UPDATED March 14, 2012: Facebook announced on the Developer Blog that they’re now including an “Add App to Page” option under the “gear” menu on App Page for the App (which you now set up via the Advanced Settings for your App).
UPDATED January 9, 2012: I’ve added a detailed step-by-step tutorial on migrating your App Profile Page to a Facebook Page.
UPDATED Dec 14, 2011: I added a (heavily edited) discussion thread from the Developer Blog post that addresses the transferring of a Vanity URL to an existing Fan Page, and user questions around this. See below….
On Friday, Dec 9, 2011, Facebook announced that as of February 1, 2012 they are removing App Profile Pages, to be replaced by a much easier method of adding apps to pages.
Today, we are announcing that we will remove all App Profile Pages on February 1st, 2012. Though similar in appearance, the automatically generated App Profile Pages differ in features from traditional Facebook Pages, and over time the inconsistencies between the two, such as different Insights, APIs, and distribution channels, have become more apparent.
(See the discussion with Facebook’s Cat Lee, below….)
What takes the place of an existing App Profile Page?
You’ll need to migrate your App Profile Page to “an existing Facebook Page with the same name and of Product/App category.”
If you are an admin of an eligible Facebook Page (must be of the Product/App category and match the app name), you will be prompted with the ability to transfer Likes to this Page. Transferring Likes will give you the ability to publish updates to these users from your new Facebook Page as you do today.
Please note that we will only transfer Likes, and not the content of these Pages. Before you go through the migration process, please ensure you have downloaded all photos, posts, Insights, and any other material that you want to keep. Once you hit the migrate button, the App Profile Page will be deleted.
How does this work for new Facebook Apps?
When you are setting up your new App, you will no longer automatically get an App Profile Page. Instead, you’ll have the option of setting up the App Page in the “Settings > Advanced > Contact Info” area of your Dev App.
However, you don’t have to set up a special Page for your App.
Benefit: Now you can place a “Add App to My Page” dialog on any Web page or Page Tab
Instead of setting up a special App Profile Page, you can now embed an “Add App to My Page” (or whatever dialog you want) on your Facebook Page tabs or — better still — on your website.
Tab or Web page visitors can then add your App to their Fan Pages right from your Tab or Web page!
In this example, I used this code:
<a href="#" onclick=window.open("http://www.facebook.com/dialog/pagetab?app_id=176217385757369&next=http://tabpressapp.phpfogapp.com/content/pages/","PageTab","width=800,height=500");>Add TabPress to Your Fan Page!</a>
to allow users to add our TabPress iFrame Page Tab App to your Fan Page from this article: Add TabPress to Your Fan Page!
What value do I use for the “next” URL parameter?
For the “next” parameter URL — which is where the user will be redirected after adding your App to a page — must be:
- The “Page Tab URL” or “Canvas URL” for your App, as specified in your App settings;
http://www.facebook.com/connect/login_success.html;http://www.facebook.com/(ONLY the home page! Fan Page URLs or Page Tab URLs WON’T work!)
Any other value will most likely result in the dreaded “Error 191″:
However, if you use one of the above URLs, you should have success.
If you just need to add your App to one Page
If your App is a Page Tab you only need to add to your Facebook Page, and not an App that you want to make available to multiple pages, you can simply navigate to this URL in your browser:
https://www.facebook.com/dialog/pagetab?app_id=YOUR_APP_ID&next=YOUR_URL
Replace “YOUR_APP_ID” with your App ID and “YOUR_URL” with your App’s Canvas URL, both of which values are available in your app settings.
You’ll see a page similar to this the one below when you navigate to that URL:
Simply select the Page to which you want to add the App, click “Add Page Tab” and it’s done!
Why doesn’t Facebook also provide an “Add to my Page” link in the Dev App area?
This is puzzling. Facebook has created a great feature — the ability to place an “Add to my Page” link on websites and Page tabs, and a way to create a URL that allows the creation of an Add to my Page right from the email!
But they should still provide a link, say in the Dev App area (where you create and edit your app), as well as add this feature. I am guessing they will do that.
A Discussion with Facebook’s Cat Lee about Migrating the App Profile Page to an Existing Fan Page and Transferring Likes
I decided to simply transcribe, and edit, this discussion thread on the Facebook Developer Blog. The commenters asked a number of great questions and Facebook’s Cat Lee did her best to answer them….
NOTE: I’ve added a detailed step-by-step tutorial on migrating your App Profile Page to a Facebook Page.
Mase Sameh: What if the Vanity URL of my app profile is the one that I want to use but the Fan Page I”ll be migrating to is already have a Vanity URL?
For example: My app profile is “facebook.com/MafiaWars” but my Fan Page that I’ll be migrating to is “facebook.com/MafiaWarsFans” and of course I’ll want to use “facebook.com/MafiaWars” as my official app page+profile?
