FAQ

    Facebook Login Review FAQs

    This document covers many of the more common questions developers ask when submitting for review.

    Before You Submit

    After You Submit

    What is App Review? Do I need to submit my app?

    We review your app to ensure a high-quality Facebook experience across apps. In general, people must be aware that they are logging in and posting to Facebook. People should be able to control the info they share with your app or back to Facebook.

    You only need to submit your app for review if:

    Your app can use Facebook Login to access public_profile, email and user_friends without submitting for review.

    Note: People who are listed in your app's Roles tab will have access to extended permissions without going through review (e.g. publish_actions or manage_pages). For example, if you use the Facebook Plugin for Wordpress to publish your blog posts to your Facebook Page or Profile, you do not need to submit for review so long as all your publishers are listed in your app's Roles tab.

    Also, if you're the developer of an app and are the only person using it, then your app doesn't need to go through review. Since you're the developer, all app capabilities should be available. You will still need to take your app out of developer mode, but you should be able to do that without going through review.

    How can I get my review completed faster?

    Reviews are completed in the order they are submitted and received. Our review team works hard to complete reviews in under 3 business days.

    If you're worried about the turnaround time for your review, you should provide as much info as possible to help the reviewer, including clear screenshots, detailed step-by-step instructions and a screencast recording of your app and its Facebook integration.

    What instructions should I provide for the reviewer?

    You'll need to explain exactly how to test each permission or feature in your app so that we can make sure it works and follows our policies. We can't approve your app if we can't fully test how it integrates with Facebook. Giving detailed instructions makes it less likely that you'll have to resubmit for review.

    For each permission you request, list reproduction instructions in a step-by-step format. All instructions must be in English.

    Your instructions should not:

    • Reference instructions from other submissions or documentation
    • Summarize what your app does instead of giving instructions
    • Provide technical details of how your APIs work

    Here's a good example of step-by-step instructions:

    1. Press the Settings button on the lefthand menu. (see screenshot)
    2. Select Login with Facebook
    3. Complete the third step (see screenshot)
    4. Complete the fourth step (see screenshot)

    If you're still not sure about what to include, please see more examples in our instruction guidelines.

    I want to advertise my app with mobile app install ads. Do I need to submit for review?

    No, you don't need to submit for review to run mobile app install ads. You just need an app that is live in the iTunes App Store or Google Play Store.

    The only reasons why you would need to submit your app for review are:

    You can follow our guide to creating mobile app installs ads.

    How do I include a test user with my submission?

    In certain cases, you may need the reviewer to reproduce a certain behavior or experience available only to a specific test user. If this is the case, you can add this user to your submission on the Status & Review page. In the Items in Review section, you'll see a Test User (optional) section that allows you to type the name of the user you wish to be used in your review.

    The only test users available here are those listed as Test Users in the Roles section of your app. Please do not share Facebook login credentials for users in your review instructions.

    Learn more about how to create a test user.

    My test user can’t like pages. How can I get user_likes approved in review?

    Before approving your request for user_likes, your reviewer will need to confirm that your app provides a unique experience to users based on the like info it receives from them. To do this, our review team will test your app with a variety of test users, each with a different set of likes and interests.

    When submitting a request for user_likes, you should write detailed instructions that include:

    1. A clear explanation of why you're requesting user_likes and how it improves a person's experience in your app.
    2. A list of sample Pages for our reviewer to like to verify your use of user_likes. Please give direct links to the Pages that our reviewer should like before they test your app.

    If you're using user_likes as part of an algorithm, it's important that the reviewer can see the result of this algorithm and how it influences content shown to people.

    How does a permission get reviewed?

    Our review team will actually test how your app uses each permission on every platform you have listed in the settings section of your app. Your reviewer ensures that your Facebook Login integration works correctly and that each permission requested adheres to our principles and utility guidelines while providing an enhanced user experience.

    Please see our principles and utility guidelines for more info.

    What login permissions do I need for a Wordpress plugin?

