I’m working on an Android application and need to retrieve all friends from a user’s Facebook account using Graph API version 1.0. My Facebook app was created after April 30th 2014, which means it was built with Graph API v2.0. I found out that the “me/friends” endpoint from Graph API v1.0 won’t function properly when users authenticate through Graph API v2.0. Is it possible to force authentication using Graph API v1.0 even though my Facebook app was originally set up with Graph API v2.0? I need this to access the full friends list functionality that was available in the older API version.
Facebook discontinued Graph API v1.0 back in 2015, meaning you cannot authenticate against it anymore, regardless of when your app was created. The authentication endpoints for v1.0 are permanently removed. All applications initially built on v1.0 needed to transition to v2.0 or higher to remain functional. The issue with accessing the friends endpoint stems from Facebook’s updated privacy policies, which affect all versions of their API. Your best course of action is to utilize the v2.0+ friends endpoint, which only displays friends that have also granted permission to your app. Additionally, consider exploring Facebook’s newer features for invitations and tagging to enhance social interaction.
Unfortunately, you can’t downgrade your authentication method. Once Facebook moved apps to Graph API v2.0, they completely killed off v1.0 infrastructure. I hit this same wall last year working on legacy code for a client. Most developers don’t get that the friends list restriction wasn’t just a version bump - Facebook fundamentally changed how they share data after all those privacy issues. Even apps grandfathered from v1.0 eventually lost access to full friends data. Your Android app has to work with v2.0+, which means you’ll only see friends who’ve authorized your app. Try friend invitations instead, or focus on whatever social features the current API still supports.
Dealt with this exact thing back in 2016. Facebook had already killed all v1.0 endpoints completely - the authentication servers don’t even exist anymore.
What threw me off was thinking this was just about API versions. It’s not. Facebook nuked bulk friend data access entirely after Cambridge Analytica and the other privacy scandals. Even with a time machine, v1.0 won’t give you what you want.
I rebuilt the social features from scratch using v2.0’s limited friend data plus their invitation system. Actually worked better since users could control who they connected with.
Ditch the v1.0 approach. Focus on what v2.0+ actually offers and design around those constraints instead of fighting them.
nah, you can’t go back to v1.0 after moving to v2.0. FB tightened up their stuff a lot. Plus, even if you could get v1.0 to work, the full friends list feature is gone now because of privacy. v2.0 is the only way.