Cat Lee: You will need to first lose the Vanity URL for the Fan Page to migrate the Vanity URL from the app to the Fan Page automatically.
Mase Sameh: Cat Lee Thanks for your reply. How can I “lose” the current vanity URL for the Fan Page?
Cat Lee: I’m sorry, I misspoke. Looking at this Facebook Help Center Q&A, it doesn’t seem possible to change/get rid of a username on an existing Page.
If you really want to keep the username of the App Profile Page, the only thing you can do is to create a new Facebook Page of category Product -> App without a Vanity URL and migrate the Likes there.
Mase Sameh: Wow! So I have to lose more than 27,600 likes my app Fan Page got over the last year because I can’t use the username I already got for my App Profile Page. So Zynga will also lose its Apps vanity URLs such as: “facebook.com/MafiaWars”, “MafiaWars2″, “FarmVille”, etc… just like the rest of us?
Please Cat, try to figure out a solution for this or let us decide which vanity URL we would like to use (the App Profile Page URL or the Fan Page).
Cat Lee: You don’t necessarily have to lose the Likes. We will transfer the likes, just without the Vanity URL.
Mase Sameh: I guess you’re missing my point. Let’s say my page is “facebook.com/AppFans” on which I have about 27,600 likes, because it’s the one I used on my website and every other place to gather the fans.
But the App Profile Page is “facebook.com/App” which got about 6,000 likes but it also has the best vanity URL for my app which is the app name itself.
I want to migrate to the Page with 27,600 likes but will use the vanity URL of the App Profile Page (“AppName”). Again, it’s the same as Zynga did with its first games like “MafiaWarsFans” but the App Profile Page is “MafiaWars” so will Zynga lose the vanity URL “MafiaWars” or will it lose all the fans on “MafiaWarsFan”s just to use the App vanity URL “MafiaWars”?
Phoxer Roberto Baglieri: Cat Lee But we will lose the “username (vanity URL)” of the apps.. like @Mase Sameh says???.
Israel González Fernández:
Cat Lee Couldn’t agree more with Mase…let us at least decide which of our vanity URLs (the app’s or the page’s) we’d like to keep!
Cat Lee: Why not create a new Page for the app itself and transfer the vanity URL along with the Likes? This seems no different than maintaining the App Profile Page along with the Facebook Page that you already have.
Mase Sameh: Cat Lee – Because this is a golden opportunity for all developers to unite both their Fan Page and App Profile Page under one page. Unfortunately, most of developers including Zynga choose to use the app name for the App Profile Page and not the Fan Page.
Cat, I think it will be very easy to give developers the possibility to choose between one of the two vanity URLs. Regarding you suggestion, if you suggest that we have two pages if we want to keep our app vanity URL why is facebook removing profile pages in the first place?
Israel González Fernández: Cat Lee, Are you suggesting we create a third Facebook page just to transfer the App Profile Page’s vanity URL? The whole problem comes when developers already have both an App Profile Page and a Fan Page for the app fans. If we transfer App Profile Page stuff to the Fan Page we lose our preferred vanity URL (the app’s). And if we create a different page, then we can transfer the vanity URL from the app’s one but then we would lose all the fans we already have in the Fan Page!
Where is the “Transfer Likes” Feature?
Phoxer Roberto Baglieri: Cat, I have made a new app (page) with the same name of my app. but I can’t see the button to transfer “likes” to the new app page.. how to do that?
Cat Lee: This feature is slowly rolling out to all developers. If you don’t see the banner, it’s probably because it hasn’t rolled out to you yet. You’ll be seeing it in the coming weeks.
Join the Discussion!
I’m sure there will be lots of questions around this as it’s rolled out. I’ll update this article as the situation develops. And feel free to post questions or comments here.
Additional References
Facebook Developer Blog article on how to migrate your App Profile Page.
How does this affect those of us who don’t publish our apps to the general public? All the extra content I develop for brand pages gets created as apps, but since they’re only used on the brand pages, I don’t care about the profile page.
What I DO care about is having an easy way to add the app to my brand page. How will this be handled? I don’t want to make details of my apps available to anyone else.
As I understand your question, Savannah, you can just use the second method I outlined above, where the URL to add the App can be accessed directly via a bookmark in your browser.
(BTW, This is a good question, and I modified this article to be more clear about this. Thanks!
How to do that with the new app???
where to put this code ? In my html based created page or somewhere else?
Add TabPress to Your Fan Page
Please help
This article answers that question, Ijaz. The code is just JavaScript and HTML. You just have to make sure you correctly enter your App ID and that the “next=YOUR-URL” is the canvas page for your App, as specified in your App settings.
Currently, each App has its own App Profile Page where the “Add to my Page” link is. The new way is as I explain above.
Alternately you could create your own unpublished URL (set to NOINDEX, NOFOLLOW) and enter the URLs for all your Apps.
That is, if I understand your question
I think I now understand your question, Savannah. The bother of creating a URL with the parameters, as opposed to Facebook just automatically creating an App Profile Page where you can go and simply click “Add to my Page,” right?
