Facebook Login and Account Kit Now Boast More Ways to Connect Businesses, Users

Connections are key, and on that note, Facebook announced several updates to its Facebook Login and Account Kit at its F8 developers conference in San Jose, Calif., Tuesday. Software development engineer Olga Kuznetsova announced in a blog post that the social network has: Added voice call phone number verification to Account Kit in 19 locations. Launched a Basic Web software-development kit for Account Kit. Added user interface customization options to Account Kit. Redesigned its Facebook Login buttons. Added insights on Account Kit sign-in flow to the Facebook Analytics dashboard. Added the ability to trail a Facebook-connected user from applications to Messenger bots. Created an express login feature to allow brands to check users in if they have previously signed in via Facebook. Launched a delegated account recovery feature. Kuznetsova provided more details on the updates in her blog post: We are adding voice call phone number verification to Account Kit in 19 locales for people who don't receive their confirmation code via SMS to help them get through the flow easier and faster. If you are building an experience for parts of the world where browsers without JavaScript support are popular, Account Kit now offers a Basic Web SDK. We see major benefit for those using Free Basics, and partners have already implemented this with success. We've created an easier way to customize the UI for you to create a look and feel aligned with your brand. You can start by simply choosing a skin and tint information, supplying a primary color and adding an optional background image. Check out the different design treatment of a sample app using the new skins, which can be found in the latest SDKs for iOS, Android and web. We now offer personalized buttons with customizable widths on web that read: “Continue as [name]”. This is available today on our JS SDK, which will render the person's profile picture and name if they are logged into Facebook and default to “Continue with Facebook” if they are not. Pinterest has seen a 37 percent lift in Facebook sign-ups since implementing the new button on its desktop experience. We also modernized the Login buttons in native and JS SDKs with rounded corners, a color update and the option to select “Continue with Facebook” or “Login with Facebook.” You can use the new Login buttons by simply upgrading your native SDK or JS SDK. Be sure to check that the size of the button is appropriate for your UI and changing the size specification in your code if you're using the JS SDK. We added insights that will help you better understand how people are moving through your Account Kit sign-in flow within the Facebook Analytics dashboard. You can now recognize a Facebook-connected customer from your app to your bot on Messenger to create better customer experiences across the two channels. The details can be found in our developer documentation. When people change devices or download their apps again, they need to go through the sign-in process and often forget how they previously logged in. With this new Facebook Login feature for Android apps, you can check if the person signing in had previously done so using Facebook. If so, they are shown an in-app reminder to bypass going through the full sign-in flow. This feature is currently in closed beta and we'll keep you posted when we roll it out more broadly. Another way in which you may lose contact with a customer is when they forget their password. Delegated Account Recovery enables you to offer your customers the option to use their Facebook account as a way to verify who they are when they forget their password, lose their two-factor codes or don't want to answer security questions based on personal information. You can read more about how this open protocol works in our Protect the Graph blog. More F8 coverage from Adweek.com: Spotify, Apple Music and Other Branded Bots Are Coming to Facebook Messenger 2.0 Facebook Debuts the Future of Augmented Reality, and It’s on Mobile