Facebook SDK blamed for malfunctioning of popular iOS apps

Facebook SDK enables users to login to their apps through a Facebook account

Several iOS apps, including Pinterest, Spotify, and TikTok crashed on Wednesday due to an issue linked to Facebook's software development kit (SDK).

A large number of users complained on Twitter yesterday that they were unable to use Spotify, TikTok, Pinterest, Tinder and several other apps on their iPhones and iPads. Some users said that the apps crashed when they tried to launch them.

Downdetector also logged thousands of user crash reports on Spotify.

While the source of the problem was not immediately clear, some developers suggested that Facebook SDK was to blame for the issue.

Facebook SDK tool is used by developers to connect their third-party apps with the social network. The tool enables users to sign-in to their apps through a Facebook account and also helps developers in tracking ads on users' phones.

Some users said in a GitHub thread that the problem occurred after a change was made to the type of data that Facebook SDK's server provides when an app is opened. Facebook likely made an update to its SDK's server to track if an app is health-related or not.

One GitHub user said that the change to SDK server was made at around 2:30 pm Eastern time.

Another user wrote that the company had reverted the server side update, but the change would take some time to propagate.

"This bug has negatively impacted a ton of apps + purchases, businesses lose money from bugs like this," Daniel Beard, an iOS developer at Groupon, wrote in the GitHub thread.

"Why shouldn't we be mad?"

Dave Lee, San Francisco correspondent for Financial Times, commented on Twitter: "Proper weirdness going on: several major apps (Spotify, Venmo, Pinterest, TikTok, App Store, Bumble, Tinder and others) not working for many users. Spotify crashing for me on opening, as is Venmo."

"Not clear what the connection is -- they're spread across several diff cloud cos."

Facebook now seems to have fixed the issue completely, and all apps that use Facebook SDK are working normally.