Yes, that is a drag, as it creates more work for you. I don’t believe Facebook has addressed that yet. The only say “To add an app to a Page, Page admins relied on the ‘Add to my Page’ link found on App Profile Pages. For your convenience, we are providing an ‘Add to Page’ dialog that you can now embed on your website, app, or Page tab.”
It seems an “Add to My Page” link right in your App would be helpful.
Let me know what you figure out.
All I want to do is embed an outside source HTML page into my fan page. I have done this twice before, and need another one. This changed everything. I filled out the page tab in the basic info just like before…But without the profile button, it will not let me add it to my fan page. www.facebook.com/ictchaser
Can someone please give me steps of what I need to do?
James, As this article describes, you don’t really need a “profile button” (do you mean an “Add to my Page” button?) to add your Page Tab app to a fan page. Or perhaps I’m misunderstanding your question?
By “embed an outside source HTML page into my fan page” I assume you mean create a Page Tab app, right?
Hi Tim. Let me explain further. I have a FB fan page at http://www.facebook.com/ictchaser ….it is for my live streaming of severe weather. If you look at my tabs, I have two chaser already set up. I have several chasers that stream for me and was in the process of getting everyone set up.
In the past, I would just create an outside HTML page on my website that was 520 pix wide, create a tab page in the developer area, and then go into the profile of the “app” and add it to the fan page. Then go into the fan page, and add the application so the embeded Iframe page would show.
Now, I have no idea where to put the code, or how to add the iframe page. The external page I am working on is http://www.ictchaser.com/fbjor.html or https://jmmagyar.dot5hosting.com/fbjor.html for the secure side.
Very simple page, within the 520 pix, etc. How in the world do I get this into the fan page as a tab???
James, If your using the fbjor.html for the “Canvas URL” for your Page Tab app, that may be the issue. Try changing the name to “index.php”.
okay, then I guess I would need to create different directories for each chaser. Thank you for the information.
Let me know how it works out for you, James.
I was able to force the entire link including the html file ext. This was using the Page tab in developer and not the App where you need the PHP or open ended dir. So all in all success. Thanks again!
Thanks for the update, James, and I’m glad you found success!
Just go here:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Add-App-To-Fan-Page/267581953297317
I guess soon you have to update “iframe fanpage tutorial” according to updated application issue. so that we can know everything form scratch.
Yup. When creating Facebook tutorials, updating is an ongoing process!
I want to be able to add an app to a Fan Page, so that it is used as a landing page for example. However I have no idea how to do that after they removed the “Add to your page” button. Where should the code provided by you and Facebook be added in order to get that dialog box? In the index.html file or in a completely new file?
The code you should add is just HTML and JavaScript. You can add it to any Web page or Page Tab.
But I will be the only one who is going to be able to see the dialog box, right? I mean that this dialog box won’t appear every time someone opens the page tab?
If you want to limit who sees your Add to my Page link for your App, then put it on a page that’s not publicly available or just email the link to those to whom you’d like to provide the app.
Hi, Can you please tell about javascript ? i am not getting my popup to be opened on click
i created a easy form to add apps to the pages you administer
this is the link : https://admine.eu/addapp.html
One thing you need to fix is to remove the semicolon after “next” in the URL.
Make sure the value of “next” is the URL for your canvas page for the App ID. Not the Facebook URL (apps.facebook.com) but the URL where you are hosting the canvas/index page for your app. This would be the “Canvas URL” value in your App settings.
Make sure the “next” URL is the “Canvas URL” value in your App settings. “apptab.html” isn’t your Canvas URL”.
Thank you, that’s great. All fixed now. Appreciate the help.
Okay, I’m freakin lost. I followed your instructions and came up with this URL https://www.facebook.com/dialog/pagetab?app_id=159436477490705&display=popup&next=http://gatorbiz.com/fp/valuehound/
And I still get the error 191. I’m so tired of Facebook “making things easier” cause what was a 5 second process has become an hour long headache.
Please help!
You’re closer than you think, Jim. If you remove those semicolons after “display” and “next” in the URLs, your link works fine. I’m not sure how those semicolons crept in there, as they’re not present in my examples.
Thank you very much for the article, I struggled with trying to add my app to a page using the new system but your article provided the solution, thanks again.
thank you tim for the 10000000 time.
dont know what we’ll do without you
https://www.facebook.com/dialog/pagetab?app_id=YOUR_APP_ID&next=YOUR_URL
You have to be very careful entering the YOUR-URL portion which is the same as your secured canvas url on your app or you will get the error above.
So far this is the easiest way to add the app as a page tab now. Ridiculously silly way but works.
Brian Hanson
http://www.customtwit.com
Precisely, Brian. Thanks for reiterating that, as it’s the piece that will most likely trip people up. Hopefully, I’ve called that out loud enough in this article!
