Wednesday, July 11, 2012, 03:27 pm

Facebook SDK 3.0 beta released, helps developers prep for Apple's iOS 6

By AppleInsider Staff

Facebook on Wednesday released a beta version of its SDK 3.0 for iOS, calling it the biggest update the company has ever done, with support for Facebook integration in iOS 6.

The social networking site said the new software development kit features better user session management, ready-to-use native user interface views, modern Objective-C language features support, and improved Facebook APIs support.

Another major component is iOS 6 integration. Once iOS 6 launches to users this fall, the SDK from Facebook will automatically use the native Facebook login in iOS 6 when available. It's also backwards compatible, which means developers will just need to enable "Login with Facebook" to ensure the SDK will allow apps to work seamlessly with iOS 4.0 or later.

Facebook's SDK allows developers to integrate their iOS applications with the social networking site. Features such as content sharing and universal login can be accomplished with the company's tools.

Along with the beta, Facebook has also launched a new website for developers that features information on the tools and resources needed to build social applications for Apple's iOS platform. There, developers can view Facebook's "Getting Started" guide, read documentation and sample code, and learn the basics of building an growing an application.


System-wide integration with Facebook services is one of the hallmark features of iOS 6, set for release for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch this fall. Just like users can do with Twitter in iOS 5, people will be able to sign in to their Facebook account through the iOS Settings application, and new Facebook sharing features become enabled systemwide.