[FIXED] How to log into Facebook without the Facebook app?

Issue

I use a Facebook sample app (SessionLoginSample) to understand how to log into Facebook. My Facebook SDK is latest — version 3.0. When I have the Facebook app installed, I can log in without any problems.

The problem is when I uninstall my Facebook app and re-install the sample (so it doesn't log in automatically). I try to log in but I can see only a white empty dialog. The only option I have is to close it. Even if I wait 10-15 minutes, the dialog doesn't change.

I tried to debug the Facebook SDK but I couldn't find what's causing the error.

I tested this on LG-E610 (4.0.3) and HTC Sensation (4.0.3).

Is this facebook sdk error or I'm doing something wrong?

Edit: I tested this issue again 10 days later in the same coditions and everything seems to work as expected.

Solution

The problem might not be on your side! I have encountered a situation where one and the same request to Facebook would be answered as expected or with an "Internal Server Error 500" depending on my IP (IP/User agent to be exact).

You can be quite certain that nothing is wrong with your configuration and application when:

1. Your app works from another network (i.e. another IP)
2. When the sample app from Facebook (i.e. HelloFacebookSample) runs into the same problem.
   • For Android see: http://developers.facebook.com/docs/getting-started/facebook-sdk-for-android/3.0/
   • For iOS see: http://developers.facebook.com/docs/getting-started/facebook-sdk-for-ios/

My suspicion is that Facebook puts certain IP/user agent combinations in a temporary black list. The problem is that their generic 500 response is not helpful.

For another reported case see my question at Internal Server 500 from Facebook with sepcific IP/user-agent combination

Answered By - robert

Answer Checked By - Senaida (PHPFixing Volunteer)