Part from the great write up by Tim Ware, this one did the trick for me. I needed the app. to be on a fanpage i administer.
Btw in general when does a customer have a page and when would he add our app to his page??? or is this merely “b-to-b”?
I mean as a customer i just like a page or i push a add to and i see this:
https://www.facebook.com/add.php?api_key=xxxx&pages
is this the equivalent as Brian Hanson’s but then for profile pages??
You only need to create a page for your app if you intend to make it available to multiple users. For simply creating and adding a Page Tab to your fan page, you really don’t need a App Page.
Hi Tim – all i want to do is add Page tabs with my own content to my FB pages – in the past, i could do so with the Static FBML app, but i cant access this anymore – and i didn’t need to buy ssl certs to use that app either, but now it looks like they’re saying to use an iframe app which you will need an ssl cert for? is this true? – i have multiple FB Pages so its important that i dont get hit with multiple ssl charges – can you confirm and explain how to add Page tabs without having to pay ssl charges – i’m not a developer – all i want to do is add content to my FB Pages, ahhhhhh!
You should get an account at a hosting provider, and get a security certificate for your domain. Then just host the index pages for all your apps under your own domain in different subdirectories.
Thank you!! Worked like a charm. As today 22/12 facebook dev does not show the link view app page and the option of add to my page anymore!. But this saved the day. Thanks
Brian, thanks so much for posting this little comment b/c it helped me remember to add the trailing slash after my Secure App Canvas URL. Dude, after hours and hours and heartache, I got it. Thank you so much to HyperArts and Brian Hanson!
Keep getting the 191 error on my app… I am so confused as to why my redirect_uri isn’t working with this particular app I created but works with others. Please can anyone help me out! Thanks!
https://www.facebook.com/dialog/pagetab?app_id=291841714192154&display=popup&next=http://offerpop.com/Contest.psp?c=54228&u=14112&a=150794994973742&p=146592022048720&rest=1
In the URL, remove the semicolons after “display” and “next” (before the equal signs). Did you add those, or perhaps some program or browser you’re using adds them?
And make sure the “next” URL is either the “Canvas URL” or “Page Tab URL” from your App settings.
Semicolons? I dont see any semi colons… all i see is display=popup&next=Canvas URL
Hmmm. I see a semicolon after “&next” in your example.
Please let me know if you didn’t include that. If such is the case, then it’s getting added on my end, possibly the Disqus commenting system!
Yah I did not add that. Its funny because my other test pages work with this exact method! But this one isn’t for some reason and im getting some 191 error.
Hi again. I finally got it. Just open the html in your browser and I was able to add the app to my page. BUT! Now I see the tab page but not the page itself, it shows up blank. I checked and all the info is as in the canvas URL etc. here’s my index.php:
window.fbAsyncInit – function() {
FB.Canvas.setSize() ;
}
We are Fizgig Studio
FB.init((
appId: ’275598025824093′,
status: true,
cookie: true,
xfbml: true
));
Please don’t provide your code for your tab for us to troubleshoot! We can be hired to do this kind of work, but our help here is quick & dirty (and often quite effective!).
Thanks. Sorry.
No worries. Just needed to make that clear
The solution to your problem is either in the article or comments. Not sure why the 100 error.
I’m seeing that a number of users trying to create the properly formatted URL for adding to page are somehow ending up with a semicolon after “display” and “next”. If you see this, remove it.
As usual you are the best resource!
I was struggling with adding newly created app to page, totally agree: ”But they should still provide a link, say in the Dev App area (…) I am guessing they will do that.”
I just added to my article a great discussion thread about this that’s occurring on the Developer Blog, where Facebook’s Cat Lee answers user questions about this. You’ll glean from this discussion that there may not be a workaround. But definitely read the thread!
I honestly never, ever, understood the meaning of App Profile Pages. I am glad they are getting rid of them.
Amen!
You sir, are a life saver! Couldn’t find this info anywhere.
Thank you very much.
I was able to successfully add ONE app to a Page using the new URL method, but that was yesterday and today it’s not working for me or others that I’ve had try it.
Here is one of the URLs: https://www.facebook.com/dialog/pagetab?app_id=248535508545460&next=https://healcode.com/iframe/prospects/xt1371r9pu/
Now, it appears as though everything works correctly, but then the app does not appear on the Facebook Page you select!Is anyone else having issues with this, or is there something I’m missing?
Hi Andy. Did you edit your comment since originally posting it? The first time I tested it, the URL had a semicolon character between “&next” and the “=” sign, but now it doesn’t.
I’m seeing that renegade semicolon causing problems for a number of folks, and I’m not sure how or when it’s getting inserted.
But, per my note in red, above, if that semicolon is removed, the URLs usually work unless there’s another syntax error or App ID or URL mistake.
If you have any insight into that semicolon, please share it here! Thanks.
