If you are using Facebook SDK only for it’s account login, and you didn’t provide your own login mechanism.
A recent Sep 2016 update to App Store Guidelines now adds the following:
If your core app functionality is not related to a specific social network (e.g. Facebook, WeChat, Weibo, Twitter, etc.), you must provide access without a login or via another mechanism. Pulling basic profile information, sharing to the social network, or inviting friends to use the app are not considered core app functionality.
In other words, they are rejecting apps that use a social network for only these purpose(s): account authentication, basic profile, sharing and inviting to friends.
To Apple, such purpose is not a strong case to use the social network!
As such, an update to Jade app has been rejected.
The Impact
What the app review team has introduced this time has very big impact to developers and the app ecosystem.
Many apps use popular social networks - Facebook/Twitter/Google - so that new users can sign up easily, without the need to create another password.
This convenient login mechanism is known as Single Sign-On (SSO).
The Solution Apple Wants
Apple suggest to either:
- Create your own authentication system
- Utilise the social network’s core functionality
If you create your own authentication system, then you can still have Facebook login along with it.
What is Core?
It is subjective what is considered as core functionality.
In the case of Jade app, we feel Facebook is the most popular social network, and the fact that most people would have a Facebook account is a valuable functionality. But Apple thinks not.
We asked which of the following cases can be considered as core:
- Give read/write access to a Facebook friend to collaborate on a document?
- Access Facebook photos to use in the App?
- Post to Facebook Note app?
The reply has no direct yes/no.
Instead, they provided these examples of utilising Facebook to create core functionality:
- Leverage Facebook’s friends list API
- Leverage Facebook’s shared interest API
We are now always at the mercy of Apple.
Hope we can have more answers.