Recently, I have a project that users can play a mini-game on a website.
After playing the game, there is a form that required the users to fill-in with the button "submit and share to Facebook".
The logic behind the button is that, it will save the form data to database and check if the user grant the permission Publish Action, if so, it will do the posting action to the user's Facebook timeline.
The reason we did not use Feed or Share dialog is that our clients worry that the users will share some improper content, we will need to track the post ID and delete it if necessary.
Today the Facebook app is being restricted as it violated the Facebook Platform Policies.
I wonder the button "submit and share to Facebook" does not mean obtain their permission each time?? If so, how should I change the flow to fit the Facebook policy?
Thanks in advance
Your app appears to be posting without explicit consent and creating a
negative experience on Facebook. As a reminder, when a person grants
your app write permissions this is a technical grant enabling your app
to create custom share options. After people grant your app a write
permission, you must still obtain their permission each time your app
allows them to share to Facebook. In order for us to consider your
appeal, your app will need to stop autoposting. Below you'll find
information related to the app you want to appeal. Please describe
what your app does and how it distributes content via Facebook Social
Channels in the 'Appeal Message' section to help us evaluate your
appeal.
Related
We have a simple app that summarizes the total number of mentions your instagram account gets using the IG-User/tags endpoint on the graph api (https://developers.facebook.com/docs/instagram-api/reference/user/tags/)
The pre-requisite of the app is the user has their fb account linked to their IG - Business or IG - Creator account.
Unfortunately every time we've submitted it for review so far it has come back with the same comment from FB:
"Although we were able to login to your app using the Facebook Login authentication, we were unable to test the steps to connect an Instagram business account. As a result, you'll need to implement an integration flow for an end user to connect their Instagram business account(s)"
Now as I understand it there is no way I can get the user to link their IG account to FB or to a FB page using the API. The "link account" action is purely handled using the Instagram app. Or am I missing something here.
Well after 3 weeks of back and forth with multiple seemingly segmented facebook support teams I have been able to get this permission from them.
Turns out that there's an unexplained flow here:
This is verbatim from the information I received from their chat support (but is not found anywhere in the documentation)
"You have needed to provide Test Users on your App Dashboard, grant the test user the Instagram_manage_comments permission and then provide us with the login details. We would then link that to an internal Instagram Business Account."(sic)
The part where they link an internal business account to the test user happens on their end and outside the scope of the app. I confirmed this and even then I failed the review multiple times because apparently the steps to approve IG business permissions have not been standardized yet and sometimes the approver simply doesn't know what needs to be done. It's a strange state of affairs and the answer it seems is to just keep pushing.
I'm having the same problem and looking forward to see some comments to your post since the first day. But I started to think it will never come.
I believe they want a new user to start with minimum permissions (which is the email permission) and add other permission only as they are needed. This requires a mechanism in your app that guide a new user logged in with only email permission to give other permissions (e.g. taping a button that opens up user’s IG business account needs instagram_basic and manage_pages permissions. Or taping “post comment” button needs manage_comments permission.) So your app should open up a window that the user can give permissions when any of these events fires. (or when user decides to take permission(s) back)
This is what I understand from “steps to connect an Instagram business account”.
But I am not sure if my understanding is correct. I would definitely like to hear if you found any solutions.
I'm also having the same problem as you as I'm developing similar service to IGBlade (https://igblade.com) & Social Blade (https://socialblade.com).
I'm beginning the wonder if I should change my app review request so that I would inform Facebook that the permissions my app is requesting work serverside and therefore there's no need to implement an integration flow for an end user to connect their Instagram business account(s) to my app.
Any thoughts?
Here is what I have done to get the approval
Create a Facebook test user with correct permissions
Log in with this user
Create a Facebook Page
Edit settings on Facebook Page and add Instagram Business account (personal one)
Submit Facebook review with both credentials (Facebook test user + personal Instagram user).
Wait for review and do not forget to change your personal Instagram user password after the review.
I'm using Facebook api to post news on my page.
The process is as follow :
Edit the news on my website
Put the news on a pool, waiting to be published on my Facebook page
A cron is runing and take one news from the pool and post it on my Facebook page.
