Workaround: Facebook chat on sailfish OS messages

Step-by-step guide to get Facebook chat working on Jolla Phone or Tablet Messages app

While Facebook updated their API, Jolla phone users lost some functionality on Facebook contact sync and messaging. Other services, like updating status and sharing photos are already back by now, and here's an easy workaround to keep up chatting as well. It's a Linux, you know.

Update: This workaround is not working any more since December 2015. Facebook doesn't accept XMPP login any more.

Workaround: Facebook chat - Instant Messaging is back

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Update, December 22, 2015:

Facebook has dropped XMPP login option, which also drops this workaround we were able to use for half a year. Currently the only way to make Facebook chat to work on Jolla Phone is to install an official Messenger (Android app).

Jolla has told earlier that they are in discussion with Facebook to bring back this functionality to Sailfish OS. Deprecation was related to Facebook API upgrade to version 2.0. However, it's been a while without news on this, and it seems like nothing is coming up after all. 

Update, November 18, 2015:

Tested to work also on Sailfish OS 2.0 (on Tablet and Phone). Using this workaround your FB contacts are automatically synced to the device, and they are accessible on both Sailfish OS People app and Android Contacts app (if one is installed). You can use the pre-installed Messages app directly to send Facebook messages.

Note: On the device, it is not required to add FB account or install Messenger app to use this workaround. We're using XMPP protocol.

Original post, the workaround: 

1. Go to your own Facebook profile in any browser, clicking your own name or thumbnail pic on Facebook
2. Click on your own profile photo, and find the page url (https://....). Your Facebook ID is the last series of numbers after the last dot (.) in the URL. Example:
   https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10203392994545623&set=a.1272965604297.32171.1834630811&type=3&theater
3. On Jolla, go to Settings > Accounts > pulley menu: Add account > XMPP. Create a new account with the following information:

• Username: YourFacebookID@chat.facebook.com
• Password: YourFacebookPassword
• Server Address: chat.facebook.com
• Port: 5222 (default)
• Ignore SSL errors: leave unchecked (default)

Save your new XMPP account and wait for a while, you should see your FB friends online soon. If you also have a Facebook account added, you can keep that active (on older Sailfish OS versions, just leave "Contacts" and "Instant messaging" options unchecked).

In this workaround you will send and receive all your Facebook chat messages using XMPP:

1. Using Messaging app (or People app) just as earlier, select a recipient and send a new message
2. Change the message type to XMPP by tapping/holding on the "Change type" text. There, you can also see a green line under the type if your contact is online on Facebook

Notes (updated):

• This workaround is tested to work on both Sailfish OS 1.0 and 2.0. On early versions (prior to 1.1.7) having Facebook account activated, you should leave "Instant messaging" and "Contacts" sync options unchecked on your Facebook account. You can still sync calendar, images, feeds and use sharing if you want.
• If you can't get this workaround working in the first time, or it stops working, try inactivating your Facebook account, deleting the xmpp account, rebooting the phone and creating it again. If you see yourself present on xmpp, things should work and you can activate the Facebook account again with those sync options mentioned above
• You can only send messages to people known by the phone, meaning that their FB contact information must be saved by the People app.
• If you receive a chat message from an unknown person, you might see just a numeric Facebook ID as the sender. You can save these contacts as new with a name, or link them to any existing contact.
• You can see all your online contacts in the People app by tapping the globe icon on the main page
• XMPP service on Jolla is still under development and should be considered as beta feature. In some cases you might run into some bugs while using that, for example your online status might be suddenly grey even when online

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Image: by Jer101jer, CC BY-SA 3.0
Published: 2015-06-08 16:41 UTC
Updated: 2015-12-22 00:20 UTC