Am I the only one overwhelmed by Facebook App requirements?

[Semper Fidelis]

I integrated Facebook as a nice feature for my forum users but am now questioning the utility of keeping that feature operable.

I just received an email from Facebook telling me that my App has been automatically reviewed and has failed according to a ton of criteria. I've got to probably spend hours to try to figure out the right answers or solutions to figure out how to comply with Facebook's app integration criteria.

I like the fact that Xenforo made this process simple when I enabled this a few years ago but now I think I'm just going to turn the feature off because Facebook makes you agree to a ton of things just so you can integrate with their platform to provide basic capabilities.

 

[Kevin]

I just received an email from Facebook telling me that my App has been automatically reviewed and has failed according to a ton of criteria.

What was the exact message? I recently went through the same thing with one my XF forums that had previously had FB integration configured for quite some time. Somehow/somewhere the callback URL in the FB settings for the application got cleared out and just had to be reset.

 

[Semper Fidelis]

It's not just a single message. My integration literally failed on 3-4 criteria. One example is Gender and how I'm using it. I have to answer a ton of questions on multiple fronts or they'll disable the app.

 

[bzcomputers]

@Semper Fidelis Somehow in updating my Facebook Developer settings I requested more permissions than needed. Sounds like you may have done the same and are looking a list of items that failed that are most likely not needed any way.

By the way Facebook is automatically submitting for review settings that developers may never have actually intended to use, but were not deselected prior to the auto review process. The process came about due to some Facebook developer changes and I think a ton of people got caught up in it. The good thing is the items you failed on you most likely do not need anyway and they will automatically just fall of your Facebook App if you don't do anything. Your app will continue to work just like before without any additional input from you.

Here is what happened to me (prob similar to yourself). Facebook automatically submitted my app for review last week with items I never intended to ask for or use...

XenForo shouldn't need any of this.

The only things needed by XenForo are the items which Facebook automatically approves everyone for (see below circled in red). the rest of the items requested will just automatically fall off of your app and it should continue to work just fine for XenForo. I think this auto review process the Facebook is going through right now had some bugs in it - the good thing is you really shouldn't need to do anything and it will work just as before if you are seeing the same things or similar on your account.

 

[Semper Fidelis]

Thanks.

 

[Mr Lucky]

I'm also overwhelmed, given up on it now and took it off my Xenforo integration.

I just can't follow all the instructions - maybe one day I'll pay somebody to do it for me.

Same with Amazon AWS, the instructions page just seems to full of links that take you round in circles.

 

[frm]

For Facebook login? All you need is their name, profile pic and email. You shouldn't be requesting anything more than that, especially since gender is removed from XF2.

If, for whatever reason, you need to get gender or age I'm sure it's an addition in your privacy policy on why you need it (COPA for age perhaps), how you use it (determining minimum age eligibility), who can see it and an explanation on removing or hiding it, all in all in less words than this entire post.

 

[Chris D]

XF only asks for email. Anything else we get is public and you get for “free”.

Not sure why you’d be getting issues if it’s purely for the XF integration.

 

[HWS]

If you have setup your Facebook / XenForo App some time ago (a few years), you automatically got access to a lot of data (like gender, etc) from Facebook users without the need to "request" it. Since then Facebook takes data privacy more important and now you only get access to the most basic data.

Since there are a lot of such old apps with access to extended data, Facebook automatically "reviews" all of them and restrict it's access. If you want to continue to have access to the extended data, you need to apply for it and answer a lot of questions.

But that is not needed with XenForo.

Our solution was to delete the old Facebook app and create and use a new app for the Facebook / Xenforo connection.

 

[Joeychgo]

XF only asks for email. Anything else we get is public and you get for “free”.

Not sure why you’d be getting issues if it’s purely for the XF integration.

Well, im getting the same thing

 

[Chris D]

It may be explained above:

If you have setup your Facebook / XenForo App some time ago (a few years), you automatically got access to a lot of data (like gender, etc) from Facebook users without the need to "request" it. Since then Facebook takes data privacy more important and now you only get access to the most basic data.

Since there are a lot of such old apps with access to extended data, Facebook automatically "reviews" all of them and restrict it's access. If you want to continue to have access to the extended data, you need to apply for it and answer a lot of questions.

But that is not needed with XenForo.

Our solution was to delete the old Facebook app and create and use a new app for the Facebook / Xenforo connection.

 

[Rusty Snippets]

No, you're not the only one. I gave up after they wanted to basically know why I should be able to use their services. It's ridiculous, all of the information they want.