This is really confusing. I’m a web designer and I know nothing about programming terms like ‘canvas’, ‘auth’, ‘namespace’. I just wanna add custom tab into my Page that link to my own server. I already have the SSL. How do I do that? Could you show to us?
Use the navigation in this blog to find everything you need. It’s all here.
I’d like to make the new app my Facebook Community’s “default landing page”, but it does not show up in the dropdown. Can you help?
You, as the page admin, and those who are fans of your page (or is it a Community Page?) will default to the Wall, by design. You can only set a default landing tab for non-fans.
Linda, first, Facebook certainly won’t be removing apps and custom tabs. They’re just getting rid of the App Profile Pages.
Regarding the migration of your app profile to an existing page, or creating a new page, I suggest you read the exchange above between users and Cat Lee.
Hi Tim, perhaps adding a link to that dialogue between the users and Cat Lee would be helpful here. I create custom landing pages for clients and thought the process for adding custom tabs was changing as well…
It’s right in my article, Joanne … at the end …. a transcript.
Hi Tim, our saver,
I spend a week in front of the monitor to figure out how to add apps
I can’t add any apps on my page. When I go edit my page and go to http://deveoplers.facebook.com click ”Apps”, the windows is just empty and go back to the landing page (www.facebook.com/candypanitasia) but in my old www.facebook.com/ennovate.gadgets is work
2. in my old facebook, it ask me “Do you have a Chinese name?”
but in my new candypaintasia , it didn’t ask at all, any glue ?
many tks
For #1, please read this article on the removal of the App Profile Page and how to now add an app to your page.
As for #2, I don’t know the answer to that one.
After hours of reading, this is how you add your app to your fanpage:
Adding an App to a Page
Facebook Page administrators can add your app directly to their Page by navigating to the following URL:
http://www.facebook.com/dialog/pagetab?app_id=YOUR_APP_ID&next=YOUR_URL, where YOUR_APP_ID and YOUR_URL can be found in your app settings.
Hi Ole. I see that semicolon after “&next”. Get rid of it and it should work.
It’d be great if you could post here exactly how you got that URL (from my post, I assume) and where that semicolon gets introduced. It’s happened with a number of people and I’d love to know where it’s coming from!
Thanks.
I have an APP setup through AppBank, but it’s been out there since 2009, if I remember correctly. I don’t (now) remember if it’s considered a Product/App category or not. I’ve slept since I set it up. How do I know if this change will effect my App or not? I have over 1900 photos (gifts) posted and don’t want to lose them.
Thanks SO MUCH if not for your piece of code from Add TabPress to Your Fan Page!, I’d have never figured it out.
I got the option to “migrate” my app page. But I did not create new fan page under Brand product category. Now I lost my old app fan page..what should I do? there is no way to conact fb..
I still don’t have the migrate box on my app’s page, and can’t figure out how to transfer the users to a normal page. What magic mojo must I work to get that stupid migrate banner to appear?
me to. what can we do ? ı dont no
It will show up when Facebook rolls it out for you. They’re rolling it out gradually, as Cat Lee says at the end of this post:
“This feature is slowly rolling out to all developers. If you don’t see the banner, it’s probably because it hasn’t rolled out to you yet. You’ll be seeing it in the coming weeks.”
So you’ll just have to be patient.
thanks for answer Mr. Tim
Did you read to the end of the post?
Facebook’s Cat Lee says “This feature is slowly rolling out to all developers. If you don’t see the banner, it’s probably because it hasn’t rolled out to you yet. You’ll be seeing it in the coming weeks.”
https://www.facebook.com/dialog/pagetab?app_id=159436477490705&display=popup&next=http://gatorbiz.com/fp/valuehound/
Thanks Tim, I found this post a lot easier to digest, as well as all in one place. I hope everybody reads this article.
Me too
App Profile page disappeared without migrating fans to any other page.
Hi, I manage the fan page (http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=68386086163)
After i got the notification, i created another fan page to migrate the likes to, but unfortunately nothing has migrated and my more than 55000 fans have gone missing. could you please tell me how to restore the prev page or get all fans back on the new page. really urgently need ur help on this.
facebook@pvrcinemas.com
Hey Tim, what happens when ur app profile page disappears without migrating fans to another page?? Do you loose all ur fans? or is there a way to restore the prev page or seek FB developers help to migrate fans manually?
Hey Tim! I am in NO way a developer of any sort, besides the written word, so a lot of this befuddles me. My blog can be found here at: http://www.siliconvalleybachelor.com/ and I am having one heck of a time understanding what is going on. I created another page, like they told me under the right category, and then when I pressed “migrate” it said it couldn’t find a page. I migrated anyhow.
Anyhow, if you click the FB app box on my blog it takes you full-circle back to the blog. I’m not sure what I should do now. Any idea?
i have faced a similar bug here. and now i am left with a fresh page with no fans. all my fans and the app profile page has just disappeared. some1 please guide us
My
question is do users always have a guaranteed way to get to a “Block
App” link, even if they currently don’t use the app? Currently, due to
redirects, that is not always the case!