    You don't need to go through review for your app to publish to your Profile or Facebook Pages that you own. Anyone listed in the Roles section of your app's dashboard can grant permissions without review. If you want a small number of additional people to have this ability, we recommend you add them as developers or testers in the Roles section of your app's dashboard.

    How can people invite their friends to use my app?

    If your app is a game and has a presence on Facebook Canvas

    You can invite new players to your game by using either the:

    • Requests dialog When using the requests dialog you can set 'filters=app_non_users' to filter the dialog to only show people who don't use your app. If your app has a Canvas presence, you may also use the Requests Dialog on iOS and Android.

    • Invitable Friends API. If your app is a game, and want to build your own multi-friend selector, you may use the Invitable Friends API (docs/games/invitable-friends) which returns a ranked list of the person's friends who do not use the app. Once a person has selected a number of friends to invite, you may pass the tokens returned by the Invitable Friends API to the to field of the Requests Dialog which will then let the person send an invite to those friends.

    If your app does not have a presence on Facebook Canvas

    You can use the Message Dialog on iOS and Android, or the Send Dialog on Web. These products let a person send a message directly to their friends containing a link to your app.

    This type of message is a great channel for communicating with a smaller number of people in a direct way. The Message Dialog and the Send Dialog both include a typeahead which lets the person easily select a number of friends to receive the invite.

    Do I need permissions to be re-reviewed every time I update my app?

    No. Once you've been approved for a permission, you can use it across any version of your app on any platform.

    If you expand and develop your app on a new platform, this will not need to be submitted for review. You only need to resubmit for review if you want to request a new permission - for example, when you add a new feature to your app. Changing and submitting your App Details or Open Graph actions will not affect the permissions you've been approved for.

    The reviewer didn't use the test user I provided. Why not?

    Our review team uses multiple test users when reviewing submissions, and we don't always use the test user you provide. If your submission does need to be reviewed using a specific test user please let us know in your review instructions.

    If you provide a test user, make sure you've correctly created the test user and attached the user with your submission.

    I don't agree with my review decision. What can I do?

    Our review team will use the instructions you provide to test your app's Facebook integrations.

    If you feel our reviewer has incorrectly rejected your app, you should resubmit for review with updated review instructions that provide more info for the reviewer.

    The review process is the best way to communicate with your reviewer by updating your notes to address the feedback you've received.

    I was rejected for a platform I didn't want to submit for review. Why?

    Your app will be reviewed on each of the platforms you list in the Settings section of your App Dashboard. If you don't want a certain platform to be reviewed, including if you don't yet have a working version of your app on a specific platform, please remove it from your Settings page.

    You can find more info in our documentation on platforms.

    The reviewer asked me for a video. How do I provide one?

    Our review team may ask for a video recording of your app if they need additional info to complete your review. To include a video, please provide a URL of the video in the Review Instructions or Add Notes section of your submission.

    Your video should show how your app uses each permission it requests. If you're requesting publish_actions, it should also show how content from your app is created and shared to Facebook.

    The app works for me, but not the reviewer. What can I do next?

    To approve your app submission, our review team will need to log into your app and check all Facebook integrations.

    If your reviewer has been unable to load or use your app, please make sure that:

    • The App URL is publicly accessible and not configured as a localhost
    • You've provided the username and password needed to access your development or staging site
    • Your site's security certificates are up to date and not causing errors for new users
    • You're able to login and use your app as a newly created test user
    • The items you submitted for review are built out and working in your app

    If you're rejected again for the same reason, update your Review Instructions or Add Notes section to ask your reviewer for some clarity and additional info.

    The credentials I provided are working, but the reviewer can’t log in. What should I do?

    Our review team may need additional login credentials for your app in order to complete your review.

    If your app requires a secondary login before or after Facebook Login, please be sure to provide a username and password for this. This may include login credentials for a testing or demo server, secondary login for your app or an e-mail registration flow.

