Although storage-hungry and occasionally glitchy, Facebook for iOS is arguably more reliable than it is on Android. However, it seems that’s not the case recently, especially after major iOS changes that introduced a no-tracking option and additional limitations for intrusive third-party apps. If Facebook is not loading on your iPhone or outright not working and crashing, make sure to check the instructions we provided below.
Table of contents:
- Restart your iPhone
- Check the network
- Check permissions
- Disable VPN or system-wide adblocker
- Log out and log in again to Facebook
- Reinstall Facebook
How do I fix Facebook not working on my iPhone?
If Facebook is not working on your iPhone, try restarting the device, and ensure that the Wi-Fi network is stable and that no adblocker or VPN is enabled. Also, check permissions and log out and log in again. The problem might as well be temporary and on Meta’s side, so have that in mind, too. Finally, you can reinstall Facebook and give it another try.
1. Restart your iPhone
The first thing you should do is restart your iPhone. Before that, you can force close the Facebook app from the Recents screen. In addition, ensure that your iPhone is up to date. Navigate to Settings > General > Software Update and check for available iOS updates.
If that does nothing, navigate to Down Detector and check for possible outages because Meta’s platforms (Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) are quite prone to issues. We can blame feature-stuffing and a lack of polish for it. And those outages are not always global or even regional. Sometimes Facebook isn’t working only on certain devices that run a specific app version. You can test this on your own by accessing the service on your PC or on another smartphone.
If Facebook is not down, but it’s still not loading on your iPhone, you should definitely check the network.
2. Check the network
This one is obvious because Facebook won’t load or fetch data without a Wi-Fi or cellular data connection. So, before moving to permissions, ensure that your iPhone is connected to a stable Wi-Fi network and, if you use Cellular, confirm that Facebook is allowed to use it. If all other apps work without issues on your network, move to the next step. If you do experience some connectivity issues on your iPhone, follow these instructions to sort it out:
- Restart your router.
- Allow usage of cellular data. Open Settings > Cellular and confirm that Facebook has access to Cellular Data.
- Disable Low Data Mode in Settings > Cellular > Cellular Data Options.
- Disable Private Wi-Fi Address in Settings > Wi-Fi > Your Network.
- Switch to a different Wi-Fi band, if available (from 2.4GHz to 5GHz or vice versa).
- Enable Airplane Mode and then disable it after a minute or so. Connect to the network again.
- Forget the network in Settings > Wi-Fi and connect again.
- Reset Network Settings in Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset >Reset Network Settings.
3. Check permissions
Besides Cellular data access, there are some other permissions that might cause Facebook to stop loading the feed. All necessary permissions can be found under Privacy & Security or in Settings > Facebook. Some users even recommend disabling Notification Grouping to avoid the “There was an error fetching the data” error. In addition, make sure that Facebook is allowed to refresh the content in the background.
Here’s what you need to do:
- Open Settings and then select Facebook.
- Enable Background App Refresh.
- Now, open Notifications and choose Notification Grouping.
- Choose Off.
- Restart your iPhone and check for improvements.
4. Disable VPN or system-wide adblocker
Some users suggest disabling VPN or system-wide adblocker like Blokada or NextDNS/AdGuard DNS. It seems that these affect Facebook for some reason. Of course, if you can’t live with ads in the app, you can use Facebook in Safari or any other browser that offers ad-blocking extensions.
The mere IP address change shouldn’t affect Facebook, but most premium VPNs include some ad-blocking and anti-tracking features that might interfere with iPhone apps. On the other hand, system-wide adblockers will obviously restrict ads on Facebook and this might cause the app to load slower or not load at all. You can disable VPN in Settings and tweak adblocker filters to exclude Facebook and then try again.
5. Log out and log in again to Facebook
You can also log out and log in again to Facebook. Users who tried this had mixed success, but it’s still worth a try. Hopefully, after you log in again, Facebook will start loading content on your iPhone once again without hiccups.
Here’s how to log out and log in again to Facebook on your iPhone:
- Open Facebook on your iPhone.
- Tap on the hamburger menu at the bottom right corner.
- Tap Log out at the bottom.
- Log in again with your credentials and check for improvements.
6. Reinstall Facebook
Finally, you can try reinstalling the Facebook app. There are some doubts that recent versions of Facebook have issues because of some changes in iOS 16.2. By reinstalling the app, you’ll automatically get the latest app version and, hopefully, the one that won’t trouble you anymore.
Here’s how to reinstall Facebook on your iPhone:
- Tap and hold on to the Facebook app shortcut on the Home Screen or in the App Library.
- Tap Remove App in the contextual menu.
- Then tap Delete App.
- Open App Store and download Facebook again.
Did you manage to solve the problem with Facebook not loading on your iPhone? Do you have any alternative solutions to recommend? Make sure to tell us in the comments below. Thank you for reading and we look forward to hearing from you.
){kind=link}