Facebook Push Notifications - SOLVED!!!

[ccw1134]

So let's set the table here. Facebook Push Notifications are the golden egg that we're all looking for. Well after reading this you can go obsess about something else...finally (I know I will). I have been beyond frustrated with the chaos that has surrounded this subject. I've spent way too many hours reading and reading then reading some more. I am proud to say that I finally cracked the elusive Facebook Push problem.

I switched from Verizon to Sprint last week (work decision) so I went from a Droid Incredible to a EVO 3D. I was hoping that my Push notification would work when I switched since they never had. To my dismay they did not. My daughter went from a BB Curve to the Motorola XPRT and her FB push notifications worked! She always would always say "Dad you're phone's not so Incredible now, is it?" So when I got my EVO 3D and it didn't work I really became obsessed. After comparing settings on both phones and Facebook settings I found the one anomaly. The list of authorized apps within Facebook (Account dropdown>Account Settings>Applications on the right side of the page) on the computer showed "Facebook for BlackBerry Smartphones" on hers but not mine. It's so simple yet outside of the box. The key is BlackBerry permissions! I am willing to bet that everyone who has working notifications on Android came from a BlackBerry. Okay onto the good stuff.

- Find someone with a working BlackBerry. This could be a friend or any store that has activated demo phones.
- Using the Facebook app on the BB log into your account and wait for your stuff to start appearing. I did not log into email or anything else, just FB.
- After you see your Newsfeed updated with your information simply log out.
- Go into your FB settings on your Android phone and check the Notifications box. The refresh interval doesn't matter (it can even be set to Never).
- Notifications should start appearing as you get them (Comments, Wall Posts, Pokes, Likes, Messages, etc.)

I did notice a couple of things that I hope get improved in the notification process. Messages and Friend Requests have their own separate icons for notifications just as they always have. Comments, Wall Posts, , Tagging, Pokes and Likes all share the new notification icon that you will start seeing. Because of this if someone pokes you and then you get a comment or whatever, your Poke notification is gone (I'm assuming because the FB App doesn't officially support Poking yet therefore it doesn't know how to handle that notification) and won't know who poked you. Also if you should happen to click on the poke notification doesn't take you anywhere useful, just the list of notifications (for the same reasons listed in the previous sentence). This is a small sacrifice for now. If someone tags you in a post (I assume a picture will be the same way) you also will still get an email notification to whatever email you use. Just an FYI on that.

For the record I am on Sprint using a nonrooted HTC EVO 3D running 2.3.3 and Facebook is version 1.6.3. I do not believe the carrier, phone model, OS or Facebook version matter but I know there are those out there who want to know this type of stuff.

Mods if you feel that this should be moved to a new location please feel free. I wonder if this will make it to "sticky status"

p.s. I'm posting it here first because I consider this my "home" Android website for information and news. No disrespect to all of the other great sites out there.

UPDATE: Others have pointed out that this technique will also work using an Apple device instead of a BlackBerry. I wanted to put it here so it's seen without having to read through page after page thus saving you time.

 

[dchawk81]

Hmm.

 

[2Munkeez]

Thank you, very much for taking the time to explain your findings. It is very helpful and appreciated now I'm off to hunt Blackberry users :-D

 

[TonyLibations]

Anyone else have the same luck. I'm running an Evo Shift 2.3.3 on Sprint and I came from a Blackberry. Am I missing something?

 

[ccw1134]

Anyone else have the same luck. I'm running an Evo Shift 2.3.3 on Sprint and I came from a Blackberry. Am I missing something?

Go into your permissions on Facebook from the computer. Account dropdown>Account Settings>Applications on the right side of the page. Look thru the list to see if you have the following app listed: "Facebook for BlackBerry Smartphones". If so all you should need to do is check the box for notifications within the Facebook app on your Shift. If it isn't there then you should try doing what I suggested above. I know for a fact that when I got rid of my Blackberry Storm and switched to the Droid Incredible that I deleted the "Facebook for BlackBerry Smartphones" app permission. I figured I didn't need it. Boy did that turn out to be wrong.

