5 ms·

What is the business of the Facebook SDK doing in a thermostat app? I don't feel this explanation is sufficient.

WrtCdEvrydy 6y ago
Because software engineering is expensive so the guy who wrote the app got paid peanuts and told to implement the login in 2 hours because that's how many "story points" were attached to the story. If you take too long, it will show up on your performance review, so instead, I'll just drag in the random Facebook SDK just to enable login... and your data's gone to Facebook! Yay, Silicon Valley!
- willhk 6y ago
  Understandable for a startup, but once the company has been owned by Google for years they should have migrated to Google's OAuth by now right? Seems inexcusable for Google to leak user data to another company. Buying a Google product you would expect some data to be collected by Google, but definitely not Facebook.
  - johannes1234321 6y ago
    Migrating fully to Google Auth means that users have to reconfigure things. This makes average Joe unhappy.
- jorams 6y ago
  Note that the Facebook Platform Policy[1] requires the use of their SDK: > Native iOS and Android apps that implement Facebook Login must use our official SDKs for login. [1]: https://developers.facebook.com/policy/ https://developers.facebook.com/policy/
  - jjnoakes 6y ago
    Only if you need to use Facebook login. I think the point is that lots of non-facebook apps could implement non-facebook login and avoid Facebook all together but they don't for various non-technical reasons.
    - jonas21 6y ago
      Lots of apps implement Facebook login in addition to their own login because users ask "How do I log in with Facebook?" and get upset when you tell them they can't.
      - WrtCdEvrydy 6y ago
        I wonder how much flak you'd get for creating a "facebook login" that is just the signup workflow... if it's not in your DB, just push it as a new record for followup "signins"
      - jjnoakes 6y ago
        That's one of the non-technical reasons for sure.
kop316 6y ago
My understanding is if you offer facebook login you have to use the facebook SDK.
- dylan604 6y ago
  isn't that kind of like saying water is wet? how else do you plan to interface with FB if you don't use their SDK?
  - kop316 6y ago
    I was answering the question of "What is the business of the Facebook SDK doing in a thermostat app?". The though process is "Want to offer Facebook Login for Nest" -> "Need to use SDK for it" -> SDK talks to Facebook servers. I have never used the facebook SDK (and have not used the Nest App in a long time) so I don't know personally.
  - nicoburns 6y ago
    They could have documented an API, which you could call directly. Many services which offer an SDK also offer a raw API which allows you to implement more advanced use cases, or can be used for platforms without SDK support. Or, if you simply don't want to use the SDK.
  - toast0 6y ago
    FB login is OAuth, you could use a generic OAuth library instead.
    - leesalminen 6y ago
      That is against Facebook’s platform policies. https://developers.facebook.com/policy/ https://developers.facebook.com/policy/
  - smt88 6y ago
    > how else do you plan to interface with FB if you don't use their SDK? FB's API is HTTP-based over the public web. You could interface with it using any HTTP client, even if they didn't document the basic APIs. In this case, the "Facebook SDK" refers to a library in whatever language you're using to connect to their API, which replaces a generic HTTP client in your code.

Because software engineering is expensive so the guy who wrote the app got paid peanuts and told to implement the login in 2 hours because that's how many "story points" were attached to the story. If you take too long, it will show up on your performance review, so instead, I'll just drag in the random Facebook SDK just to enable login... and your data's gone to Facebook! Yay, Silicon Valley!

willhk 6y ago
Understandable for a startup, but once the company has been owned by Google for years they should have migrated to Google's OAuth by now right? Seems inexcusable for Google to leak user data to another company. Buying a Google product you would expect some data to be collected by Google, but definitely not Facebook.
- johannes1234321 6y ago
  Migrating fully to Google Auth means that users have to reconfigure things. This makes average Joe unhappy.
jorams 6y ago
Note that the Facebook Platform Policy[1] requires the use of their SDK: > Native iOS and Android apps that implement Facebook Login must use our official SDKs for login. [1]: https://developers.facebook.com/policy/ https://developers.facebook.com/policy/
- jjnoakes 6y ago
  Only if you need to use Facebook login. I think the point is that lots of non-facebook apps could implement non-facebook login and avoid Facebook all together but they don't for various non-technical reasons.
  - jonas21 6y ago
    Lots of apps implement Facebook login in addition to their own login because users ask "How do I log in with Facebook?" and get upset when you tell them they can't.
    - WrtCdEvrydy 6y ago
      I wonder how much flak you'd get for creating a "facebook login" that is just the signup workflow... if it's not in your DB, just push it as a new record for followup "signins"
    - jjnoakes 6y ago
      That's one of the non-technical reasons for sure.

kop316 6y ago

My understanding is if you offer facebook login you have to use the facebook SDK.

dylan604 6y ago
isn't that kind of like saying water is wet? how else do you plan to interface with FB if you don't use their SDK?
- kop316 6y ago
  I was answering the question of "What is the business of the Facebook SDK doing in a thermostat app?". The though process is "Want to offer Facebook Login for Nest" -> "Need to use SDK for it" -> SDK talks to Facebook servers. I have never used the facebook SDK (and have not used the Nest App in a long time) so I don't know personally.
- nicoburns 6y ago
  They could have documented an API, which you could call directly. Many services which offer an SDK also offer a raw API which allows you to implement more advanced use cases, or can be used for platforms without SDK support. Or, if you simply don't want to use the SDK.
- toast0 6y ago
  FB login is OAuth, you could use a generic OAuth library instead.
  - leesalminen 6y ago
    That is against Facebook’s platform policies. https://developers.facebook.com/policy/ https://developers.facebook.com/policy/
- smt88 6y ago
  > how else do you plan to interface with FB if you don't use their SDK? FB's API is HTTP-based over the public web. You could interface with it using any HTTP client, even if they didn't document the basic APIs. In this case, the "Facebook SDK" refers to a library in whatever language you're using to connect to their API, which replaces a generic HTTP client in your code.