Based on the info you shared here I have created a FREE easy to use tool that allows anyone to add an app to a fan page.
And the best place to install this tool is a Facebook fan page:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Add-App-To-Fan-Page/267581953297317
Just enter your app ID and click the button…
Make sure that you already have properly configured your Page Tab inside your app before using this tool.
The “next” URL is set to Facebook home page.
The only “price” you’ll ever pay for using this is a click on the like button
Hi, today I’m seeing this message on my app and now I’ve a few questions before I proceeed.
1st, it says… “Please note that we will only transfer Likes, and not the content of these Pages. Before you go through the migration process, please ensure you have downloaded all photos, posts, Insights, and any other material that you want to keep. Once you hit the migrate button, the App Profile Page will be deleted.”
How/Where can I download this stuff (photos, wall posts, etc.)?
Now, I do have a facebook fan page (Category: Products/Trademarks) with no vanity url, I’ll of course want to keep my vanity url from my app on my Facebook Fan Page. I dont want to mess it up so any help will be appreciate it.
Thanks for your help/guidence on this matter in order to prevent data loss, likes and the Vanity url I’m trying to keep.
If you don’t have any of those assets on your App Profile page, then you’ve nothing to worry about.
Thanks for your quick answer Tim. I do have lots of wall post that I’ll like to keep and move (if possible) to my Facebook Fan page, is that possible?
I don’t think so.
So, this its for the landing page (new facebook fan page) or the app profile page?
“Before you go through the migration process, please ensure you have downloaded all photos, posts, Insights, and any other material that you want to keep”
It’s for the page that will go away, the App Profile, I believe.
I see you are a guru in the whole subject of Facebook and am writing to see if you can help me with my problem.
I have a WordPress blog and in each of my blog posts I have a Like button. On the other hand, my blog has a Fan Page on Facebook and all my blog’s posts are posted on the Facebook Fan Page. The problem is that in the blog, the posts’s “Like Button” has a count, but in the Fan Page, the same posts have a different count in the Like button.
So, what I want the count is the same for the posts in the blog and fan page, and when someone clicks the “Like Button” in the blog or fan page, automatically reflect the change in the other.
This is my blog URL: http://applediario.com
This is my blog’s Fan Page in Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/applediario
Sorry, I don’t have the time to troubleshoot this for you.
I have some experience where creating fan page and then creating an application to run my custom tab through iframe. I’m confused now with the fb “add to pages” changes and dont think i fully understand how to create a new pages from scratch.
Do you have create the application then use the “create page” option within it or just create the fan pages as usual..create several applications as usual to be added as tabs then use the new dialog code to add these application to the page(s)?
You just create the apps as you always had. Then you can create an app page for your app, or not. If you are just creating the app as a Page Tab for your own fan page, then you don’t need to have an “Add to my Page” link anywhere. Just follow the instructions here to create the link on the fly.
What if you had a business page first, and now you created an app for that business? How do you now associate the business page with the app so your business page now has the ‘Go To App’ button available? I don’t want to create a new page, since one already exists..
I believe you can only add custom apps to Business Pages that are associated with a Personal Profile. But either way, Facebook has yet to put a “Add to My Page” link to the App Settings.
They probably include an Add to My Page link right in your app area. I agree it seems like an oversight to not have that and instead make us jump through hoops to add the app to a page.
Luke, If you have a Page Tab you created, the “canvas URL” is the URL for the iFramed page that contains the content for your tab.
If you mean Facebook’s HTTPS requirement for Page Tab canvas pages and assets, that’s already a requirement. Otherwise, I don’t understand your question, Fred.
Fred, this article *is* a step-by-step explanation of how to create the URL to add an app to a page. If you can’t follow it, I guess you’ll have to find another explanation somewhere. Je suis désolé!
Jim, I don’t quite understand what you’re saying, and don’t have the bandwidth to help your troubleshoot. My company does provide hourly consulting, so you might want to go that route to get this solved.
Luke, the code for your URL was a mess. I just removed a lot of extra stuff at the end and it worked fine: https://www.facebook.com/dialog/pagetab?app_id=338969992799837&display=popup&next=https://onlinebuildingblocks.com/facebook/integrative-wellness/
and it works fine.
Unfortunately, the commenting service this blog uses — Disqus — truncates how URLs are displayed and this can’t be changed!
So here it is but with spaces so there’s no truncating:
http://www.facebook.com / dialog / pagetab?app_id=338969992799837&next=https://onlinebuildingblocks.com / facebook/ integrative-wellness/
We have a tutorial on this blog for creating an iFrame page tab which is the only way you can have a custom icon.
We also have a tutorial for fan-gating — displaying different tab content for fans and for non-fans.
I am so freaking lost. Why does Facebook have to do this. Just when I learned how to add pages with tabs to my fan pages, they have to thoroughly confuse me. I’m not a developer and don’t have the money for a developer. I’ve just about had it with Facebook.
