Facebook has released version 3.2 of its SDK for iOS developers and it adds deeper app usage metrics, better ad optimization and enhanced error handling. The new version of the SDK comes along with a fresh version of Facebook’s iOS Dev Center as well.
The new SDK also has improved error handling support. It now supports all classes of error responses and will categorize those errors by common app handling behavior. The SDK now handles larger numbers of error cases including password changes and expired tokens.
The improved metrics include tracking of the iOS 6 native share sheet and native UI controls. This brings more access to stats that can show how people are utilizing apps built with Facebook’s SDK and enable developers to better track that behavior to tweak apps. The new metrics are included in the App Insights dashboard.
The new ad optimization features are based off of Facebook’s conversion measurement system for websites. Facebook says that a native solution for iOS apps is on the way. Conversion measurements are obviously important for ads that run inside apps and will help developers to tweak placement and content of those ads to maximize the profit that they’re seeing.
Facebook is also rolling out limited support for in-app purchase logging with some ‘select partners’.
The FBAccessTokenData type, which is new, presents token strings, permissions, expirations and more to allow you do deep link to sections of an app more effectively. It should let you open app sessions more easily from token data, helping you to provide exterior links to your app that require less fiddling and friction on behalf of the user.
The improvement of app analytics for Facebook developers on iOS is a nice improvement. Twitter recently made plays for better crash reporting in its own apps with the acquisition of Crashlytics, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see improvements in its API and iOS integration offerings that allowed easy access of error handling and testing for developers using Twitter.
This release of the SDK is mostly fleshing out Facebook’s offerings to make it a better, more complete solution for developers looking to launch apps using Facebook’s graph on iOS. Nothing earth shattering, but a nice step forward.
Image Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
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