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I am looking into getting FB friends via some fb API for my app. However, I read at a lot of places that its no longer allowed to get all friends, but only those who are also using the app. For example:

1] https://developers.facebook.com/docs/facebook-login/permissions/v2.2#reference-friends (see under user_friends)

2] https://developers.facebook.com/docs/apps/upgrading#v21tov22 (under User IDs and Friends point 3)

However, I found that yahoo is still able to do that.. I tested it and it did pull the contacts. (http://help.yahoo.com/l/mye/yahoo/answers/socialnetwork/contactsimpexp-28.html)

So how did yahoo did it? There must be a way to do it... What API are they using?

Thanks.

Raheel Hasan
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3 Answers3

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Old v1.0 Apps created before end of April 2014 can still get all friends. It will stop working for them after April 2015: https://developers.facebook.com/docs/apps/changelog

Getting access to ALL friends is only possible for tagging (with taggable_friends) and for inviting (with invitable_friends, but ONLY for games with a canvas implementation).

Yahoo may still have a partnership with Facebook (the partnership they signed 2009 was only a deal for 5 years and that time is over already), but you can definitely not get all friends anymore. I just tested their contact importer and they can definitely get all friends (which is no problem with a v1.0 App) AND they get emails of friends (which is not even possible with v1.0). So yeah, the partnership may still be active.

More information can be found in this thread: Facebook Graph Api v2.0+ - /me/friends returns empty, or only friends who also use my app

Community
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andyrandy
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  • so ur saying that I have nothing to worry about.. after april, no one will be able to use it... – Raheel Hasan Feb 23 '15 at 13:04
  • exactly, after april 2015, those apps will get upgraded to v2.0 – andyrandy Feb 23 '15 at 13:15
  • so there has to be someway to import fb friends into other apps? or a csv export from fb? anything?! – Raheel Hasan Feb 23 '15 at 13:16
  • why would anyone want to import friends from one app to another one? there is no way, at least not after april 2015. – andyrandy Feb 23 '15 at 15:04
  • please explain downvotes. the answer is 100% correct, but i am happy to improve if there is anything wrong – andyrandy Mar 16 '15 at 23:29
  • The author knows about the API limitation and he is asking how Yahoo can get the real user emails (even in V1.0 this is not possible). This is possible because Yahoo and Facebook have special agreements and they're not using the same public API we all can use. – Rael Gugelmin Cunha Mar 17 '15 at 17:53
  • yes, but the important thing to know is that the author cannot get access to all friends. even if yahoo would still have a special deal. but i will look into it and ask around. – andyrandy Mar 17 '15 at 18:03
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    alright, i just tested it. you are right, they do indeed have access to the emails of friends, which is not even possible with v1.0 of the graph api, so the partnership must be intact. thanx for the information, i´ve updated my answer accordingly. – andyrandy Mar 17 '15 at 22:14
  • There seem to be apps that still are able to do this somehow -- "Simpler Contacts" is one of them. – Kal Oct 15 '16 at 04:48
  • they may use an endpoint that is not allowed for those kind of things, check out the link in my answer. – andyrandy Oct 15 '16 at 08:31
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Yahoo's integration with Facebook does not use any API that is available to regular folks like you and me.

It's an integration partnership that the two companies announced back in December 2009. Lots of articles written about it around that time.

Links for the lazy:

http://archive.news.softpedia.com/news/Yahoo-and-Facebook-Sign-Extended-Integration-Partnership-128634.shtml

http://archive.news.softpedia.com/news/Yahoo-Mail-Gets-Facebook-Contacts-Importer-136826.shtml

http://techcrunch.com/2009/12/02/yahoo-outsources-all-that-social-nonsense-to-facebook/

Jay Gibb
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  • i am pretty sure even yahoo will not get access to all friends with /me/friends, facebook changed this for everyone with v2.0 of the api. a lot things have changed since 2010 ;) - do you have any further (and newer) information about how yahoo would be able to still retrieve all friends? would be interesting to know. – andyrandy Mar 16 '15 at 23:30
  • @luschn I don't know why you're downvoting the above answer. Yahoo really has a different access to Facebook API. Even in the current API 1.0, they have access to the real friends emails (not the `@facebook.com` one), which is not allowed. – Rael Gugelmin Cunha Mar 17 '15 at 17:25
  • erm...i did not downvote the answer, i only commented to your workmate...? - do you have any resource/link for your comment? as i said, it would be interesting to know. – andyrandy Mar 17 '15 at 17:28
  • btw, API 1.0 is not the current version, it´s v2.2 right now. v1.0 will be gone for good after april 2015. – andyrandy Mar 17 '15 at 17:32
  • @luschn Login in Yahoo email and use their Facebook importer under Contacts. – Rael Gugelmin Cunha Mar 17 '15 at 17:41
  • Aside, of course, the links provided in Jay answer. – Rael Gugelmin Cunha Mar 17 '15 at 17:43
  • as you can read in my answer, v1.0 still works. it would be interesting if it works after april 2015. btw, while we are pointing fingers, was it you guys who gave me 2 downvotes for my answer? they appeared at exactly the same time as this answer, but there is no explanation why ;) - just asking, nevermind if it was not you guys, i would just like to know why so i can improve my answer if needed. – andyrandy Mar 17 '15 at 17:43
  • the links provided in jays answer are more than 5 years old, they say that they got a 5 year deal - so that would be over already. and 5 years with the facebook api is like a lifetime...lol – andyrandy Mar 17 '15 at 17:44
  • They're 5 years old, but nothing has changed since them. And v1.0 still works, but not even in v1.0 there is access to the real user emails, like Yahoo can access. – Rael Gugelmin Cunha Mar 17 '15 at 17:47
  • actually, a LOT has changed since then with facebook and their api....especially in the last 2 years. but i will check out the yahoo stuff, would be interesting. btw, v1.0 only works with old apps created before end of april 2014, so it´s pretty much dead. 1.5 more months and it will be gone even for those. – andyrandy Mar 17 '15 at 17:51
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So its now July 2015 and Yahoo still have access to import contacts from Facebook.

Even if there is a partnership surely that's breaching peoples trust if people believe their friends can't share their contact information?

(but then do people really know or care what's being shared these days until something bad happens of course)

BobbyZHolmes
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