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App suddenly crashing on startup due to FBSDKRestrictiveDataFilterManager.m

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Re: App suddenly crashing on startup due to FBSDKRestrictiveDataFilterManager.m

#251

Post by m-p-3 »

Vinnl wrote: post #241
Semaphor wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’d rather keep using messenger than switch to signal. Nothing that requires my phone number, and even worse, uses it as primary identifier, is something I want to switch to (and no, obviously I don’t use Whatsapp either). I realize that in this mobile-centric world that makes me a grumpy old man, but for me, my E-Mail is the important ID.

They're working on being able to use it without a phone number, though doing so in a privacy-friendly way is forcing them to overcome some challenges first: https://twitter.com/moxie/status/1281353119369097217

Phone numbers are an awful identifier.

Re: App suddenly crashing on startup due to FBSDKRestrictiveDataFilterManager.m

#252

Post by swagonomixxx »

scottmf wrote: post #248
bschwindHN wrote: post #219

Stop using facebook's garbage! Or if you must, use their oauth flow and API but _don't_ include code of theirs you don't control directly in your binary. It's just asking for trouble. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23099788

And then FB will ban your app.

Ban it from where? Using their API?

Re: App suddenly crashing on startup due to FBSDKRestrictiveDataFilterManager.m

#253

Post by corndoge »

linux2647 wrote: post #247
yreg wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The apps are broken serverside by Facebook. No amount of testing (automated or not) on the side of the app developers would have prevented this. Facebook's own apps did not break since they are on the latest version of FBSDK. What Facebook needs to do is to test whether their changes don't break other people's apps.

I disagree. While, yes, Facebook needs to test their SDK, app developers need to build resiliency into their apps to ensure third party dependencies don’t break their app. The developer adopted it into their app; it’s their responsibility to do the proper checks in cases like these where Facebook broke things on their end.

Ah yes.

If hacker news goes down while you are writing this comment, it is your responsibility to ensure you can still post your comment despite the service breakage.

Re: App suddenly crashing on startup due to FBSDKRestrictiveDataFilterManager.m

#254

Post by emerongi »

yreg wrote: post #237
emerongi wrote: post #228

The most popular apps on one of the most popular operating systems just plainly don't even open. What has this industry become? How are we so goddamn inept at writing software? This is an industry where we can automate testing - not many other industries have this capability - and we still don't have a simple test regime of "check if the app opens" for any of those apps. Somehow, at the most valuable software compani…

The apps are broken serverside by Facebook. No amount of testing (automated or not) on the side of the app developers would have prevented this. Facebook's own apps did not break since they are on the latest version of FBSDK. What Facebook needs to do is to test whether their changes don't break other people's apps.

1. Server-side APIs can be versioned. If an old version is somehow changed, I would call it plain malpractice and in some other industries your license to practice could be stripped.

2. Client-side SDKs can be designed in a way that even if the server-side changes (which it shouldn't), it does not cause the whole application to crash. This can of course be hard depending at which level the SDK operates and how integrated it is into the app.

3. Are there no contracts between Google/Spotify/etc and Facebook? If I were FB and there were contracts on the line, I would make sure that there is no way something like this can slip through (automated testing).

Re: App suddenly crashing on startup due to FBSDKRestrictiveDataFilterManager.m

#255

Post by yreg »

linux2647 wrote: post #247
yreg wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The apps are broken serverside by Facebook. No amount of testing (automated or not) on the side of the app developers would have prevented this. Facebook's own apps did not break since they are on the latest version of FBSDK. What Facebook needs to do is to test whether their changes don't break other people's apps.

I disagree. While, yes, Facebook needs to test their SDK, app developers need to build resiliency into their apps to ensure third party dependencies don’t break their app. The developer adopted it into their app; it’s their responsibility to do the proper checks in cases like these where Facebook broke things on their end.

So how could the app developers have prevented this, other then not using the SDK? (I'm not advocating for using the SDK.)

Re: App suddenly crashing on startup due to FBSDKRestrictiveDataFilterManager.m

#256

Post by monocularvision »

linux2647 wrote: post #247
yreg wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The apps are broken serverside by Facebook. No amount of testing (automated or not) on the side of the app developers would have prevented this. Facebook's own apps did not break since they are on the latest version of FBSDK. What Facebook needs to do is to test whether their changes don't break other people's apps.

I disagree. While, yes, Facebook needs to test their SDK, app developers need to build resiliency into their apps to ensure third party dependencies don’t break their app. The developer adopted it into their app; it’s their responsibility to do the proper checks in cases like these where Facebook broke things on their end.

This is a native SDK that is crashing the process. There is nothing an app developer can responsibly do to prevent or recover from this crash.

Other than remove the SDK, of course.

Re: App suddenly crashing on startup due to FBSDKRestrictiveDataFilterManager.m

#258

Post by m-p-3 »

musha68k wrote: post #113
beagle3 wrote: post #64

Waze, a google owned app for the past 4 years, crashes because of the FB app. WhatsApp, a Facebook owned app, will not give you read access to your own chat database - it’s encrypted. But they have an arrangement with Google where it’s will back up unencrypted to your Google account (though, Google won’t let you retrieve it ... only the WhatsApp app can) Everything about this duopoly, their cooperation and lack of co…

Yes, it's definitely time for some slightly enhanced armchair activism! Convert all active whatsapp contacts to signal? 80%? 50%? Same for Facebook messenger! It needs to be uncomfortable enough - if they want to communicate with us and are minimally tech savvy ("click link to install app") they have to switch to signal . That's it. I'm starting to send out messages over my morning coffee. Let's do this together: htt…

What about the Matrix platform? I personally prefer something that doesn't require a phone number as an ID.

There are some good-looking and user-friendly clients

https://matrix.org/clients/

Re: App suddenly crashing on startup due to FBSDKRestrictiveDataFilterManager.m

#259

Post by swagonomixxx »

marinosbern wrote: post #194

While Spotify crashing on launch may be a nuisance, this also affects life-critical apps crashing on launch. Our forensic analysis [1] found that half of the top 21 iOS safety apps send data to Facebook, and last time this happened back in May we spot-checked some of these safety apps and they were all crashing on launch. The SDK is typically included for ad attribution/tracking, not Facebook login, so it wouldn’t ev…

I'm sorry, but if someone is building a life-critical app and using Facebook, just, why? Do they want to tell FB about all your critical conditions too?

Re: App suddenly crashing on startup due to FBSDKRestrictiveDataFilterManager.m

#260

Post by rrradical »

zrobotics wrote: post #175
levosmetalo wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I gave up after realizing that Signal will not deliver message for a couple of days and that message notification doesn't work. Why wasting personal credit on something that is clearly inferior from the usability point of view. And after it started insisting on creating a PIN each time I start Signal, I finally deleted it from my phone. You can forget about security if you can't get a seamless user experience.

Oh God, the PIN creation is so annoying. Whatever possessed them that that was a good idea? Note that even after creating the PIN the app doesn't quit nagging you, it 'helpfully' continues to remind you to re-type it so you don't forget. Plus, it's just a terrible UX for a SMS client. I really wanted to like it, but it's just too obnoxious to use. I've certainly not recommended it, I've had better luck switching rela…

https://twitter.com/moxie/status/1281353119369097217
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