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Facebook contacts not syncing

I had previously synced my Facebook contacts with my contacts on my iPhone 5 but while scrolling the contacts i realized that some of the profiles were not synced even though they were there in my friend list on Facebook. Thinking of it as a technical glitch i thought that maybe if i delete my account from the settings menu and then re sign in to update my contacts it would solve my problem. I did the same and to my horror the sync doesn't happen. First i could link contacts and then unified info would show up but now this doesn't happen. It seems that those profiles Are not taken which are already in my phone...

Please help and thanks in advance

iPhone 5, iOS 6.1.4

Posted on May 31, 2013 7:26 PM

Reply
22 replies

Jun 2, 2013 8:59 PM in response to Bhavya.anand

This is a problem with all Apple devices (I've seen a person complaining about their Macbook contacts not updating) and Facebook. Send in a technical support request because I was bascially told by a tech support person that no matter how many times there are posts on the forums complaining about this issue until the technical support people actually start seeing multiple customers complaining in their system they will not attempt to find a fix.

Jun 3, 2013 11:14 PM in response to Bhavya.anand

Okay. I just got off the phone with the senior technical advisor and he and his associates found the issue.


Facebook must have recently changed how its privacy settings affect how information is sent. If someone has any of their contact information set to "Don't Show on Timeline" or "Only Me", none of the information is sent to the iPhone. I just tested it with a friend who was not appearing in my contact list and after changing his "Only Me" and "Don't Show on Timeline" settings he showed up in my contact list, again. Picture, birthday, email, phone number, etc.


So the next step is to notify Facebook about the error and hope that we can escalate this to be fixed prior to May 31 settings.

Jun 4, 2013 12:49 PM in response to LiamKennedy

How is it an issue with iOS 6.1.4 when both my iPad and iPhone are still on 6.1.3 and I've experienced the problem firsthand?


The senior technical advisor I spoke to and I both managed to replicate this: when someone changed their "About" contact information on Facebook to "Show on Timeline" and "Share with Friends" the information was synced to the iOS devices. When the settings were changed to "Only Me" or "Hidden from Timeline" the contact information disappeared, again.


While it may be clear that other platforms are not experiencing the issue, you can't put the blame on an iOS update that hasn't been universally implimented amongst all of the company's products.

Jun 4, 2013 1:01 PM in response to Ryulong

Likewise Ryulong.... I would say the same right back at you. How can you claim it is a only a facebook issue in the face of my own experience shared above. Despite your experience with the specific scenario you have verified... Your logic does not hold up against my own experience with iOS 6.1.3 on the iPad and 6.1.4 on the iPhone.


It may very well be related to some change with facebook and their API... however it seems clearly also related to a bug in the iOS update. If other devices continue to function in the face of the facebook change (if there even was one)... then that points to some logic bug in the iOS update. I can't see how you can claim otherwise.


Note: The Facebook API doesn't care what version of iOS (or other platform) is connecting to it. It will present the same results to whatever device is connecting... unless that device is not implementing the API calls correctly.


Message was edited by: LiamKennedy

Jun 4, 2013 1:11 PM in response to LiamKennedy

But how is it an issue with iOS 6.1.4 when I am experiencing the bug and both of my devices run iOS 6.1.3 because I don't have an iPhone 5? And how can it be an iOS 6.1.4 issue when it was released on May 2, 2013, and everyone was experiencing this bug starting May 31, 2013?


Either way, it's some issue with the way Facebook's data is not being sent to iOS devices. I also saw someone complaining that their Macbook's contact list was also bereft of their Facebook contacts.


Mind you, not all of my Facebook friends are missing from my devices, nor is everyone else missing everyone. I still have around 15 of them on my iPhone and iPad. And these 15 clearly have their contact data open and available instead of hidden from the timeline or shown only to them. I even had a friend change let me change his settings to show the information to friends and on his timeline and when I updated my contact list, his Facebook information appeared when it was missing prior.


So there has clearly been some change in the way that the iOS devices and Facebook servers are communicating that suddenly changed on May 31, which has no correlation with any iOS updates or any known changes in Facebook's privacy polcy.

Jun 4, 2013 1:32 PM in response to Ryulong

Well then.... lets just agree that our issues may not be the same. If you don't have 6.1.4... then why you are so steadfast in pointing the finger at Facebook is a mystery to me. I'm merly interested in a fix.


Again...my iOS 6.1.3 iPad is functioning great. I can see over 1300 contacts (of my 1500+). On 6.1.4 on the iPhone I see just 166. QED

Jun 4, 2013 1:44 PM in response to LiamKennedy

Because both my iPad mini and iPhone 4 are running iOS 6.1.3 and both are experiencing the problem which shows that it's not something with iOS 6.1.4 but rather the communication between Facebook and the devices which has been proven by the Apple Care team to be due to the privacy settings in the contact information. If it was an issue with iOS 6.1.4 then I would not be affected and yet here I am missing 80 contacts on both my phone and tablet.

Facebook contacts not syncing

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