 

[Goat-Tee]

Came from Blackberry and never changed the app setting on the computer and my notifications never work on my Thunderbolt. Always worked on my Blackberry.

 

[landale]

Umm, this isn't true. I came from a Blackberry, have Facebook for blackberry on my application list and have no push notifications. Nice try. How about we just change this thread to Facebook doesn't care about how push notifications have been broken since they were released and have done nothing to try and fix it leaving users to try and make up reasons as to why they don't work..

 

[signde]

i think this is all circumstance.

i have an evo 4g. when facebook notifications for android first rolled out, they worked great, for about two weeks. then they just died.

i later rooted and went to a different sense based rom (myn's warm 2.2). notifications came back, and never stopped.

still rooted, i later went to cyanmod 7. notifications also worked there, perfectly.

still rooted, i have since gone back to the stock gingerbread sense rom. at first notifications didn't work. in menu > settings > applications, i cleared facebook cache and data. now i have notifications again, MOST of the time. it doesn't work as well as it did on the other roms, but it usually works.

 

[916ninja]

Facebook sucks even with working notifications. I can not even fathom how bad it must be for the rest of you android users. I came from a Storm 1 and 2, so it's nice to see they did something right for me. lol

 

[acehomey]

Interesting. Will the same method work on Twitter for Android? Push notifications don't always work.

 

[ccw1134]

Umm, this isn't true. I came from a Blackberry, have Facebook for blackberry on my application list and have no push notifications. Nice try. How about we just change this thread to Facebook doesn't care about how push notifications have been broken since they were released and have done nothing to try and fix it leaving users to try and make up reasons as to why they don't work..

Well hey why don't you just try it and see if it works...because it does. Don't believe me, check the front page.

 

[ccw1134]

For those of you coming from a Blackberry and you do NOT get notifications I would suggest deleting the Blackberry permissions and then trying what I said in the original post. If you're happy not getting notifications and just complaining about it that's on you and keep on doing what you're doing.

 

[Saleen4971]

yeah, i came from a few years of loyal BB usage, and these notifications are garbage. i have FB for BB in my list (and have since the first FB app for BB's was released) as well as motoblur, and its terrible

 

[bjn714]

ccw, thank you very much! Made me wish I had never gone in and cleaned up the old app approvals in FB after I got my Droid. I love when strange situations lead to discoveries like this.

That said, I got it all working and the notifications come in faster than the email does. I just used a blackberry tour simulator I had installed on one of my test boxes. Took about 5 minutes (would have been less but blackberry boot times are HORRIBLE). Thanks again!

 

[HES]

Ok so I had a Storm2 and deleted the app when I switched to my DroidX (stock 2.3.3). Of course I no longer got notifications. So upon seeing this I grabbed my wife's Storm2 and re-added the app. I followed the procedures and nothing. Nada. Zilch, Zippo. In fact now I'm not even getting my email notifications to my Gmail account like I should be. So something is happening, I'm just not sure of what it could be. Could it be because I have SMS notifications turned on? Well lets find out.

 

[bjn714]

Interesting. Will the same method work on Twitter for Android? Push notifications don't always work.

Only one way to find out...

I can't test it for you though, as my twitter push notifications work perfectly on my incredible 2.

 

[HES]

I disabled text notifications in Facebook and its still not working, for me. Of course YMMMV. Guess I'll have to stick with FriendCaster.

 

[bjn714]

I also noticed this fixed my phantom notification issue for everything except messages. Before, when I happened to get the push notification and I tapped it in the notifications panel, it did nothing. Now is actually launching the app and going to the notification. Strange.

 

[jordanh8]

Anyway to give the APP permission without a blackberry phone? I don't know anybody who still uses a blackberry lol :/

 

[bjn714]

Anyway to give the APP permission without a blackberry phone? I don't know anybody who still uses a blackberry lol :/

I did it with a blackberry device simulator for a Verizon BB Tour and blackberry MDS that I already had installed on a test box. They can be downloaded for free from the blackberry dev site. Beware, it can be a bit daunting to get the simulator working with data, but it does work. Sometimes I have installed flawlessly, and others I have had issues with the sims. Usually java problems. It does require a the java jdk installed.