Yes. I understand. You just have to accept that Facebook is a huge and evolving platform in territory that is new (like having 800M+ users), and that these changes will continue to be rolled out. And they have to keep ahead of the competition (read: Google). Any other platform would have to do the same. So you’re just gonna have to get used to it.
You’re not going to automatically see your app on the Facebook Page you migrate the App Profile Page to. Unless I don’t understand your question?
How about a URL to your Facebook Page that was the migration target.
Sorry, I must have confused you a bit. What I’m trying to do is create a new app and then add the app to a selected page. Obviously, the “Add to Page” button is gone, so I did as described above by Brian.
However, what happens is I can go through this process and the app shows up on the canvas page (http://apps.facebook.com/name_of_app), but not on the actual page that I add the app to. The tab is there, but the contents are blank.
Hmm. If the tab’s there but canvas is blank then it’s some problem with your App. Is it hosted securely, under HTTPS?
Yes. I’m not sure what’s going on because it’s the same format I’ve used in the past and all my other apps are fine. It only occurs when I try to create a new app.
God I hate Facebook sometimes…just leave the site alone!!
Alright…I’m guessing it’s a Facebook bug or something. I took an app that’s currently working and replicated it on the “new” system, only to get the same results. The app will show up on the canvas page, but not on the actual page as a tab. Again, the contents are just blank when you click on the name/icon on the lefthand side of the page.
I don’t understand what’s going on.
If you’d send along the URL of the page with tab, I’d be glad to have a look.
I have followed your tutorials on setting up a Facebook tab app for pages and everything was working fine up until a few days ago. Now none of the content is showing under the tab on the page the app was added to. I have SSL on the server and all of the settings for the app are correct. Any suggestions? The Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/kofassociates/app_320296621390425
The canvas URL is working just fine though https://apps.facebook.com/kofassociates/
This really has me baffled. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated. And thanks for the great blog articles on Facebook app for page tabs.
Greetings,
I am out of the office and unable to check email. If you have a request please contact:
Tim Ware : T1mware@hyperarts.com
Many thanks,
Marcy
I’m seeing the tab fine.
Greetings,
I am out of the office and unable to check email. If you have a request please contact:
Tim Ware : T1mware@hyperarts.com
Many thanks,
Marcy
So I now realize that the tab content is only visible when I’m not logged into Facebook under my personal account. The only conclusion is that it has something to do with being the admin of the page. Strange.
Greetings,
I am out of the office and unable to check email. If you have a request please contact:
Tim Ware : T1mware@hyperarts.com
Many thanks,
Marcy
Yippie! Was going berzonkers. Thanks
Great post. I’m a simpleton with a blog using social plugins. Wondering how this affects a simple website with a bare bones app ID just for the sake of using Facebook Comments social plugin. I have OGP enabled and added to every page of my site. I use like buttons as well.
Do the new changes allow me to have the like buttons on my blog directly associate with my blog’s fan page so that when someone likes a post on my blog, they will like the fan page as well? As I understood it, used to be that if they clicked the like button they were in effect liking the app profile page?
I’m just now setting this up. Wondering how to proceed and if that assessment is correct.
http://www.sethellsworth.com
Right now I have these two metadata in the open graph protocol on my site:
Wondering what to do to utilize the power of these changes.
What a user is Liking when they click a Like button on your website depends on how you’ve set it up. If it’s a page on your website or other URL that you own. But you can’t have a user Like a blog post and have that automatically Like your fan page, which would be sleezy & unethical.
The removal of the App Profile Page should have no effect at all on your fan page or your social plugins.
Thanks Tim! That clears it up nicely.
I don’t think you have to worry about Facebook deleting your fan pages.
The URL code I provided is how Facebook says to do it.
Thanks for your good work Tim, this has been really helpful
You’re most certainly welcome!
Dear Admin,
You have written “NOTE: The URL for your old App Profile Page will forward to your new Page after you’ve successfully migrated.” but now App profile Page is not forwarding to new page. .
App Profile Page: http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=185151048194026
New Page: http://www.facebook.com/saral.nepali.calendar
Please help
Thanks so much for this URL. I would have had no clue what was going on & how to get my custom apps added to a page w/o this article. I couldn’t figure out what the heck they did with the Add App button. As a geek-wannabe, I say thank goodness for the true geeks who help the rest of us out!
Thanks for the kind words, Laura!
Thanks alot!
I had created my iframe but I could not see on it’s prrofile where to ADD it on my fanpage& with the URL you gave it helped me add it on my fanpage.
thanks alot!
I am not sure what I am doing wrong. I put your code in and was able to add it to my page but when I click on the the tab I get this message with nothing else showing up:
Method Not Allowed
The requested method POST is not allowed for the URL /my_website_url
Please help
It sounds like you’re hosting your app’s index page on a server that doesn’t allow POSTs. If you’re hosting it on Amazon Web Services S3, you should know you CAN’T host the index page there, just all the other assets. AWS doesn’t allow POSTs.
