Facebook <-> contacts sync problems

[KennethBr]

Phone is a few days old.

Phone: HTC Desire
Android: version 2.1-update 1
Facebook for Android: version 121
Facebook for HTC Sense: version 1

I have the problem that I can't retrieve my friends from Facebook, so I can sync them with my phone-book on the phone, this means I can't have photos on my contacts and the linking between contacts and facebook doesn't work (I know there's another way to get the photos on the contacts, but I want this thing to work).

If I go through my contacts (people) -> online directories -> facebook
then it says I have no friends. I then click menu and do a refresh. This results in either that I get a 'connection error', or that the phone keeps cycling without anything happening (goes to a loop).

If I go through the facebook app and click home and then friends, then I get this error message after a few minutes:

Cannot retrieve the friend list. Please try again later. Content too large.


Does anyone know of a solution to this problem? It's driving my crazy.

 

[Sary]

ive got the same problem on my desire too...waiting for someone to reply here, hopefully with some help..

 

[samktc]

Hi, I'll say right now that I'm no expert, also I'm using a Hero, so I'm just offering some suggestions

- Make sure you've signed into Facebook (on Hero this is Settings/Social networks/Facebook)
- Ensure that you have a valid GPRS or Wifi connection (pref Wifi)
- Go to People/Updates (or equivalent). You should see a notification at the top displaying something like "1 matched friend".
- Click on this and it'll link your friends.

By the way are your contacts saved on your Phone or Google? I think this only works via Google contacts (mine say Google on the top right of the contact).

If you find that your contacts are linked but you don't have the Facebook picture (this happens from time to time) I used syncmypix app to do the bulk of the work for me:

SyncMyPix freeware download for Android phones

Hope this helps!

 

[flu13]

I think you'll feel better if you just give up on what seems to not be working for anyone and instead use SyncMyPix. You'll have the functionality you want without any further headache. Granted, it's not the built-in function you should have, but it gives you the same end result and maybe lowers your blood pressure a few points.

 

[mcatdtDROID]

I, too, have some quearky issues with syncing FB contacts and phone contacts automatically, and just gave up on it and use Facebook sync

 

[KennethBr]

I have mainly tried this on WIFI connection (of course), but also on GPRS.
Am of course logged into Facebook already.
There is no way to link people, because the phone/app is not getting the friendlist from Facebook at all (this is the problem, it's not getting the friendlist).

My contacts are saved on the phone only. Not really using google at all (but of course have a google mail).

 

[samktc]

Try saving one of your contacts as a Google contact (one that has their Facebook name spelt exactly the same) and see if it syncs like that?

 

[KennethBr]

Try saving one of your contacts as a Google contact (one that has their Facebook name spelt exactly the same) and see if it syncs like that?

it was a good idea, but didn't make any difference. I get the same errors both places.

 

[KennethBr]

any other suggestions?

 

[samktc]

I've found one way to link Facebook to contacts one by one, not entirely sure if this is what you're looking for?

- Go to People, in contacts list select a contact.
- On the top right you'll either see the word LINK, or a kind of link symbol. Tap on this.
- LINK will automatically link your contact to Facebook. If it's the symbol, you'll now be able to manually input a name for Facebook.

I tried this out on my brother-in-law's HTC Desire, so should work

I haven't heard of a way to link them all-at-once I'm afraid, but this should give you something to work on for now

 

[subtile]

Well I assume everyone is still having this issue? I am surprised an moderator hasn't chimed in to help. I just purchased this phone today and was looking forward to having my facebook contacts ported over. I really thought that was a cool feature. But as every one else here. I al am having this issue.

 

[eric27sc]

Well I assume everyone is still having this issue? I am surprised an moderator hasn't chimed in to help. I just purchased this phone today and was looking forward to having my facebook contacts ported over. I really thought that was a cool feature. But as every one else here. I al am having this issue.

I'm having the exact same problem just got my Incredible, used to have a Moto Droid.. never had that problem at all everything synced perfectly, i had friends update status messages, my contacts had everyones picture and status updates, i got notificiations of new facebook stuff and now on the Incredible I'm not getting shit.. I'm so aggrivated with it too and also I'm going to the link tab and it says "You don't have any friends." under facebook which is bs cuz i got like 500 ppl on my facebook that all used to sync on nmy damn moto droid!

 

[SynisterWolf]

I had this same problem. Here is what I did.

I used VZW back up contacts.
Did a factory reset
Import contacts back to the phone
The set up Facebook.

And everything worked for me. When VZW ported my storms contacts it ****ed up my address book.
Try it and let me know if it works.

 

[SynisterWolf]

I had this same problem. Here is what I did.

I used VZW back up contacts.
Did a factory reset
Import contacts back to the phone
The set up Facebook.

And everything worked for me. When VZW ported my storms contacts it ****ed up my address book.
Try it and let me know if it works.

 

[daft009]

I'm having a very similar issue to this on my 1 day old desire.
When I trying syncing with facebook (via people>online directories>facebook) I get a connection error always.

A mate of mine also has a desire (albeit the 850MHz version) but no such problems!
Might try a factory reset and give it another go....

 

[robinsonpr]

I thought I'd chip in....I have had a Desire (on UK T-mobile network) for about 2 months now.

When I first switched it on the setup up process took me through the screens to login with my gmail account and also facebook. When everything was sync'd my google contacts that could be matched with facebook contacts were linked, with pics updated etc. Lovely.

Now, my friend got a new Desire 2 days ago (on UK Vodaphone network). He was having trouble getting facebook contacts linked up to his google contacts. No pics came through, no links, and if he manually tried to link a google contact to a facebook contact there were no facebook contacts there to link to. He tried a menu -> refresh (from People -> Online Directories -> Facebook) but got the "connection error" message other people on this forum have mentioned.

That's when he called me. I tried the same thing....People -> Online Directories -> Facebook -> Refresh and I also got the same "connection error" message. I have added a couple of new friends into my Facebook this morning and have just tried to get them into my Desire, but no joy. I've tried the Facebook sync under Accounts & Sync and that appears to succeed, but the new friends are not in the list. Refresh from the online directory still giving connection error.

So at some point this function appears to have stopped working. I'm certain it's nothing I've done to my setup.

Not sure if the software on my phone has been automatically upgraded (it's on v2.1 update 1 currently) which caused the facebook integration to stop working - I don't think so. And the fact that people are experiencing the same issue on other handsets points the finger at Facebook itself, or something having changed their end which has broken the integration.

Or does Android go through some other service, like a proxy service, before it hits facebook itself? If it's just handsets with HTC Sense that have the problem maybe there is a HTC service somewhere that is the problem. Who knows. But one thing's for sure. It WAS working, and now it isn't!!!

 

[robinsonpr]

Ah, my friend with the same issue just sent me this link:

Facebook for HTC Sense simply stopped working - "Connection Error" - HTC EVO? 4G (Sprint) - Android Forums - HTC Community

Yeah, I just called them. They're aware of the issue and are "working closely with facebook to resolve this issue". The rep didn't want to give an expected time of resolution, which while annoying, is reasonable from their perspective. If they said Tuesday and it turned out to be next week Wednesday, people would be even more upset. All I could get out of him really is that it should be resolved "soon" and in his past experience facebook "has not taken long to resolve these types of issues". We will see. Kind of sucks to be HTC in a way. Really, this is looking more and more like its a facebook problem, but HTC is going to catch the storm and bad PR from it because its only affecting (seemingly) HTC Sense UI phones. My boss has a blackberry though and she mentioned her phone would not sync contacts either.