permission for test users.

I have tested my feature on test-app and with it's test users. But while submitting it to facebook (for review) we need to upload actual app not test app. And on actual prod app test users I'm unable to test friends feature.

I tried to update test users permission in prod app dashboard but it's not showing user_friends permission in list.

Can someone pls help in how we can test these permission in actual prod app before submitting?

Delmydeloach

What exactly you mean by "unable to get user_friends permissions for test users" and "we need to upload actual app not test app"? What type of app you refer to? Mobile or web? – Whiten

Hi @Iars.schwarz, I'm using adding friends feature in Android App. From feature it means in app, we have to show user's facebook friends activity. For this we need user_friends permission from facebook and for that we have to submit for app review whereas facebook verifies our use case. We have tested this use-case in our app using test-app id where there is no need of facebook permission. But when we actually send our app for review we need to submit prod app not test app. I hope I have answered your ques. – Delmydeloach

Doesn't answer the "unable to get user_friends permissions for test users" question. You should be able to test this with a test app version of your app and two app test users that are friends. Not sure what you mean by "adding friends feature", but user_friends will only allow you to retrieve a user's friends that are also using the app and you cannot add friends via the API itself. – Whiten

<You should be able to test this with a test app version of your app and two app test users that are friends.> - As I mentioned we have already done this. For prod app we have to submit this to facebook for review. But on prod app it's not working since we cannot get this permission until facebook approves this. Do you know which app we should send for review? and which test users? – Delmydeloach

What you mean by "not working"? You see an error message or something? You cannot submit a test app version, but you should link the test app version while submitting the original app and provide the app test user credentials to the review team. – Whiten

Hi, Thanks for quick reply. From "not working" I'm mean on original app I'm unable to test user_friends permission using even test users. When I use original app with test users then I'm unable to get user_friends permission from Facebook app, their app just closed when I ask for this permission. So how Facebook will able to test it on original app? I have sent my app many times for review and it's getting rejected so far. I had submitted original app and test users (original app) but still it's not getting accepted. – Delmydeloach

@Whiten So you mean El. have to test everything using the test app id and when he submit the app, he should give the production/debug build with actual app id. But here in his case the app is already live with general (email, user_profile permissions). He just want to add user_friends permission which needs facebook review. If he submit the actual app then how fb review team can check and approve? – Hesione

Answer 1

It seems waht you see, is because today, by using user_friends permission, you will receive only the user friends who already using the app. Not all the friends.

Grants an app permission to access a list of friends that also use said app. This permission is restricted to a limited set of partners and usage requires prior approval by Facebook.

https://developers.facebook.com/docs/facebook-login/permissions/#reference-user_friends

For those users you will not get the real Facebook UID, only a scoped UID for your app.

Riegel

Answer 2

1.check your app is "Developmet Mode" on facebook developer Page.(very important)

2.using Role > Test user build two Role. (Authorize Test Users for This App Set Yes)

3.add Permission user_friends(Only appear on "Development Mode" or review passed)

4.choice edit > Manage_Friend > Add_friend.

5.try two test user and report to me.

Auraaural

I guess nowadays the cleanest way to do this is to create a Test App, which is always in development mode, from your original app. However, you must take into account that this Test App has its own ID and Secret, and therefore test users created in this test app might not be able to log in through services such as Firebase Auth if they're configured with the original app ID and Secret. – Joceline

Answer 3

In my case the solution was - in the Test User Accounts list to click the dots in the options column next to each test user, select Change permissions granted to this app, and add user_friends to the permissions. This had to be done for each test user, to get their friends list in the app.

Interestingly the api should only return the friends who are also registered to app. In case of test users it returned all of their friends for some reason...

Cadman