Android: Can I use facebook sdk without facebook app installed?

Question

I just begin with Facebook SDK for android I try to follow this tutorial: https://developers.facebook.com/docs/android/getting-started/

I forgot to install facebook.apk to my emulator and all example did not run correctly. Then I installed it, It's ok now.

But the document says:

If you choose not to install this APK to your emulator, you can still develop with 
the Facebook SDK. In this case your app's Facebook authentication will fall back
to taking place via a web view, rather than with the smoother app switching flow.

So, I wonder that should I use facebook sdk without facebook application installed.

My final goal is share a link to face book(with and without facebook app installed)

Depends, in many cases facebook is not installed on device in those cases if you dont handle app will crash, so its better in your program handle both ways. — Techfist, Dec 10 '13 at 09:04
You can use if facebook is not installed then loging will be on browser based see facebook examples ---SessionLoginSample — Dilip, Dec 10 '13 at 09:07
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/16729661/facebook-sdk-3-0-1-is-not-working-properly/16734283#16734283 use this link for login.. — Abhishek Agarwal, Dec 10 '13 at 09:12
Thanks all, now i can run these example without facebook app installed. Of course, it is not smooth. — hoangmeo325, Dec 10 '13 at 11:24

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 10 '13 at 09:37

The big difference between having Facebook app on your device/emulator, to running it in web environment such as webView, is Sandbox.

While you have Facebook app installed the user may use single sing on, this will allow him to sing in to Facebook just once and be signed in in all of his applications.

When you are working under webview, your application have it's own sandbox and the user will have to sign in to Facebook specifically from your app.

There are more differences in some of the views that Facebook app implemented natively rather than in web but in my opinion those are minor differences.

As for your question, if you are using Facebook SDK, your app will work in both scenarios, the question is just how the user experience will be.

Today Facebook App have more that 500 millions downloads in Goole Play, so it's most likely your users will have the app installed.

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 10 '13 at 10:03

You can login to facebook even when the official app is not installed but it will take the user through a web-based authorization; using the facebook app only makes things "smoother". But since you said:

My final goal is share a link to face book(with and without facebook app installed)

I would advice you to use Easy Facebook Android SDK. It makes things less complicated. You can follow this tutorial. You should be posting to facebook in less than 15 minutes.

Android: Can I use facebook sdk without facebook app installed?

2 Answers2