Odd Iphone problems with Facebook

Forar

I've noticed a few weird problems with my iphone while trying to use Facebook over the last few days.

I can view the main page, my profile and other people's profiles just fine.

However, if I try to use the Inbox, settings or play any of the games I'm accustomed to playing (Mafia Wars, for example), I just go to an Untitled page that stops loading and nothing shows up but a blank white screen.

Further baffling, this has been only happening at work, but when I tested it at home after plugging it into my computer, I was able to load up those pages just fine.

I've tried rebooting the phone (complete shut off with both the top and home buttons pressed), clearing the cache, history and cookies, and the damned thing still won't behave normally on Facebook.

Same thing happens if I try to use the Facebook app; where I used to be able to go to those game pages, now I can't, though it appears the message inbox is available.

Sure, I can live without my stupid facebook games during the day, but I find it baffling that I was able to do just about anything on my iphone that I could do at home for over 3 months, and now it's starting to crap itself on simple stuff.

Edit: also worth noting, when I try to click on the "try Facebook Lite" link at the top of the home page, it tells me that Safari cannot open that page at all.

Anyone had similar problems and/or know of a fix?

Edit 2: Logging out and signing back in hasn't helped either.

RUNN1NGMAN

Do those facebook pages use Flash? If so they won't run in Safari.

Have you updated the facebook app lately? Maybe you are running an old version.

Forar

The facebook app is up to date.

I believe the pages do use some flash, but that doesn't explain why I can't view them from work, but I can view them from home.

That's the part that baffles me. If there'd been something changed on the pages that meant they weren't viewable anymore, it'd make sense, but the inconsistancy (apparently) based on location is just weird.

Oh, and in case anyone's curious, I've been using the 3G feature instead of any wireless in the area, in case it were possible that some kind of filter or websense were affecting things.

FishMist

Wild stab in the dark: does your workplace use a web filtering service on their network? If so, could it be set up to block parts of Facebook?

Captain Vash

I have noticed on the iPhone Facebook app that if you try and access a page of Facebook the app doesn't cover, it will attempt to render it using the safari engine.

if this page is mostly flash, it will fail since the iPhone can not do flash.

the other thing I would think, is that while your work may not block Facebook it may block the servers of the games people play on Facebook, and.. while I'm not sure, I would guess that your iPhone DNS cached some of those redirects? I do not know how to clear DNS settings on the iPhone.

Forar

I don't think webfiltering would be an issue, since I'm using the 3G network, which is not controlled by my place of work, and I'd find it odd for Rogers as a collective to decide that Facebook apps, of all things, needed to be restricted wirelessly, while running quite happily on my home PC.

I tested it again last night, and noticed that while the iphone will open those pages while connected to the computer via USB, it will not open them on its own.

I have no idea what good connecting to the computer does.

The pages having more flash than the iphone can handle, however, does seem possible. I know Facebook has been doing some upgrading, and that the games I play have been being upgraded over the past couple of weeks. Perhaps they finally hit some saturation point of Flash (be it amount or complexity thereof) that the phone could no longer support. I used to play just fine, but whenever their little "would you like to buy points" things would come up, the phone would give me a "we don't support this level/type of Flash, blah blah blah" warning.

Oh well.

Captain Vash

the iphone doesn't do flash.
like at all.
the saturation point is "does this page have flash?" "yes".

Forar

And yet unexpectedly, it's loading the inbox and stupid games just fine today.

My iphone is very weird.