A series of iOS apps stopped working because of Facebook

Spotify, TikTok, Pinterest, Tinder and many other popular applications on iPhone and iPad suddenly stopped working due to the Facebook login feature.

On the Downdetector error page, iOS users said that their iPhones and iPads cannot access popular applications and services. The amount of errors increased sharply from 5pm on 7/5 (Vietnam time). In addition to the above applications, Waze, Venmo, Bumble, SoundCloud, Nextdoor, New York Times, Walmart, Viber, Pandora and UPS are also affected.

A series of problematic applications are recorded on Downdetector due to using Facebook login.

According to The Verge, the problem is related to Facebook's software development tool (SDK), which is used for the application login feature with this social network's account. On the GitHub source code repository, many developers have also reported the issue and recommended that users temporarily not log in with Facebook to avoid being affected.

However, those who log in with other accounts also encounter errors. Even newly downloaded applications may not work. Some experts predict, maybe they have connected to the Facebook server from the first use.

According to a source, the problem occurred after Facebook disabled the SDK-enabled server configuration update, making it impossible for applications using this social network account to connect. During a discussion on GitHub, an anonymous person said that Facebook reverted the changes from the server that caused the problem, but it will take quite a long time for everything to work normally again.

Guilherme Rambo, an independent developer, said the App Store applications are dependent on the social network's login feature. Experts believe that Apple should have a mechanism to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future.

As noted from the Downdetector, the incident mainly occurred in the US, South America, Europe and some countries in Southeast Asia - including Vietnam.

Neither Apple nor Facebook have commented on the incident.