This may be already answered but still want to ask to be sure. I have created a new app with the url app.facebook.com/newapp. How do i go to existing page/s that i administer to add a link on the left hand side navigation which will take users to app.facebook.com/newpage. I don’t want a page tab. Just want to direct people to the correct app page itself because of design consideration. Can’t seem to find anything in settings to do this. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks.
You can have a custom iFrame tab that just redirects users to whatever URL you want.
You can read this article on redirecting using PHP.
Be aware that it’s not a great user experience when they click a tab in your Page’s left nav and are launched off your page.
Thanks Tim. Will take a look at this. Yes, not a a preferred user experience. Another approach i have seen is a two click approach. Page tab brings you to a static page with a link to the app.facebook.com/app in middle of the page usually thru a call to action image.
Have you or someone else compared when is it appropriate to have just an app page (apps.facebook,com/app) vs. Facebook page. In our circumstance, the page does not offer enough width for the iframe embedded page (page offers 520 pix whereas canvas offers 740 pix by default). Are there any other considerations to choose Facebook page vs Facebook app?
Some want to keep users on their page but then you’re stuck with the 520px width max.
But at least if you send users to an app’s page, they’re still on Facebook.
It’s a tradeoff, and the choice is yours
Thank you sir!
Hi!! I do everything but it says that my page is deleted…but i just created my page 2days ago (23/02) under the new rules and following your tuto. It was working great could see my page but now i get this error “page not found” http://www.facebook.com/pages/Patricia-Community/399794670037616?sk=app_331829246854859
does anyone have it as well??
thanks,
patricia.
I looked at your Page, although your URL has the wrong Page ID. It *should* be “115109551899537″, not “399794670037616″.
The Page I see doesn’t have a custom tab, so I’m not sure what the App ID “331829246854859″ is.
I created my new app and added it to an existing page using the following: http://facebook.com/add.php?api_key=APP_ID&pages=1&page=PAGE_ID
Yesterday and today my page keeps dropping out. When I try and go to the page i get the following error:
“The page you requested was not found” You may have clicked an expired link or mistyped the address. (see screen shot for rest of error message)
Has anyone else had the same problem?
Thanks Tim,
Anyway i’m just wondering with the new timeline, will it have the same function? I heard that we can’t set the landing page and there are many more disadvantage. Can you give feedback or maybe a blog on this topic? Thanks
It’s too late to migrate any App Profile Pages. Here’s what Facebook now says:
“App Profile Pages are now deprecated. We recommend updating any links that you have shared to your App Profile Page to point to your new target Page or app. Please save any content or Insights that you wish to keep. This content is accessible via the Graph API with any valid access token. For additional information, please review this post: https://developers.facebook.com/blog/post/2012/02/01/how-to–migrate-your-app-profile-page/”
You now can provide an “add to my Page” URL via email, per instructions on this post, or an “Add to my Page” link on your website or custom Facebook tab.
Ok i’m officially confuse now. Actually i’m referreing to the Fanpage with custom tab. Does the above statement by facebook means we cant have any custom iframe fanpage anymore?
No. It just means there are NO MORE App Profile Pages. App Admins can create links or send URLs to facilitate others adding their app to their Pages.
Yup, you got it!
I’m in a fix now. I just realized this. for now, all my clients cannot use my app. It used to work like this; after adding their pages to my app profile page, it generates your page id which I save ina database and later append the page id to my app id eg. http://www.facebook.com/pages/RetailTower/225259787489284?sk=app_185822428140776 Now this seems totally different and will have to figure out the best way to get this method implemented. Any help?
Tim, how are you?
We have this fan page:http://www.facebook.com/guiadomochilao
AND We have an app here:
https://apps.facebook.com/mochilao/
Is it possible to install a “Play now” button or a “Go to App” button on the fan page i’ve just mentioned?
I just need to my fan page users to know that now they can easily access the app.
You could create a page-tab app and the index page would just do a redirect to your app page. Facebook might not approve of this, but I think it would work.
thanks. I decided to create a page inside my app (advanced settings) and them used the “merge pages” features. Now I have an app and the welcome page for the same app with the play button. Perfect.
Hi,
First of all thanks a ton for the tuts…it was awesome..
However I am facing an issue while adding the app to the fan page…
Whenever I place this in the url https://www.facebook.com/dialog/pagetab?app_id=YOUR_APP_ID&next=YOUR_URL along with the details filled it says
”
Sorry, something went wrong.
We’re working on getting this fixed as soon as we can.”
Can anyone please help me with this????
Thanks in adv.
Pri
This is a known bug, which conveniently coincides with the removal of FBML, right when everyone is probably racing to add their iFrame page tab apps to meet the deadline! Here’s the Add to Page Bug Report.