    Apps hosted on staging or development servers may require an additional login to access your server. Please provide all necessary login credentials for this also.

    If you're still not sure what credentials are missing, you can provide a video with your next submission that shows the Facebook Login option and all relevant Facebook integrations you're submitting for.

    I was rejected for pre-filling. I don’t understand what this means.

    When using publish_actions to share to Facebook, all content in the user message field needs to be manually written by the people using your app and sharing to Facebook. You can't pre-fill this with any text, hashtags, URL or other characters. Be sure that your app is not making any of the common pre-fill mistakes found in our Platform Policy.

    After you've removed any pre-fill elements and are only sharing content written by your users themselves, you should resubmit for review with a screencast recording that shows how content is shared to Facebook from your app.

    I need user_likes to know if people have liked my page. Why can’t I get this approved?

    It's against Platform Policy 4.5 to incentivize people to use social plugins or to like a Page. This includes offering rewards or gating apps or app content based on whether or not a person has liked a Page. User_likes will not be approved for this purpose.

    To ensure quality connections and help businesses reach the people who matter to them, we want people to like Pages because they want to connect and hear from the business, not because of artificial incentives. We believe this policy will benefit people and advertisers alike.

    My publish_actions review was rejected, but I need it for the Scores API. What can I do?

    If your app requests publish_actions for use with the Scores API be sure to include this info in your Review Instructions and your Notes section for the publish_actions permission.

    You should include step-by-step instructions that guide the reviewer to achieving a score or achievement that will be recorded via the API.

    My app was rejected because the reviewer couldn’t find login, but I use the Share Dialog. Why?

    If you're using the Share Dialog or any other social plugin to publish content back to Facebook, you don't need to submit for review.

    The only times you need to submit for review are:

    Unless your app meets one of the three criteria above, you don't need to submit for review. If you're still not sure, you can find more info in our general review documentation.

    My submission for App Details was rejected. How do I get approved for App Center?

    To be approved for App Center, your App will need to meet our eligibility requirements. Apps eligible for the Facebook App Center must use Facebook Login or have a Facebook Canvas app.

    App eligible to be listed in App Center are:

    Your text assets and promotional images must also meet our guidelines.

    What happens if I'm not approved for a permission?

    Your review response will include a clear explanation for why your app wasn't approved, as well as the next steps you should take. We want to get you through the process as quickly as possible, so be sure to read this feedback carefully. Once you make the necessary changes, you can submit for review again.

    If your app uses a permission in a way that isn't approvable, your feedback will explain this and you shouldn't resubmit for review.

    My app was rejected for 'General Issues'. What does this mean?

    The App Review process involves loading your app on each supported platform, logging in with Facebook, and using every Facebook integration that you're requesting in review. This often results in what we call 'general issues.' These are errors or bugs relating to loading your app, logging into your app or the general functionality of your app. This means we weren't able to test the permissions you request in your submission.

    Since these are issues that prevent us from reviewing your Facebook functionality, we can't comment in detail about how your app uses the Facebook functionality you've submitted for review. Because of this, we reject with 'General Issues' and provide feedback about this on each platform.

    If you receive a 'General Issues' rejection, please carefully read all of the feedback. Each platform will receive individual feedback that should explain what issues were experienced in review.

    What does it mean when the review team "could not reproduce the permission"?

    During the review process, our review team follows your instructions to reproduce how permissions are used within your app. If we can't reproduce this experience - for example, because we can't follow your instructions, or we can't log into your app - then we also can't approve the submission.

    To avoid this, please:

    • Provide a working version of the app that uses the permission
    • Make sure your instructions in the Add Notes section are clear
    • Make sure that the requested login permissions personalize the user experience and comply with our principles

    In particular, for the publish_actions permission, please confirm that your app's publishing functionality is configured correctly. We need to be able to publish your app's content back to Facebook during the review process.

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    If your question not answered here get help in the Facebook Developer Community group. The group is active with both our talented community members and also Facebook staff. If you have additional questions about the review process try post them in the group.