A large number of popular iOS apps, including Spotify, Quora, TikTok, Pinterest, SoundCloud, PUBG, Venmo, and Tinder were experiencing issues due to a problem with Facebook’s software development kit (SDK) for iOS.
As a result, many of these apps are crashing immediately when people try to open them. Some users even reported that the apps weren't at all usable.
Downdetector's stats for Spotify, for example, reported a peak of 36,633 reports at 7:11 PM Eastern Time. Pinterest and PUBG on the other hand, similarly garnered heights of 6,386 and 1,275 complaints within the s similar time frame.
At a time when many people are practicing social distancing, and locked down at their home, having their favorite apps crashing simply sparked the frustration and anger within them. They took the matter to social media networks to deliver their complaints.
In a thread on GitHub, developers identified the issue as being a problem with an update to Facebook’s SDK, which apps use to provide the platform’s login feature and to track advertising.
What made it even more annoying was that iOS users who don't even use Facebook to login to those popular apps were also experiencing issues. This is because the SDK is often a part of apps, and included as an option even if it’s not actually used.
The problem started when Facebook made an apparent update to the SDK in order to make it capable of identifying health-related apps.
And to do that, a source said that Facebook had changed the type of data the Facebook SDK provided. and disabled a server configuration update.
Facebook SDK for iOS works by calling Facebook's servers every time a user launches an app with the SDK. With the update, the SDK was expecting a server reply in a certain format, but failed because Facebook servers were not providing the response it needs.
Without the proper response, the Facebook SDK crashed, also bringing down all the apps that used it.
One GitHub user claimed that the company first made a change to its SDK around 2:30 PM Eastern time.
A few hours later, a Facebook spokeswoman said that the company has released a new version of the DSK, which "included a change that triggered crashes for some users in some apps using the Facebook iOS SDK. We identified the issue quickly and resolved it. We apologize for any inconvenience."
The downtime of the apps commenced for at least a whole three hours, according to reports from GitHub and social media networks.
This incident is a clear proof that Facebook is a machine not to be reckoned with.
As a company working for profit, Facebook's reach has gone way beyond a simple social media network, to also include messaging apps, as well as helping the internet grow and allowing others to use its services for convenient, even if it's as simple as a simple login.
With its reach, Facebook's advertising empire and data mining capabilities can reach almost all corners of the web and mobile, even when internet users aren't using Facebook. With this ability, Facebook can reach, trace, track, follow and profile almost anyone on the web, and shown them ads that are tailored "for you".
For iOS users, Apple has been strict in what apps can work in the background and which of its built-in sensors can be accessed by which app.
Starting iOS 13, Apple introduced the mobile operating system some improved security and privacy features intended to stop apps, like Facebook, from collecting so much data.
A similar Facebook SDK issue happened in July 2020.