I'm not using any Facebook's button, everything is done in the background.
So do I have to make a screencast for Facebook approval ? (If yes I really don't know how to make it)
Someone can help please ?
So do i have to make a screencast for Facebook approval ?
In general, that depends - on whether you are able to grant all necessary permissions, when your app is in “live” mode.
You are going to need manage_pages and publish_pages permissions for this. For newer apps, Facebook does not allow to grant publish_pages any more, when the app is “live”, but the permission has not been approved yet in review - even for users with a role in the app.
So you will need to submit for review and get this approved, otherwise you won’t be able to grant this permission in live mode. (Your app needs to be in live mode; in dev mode all content created through it would only be visible to people with a role in the app, but hidden from normal users - not what you want.)
https://developers.facebook.com/docs/apps/review/server-to-server-apps gives instructions on how to submit an app that does not have a normal, public facing login implementation.
Make sure to describe to them very clearly that this app is not for public use.
I want to create a Facebook app to be used in live events (ie: concerts, conferences, etc).
So the guests would enroll to the event connecting with Facebook Login and asking the publish_actions permission.
The guest will have an Access Card (RFID chip) that identifies himself and links in our database to his Facebook Access token.
Then, during the event, I would like that some actions made by the guests in the event to trigger some actions on Facebook, this actions will be triggered by different applications that communicate with our servers, our servers will comunicate with Facebook API to trigger actions on Facebook.
So when the guest does check in at the event, his Access Card is scanned by the event staff, and then should automatically post a message on his timeline indicating that he is at that event, sharing a link with more details about that event.
We also want to have a physical Photo Booth where the guest has his Access Card scanned, and then takes a picture that should be automatically posted on his timeline too.
So this is not the typical Facebook app flow, as the content is posted automatically by actions made by the user, but managed by our software instead of actions directly triggered by the user himself.
I'm not sure if this kind of application is allowed on Facebook and if it's allowed, how would the review process be done, as this can't be tested using a website or phone app.
Did someone make something similar or knows the best approach in getting this approved on Facebook?
Thank you!
The user MUST login with Facebook and authorize your App. People have tried those things with a specific device where people could login, but Facebook detects multiple logins on one device and may block your App. So the only way is to let people use their own device/smartphone to authorize your App. For example, you could offer them a QR tag with a link to the login flow.
The problem with authorizing before the event and storing a Token is that an Extended User Token is valid for 60 days. So if a user enrolls and the event is 61 days later, the Access Token will not work anymore - unless the User refreshes the Token by visiting your App. So before letting him do this before the event, you can just as well let him authorize the App at the event date.
A specific App for the event is surely the safest way, of course.
I'm trying to create an app for closeted and questioning youth on facebook, and an important feature would be the ability to be anonymous on the app. I've been trying to find out if people can be anonymous on facebook, but this sounds like it's not allowed. Could facebook users make a new user account within a facebook app to protect their identity?
Thanks,
Colby
No, they cannot create a new facebook account from facebook app. And facebook has nothing to do with making a user anonymous, if user has given your application required permissions then you can have all the information about user, its up to you either you want to make that user an "Anonymous user" or show his profile pic/information.
Some suggestions:
In App Settings > Auth Dialog there is the setting Default
Activity Privacy which you should set to Only Me.
When a user authorizes your app store as little information as is
necessary, and prominently display your privacy policy explaining
what type of information you store, why, and how you will never
share it with anyone.
(optional) Store userids in your database as md5 hashes so that even if someone gains access to that database, they won't know who
the users are.
I'm using facebook connect to allow the visitors login to a website using their facebook account.
The only information needed is that the user id and name.
However the facebook connect dialog states that my app will access all the users friends, photos...
How can I configure my facebook application to not request those data?
The quick answer, you can't. The dialog states that you have the ability to access the user's information. Whether you access it or not is up to you, but the ability to is always there. There is a base level of access granted to all apps. You can prompt for extended permissions, but you can't customize the base level.
This may change going forward with OpenGraph. There are still features Facebook is adding, and some existing, undocumented features.