Unfortunately, Facebook has decided to disable the ability to sign into Warzone accounts using a Facebook account.

Did you sign into your Warzone account with Facebook and can no longer sign in? If so, you need to follow these instructions to get access to your account again:

1. Visit the “Forgot password” page
2. Enter the email address you had tied to your Warzone account (probably the primary one of your Facebook account) and submit it
3. Open your email account, and look for the email from Warzone. Click the link in this email. (Check your spam folder if you don’t see it)
4. Enter your email address again, and make up a password.

From now on, please use your email/password combo to access your account.

If you have an issue with this process please email me at fizzer@warzone.com and I’ll do my best to help.

Why did this happen?

Facebook sent me an email six days ago saying they couldn’t find the Privacy Policy on the warzone website. Since Warzone already has a privacy policy, I sent them a link to it. I guess they just didn’t find it or something? I didn’t think anything of it.

Well they replied with a really confusing mail, saying they needed a privacy policy in my app, which has to be accessible by all users of my website, and is commonly found in the footer of my website. Huh? I asked for clarification, are they talking about the iOS/Android/Kindle app? The website? Or the Facebook app? (Facebook has an “app” which is really just an entry that points to my website, but they call it a Facebook App)

They also mentioned “A kind reminder that the current deadline for you to comply with our request is 2022-12-21 01:00:00 PST, or your app will be restricted. If you require an extension, please make a request before the current deadline expires.”. I responded asking for clarification. I pointed out that if they are requesting changes to the iOS/Android/Kindle app, I need more than six days to do that, since app updates are subject to lengthy review times by Apple, Google, and Amazon. I went ahead and requested an extension as they said I should.

They replied with a slightly less confusing email, saying now they were talking about the iOS/Android app. But they, again, say “Privacy Policy needs to be publicly available and easily accessible for all users from your Website” and “Some common locations are the footer of your site” which doesn’t make any sense for an app. But OK, I guess I’ll ignore those, and assume they’re talking about the app.

The Warzone app does link to Warzone’s privacy policy on the Google Play Store Page and the iOS page, however there’s no link to the privacy policy from within the app itself as nobody has ever requested one before. OK fine, I tell Facebook that I’ll add a button for this in the next app update. However, it’s impossible to get an app update out in the (now) five days remaining that they’re requesting. So I (again) request an extension. This is doubly true on the week before Christmas, as app store review times are lengthened. In fact, Apple has a advisory on their website saying they “anticipate high volume and reviews may take longer to complete” and to “Plan to send time-sensitive submissions early.” I’ve seen review times of 5+ weeks in the past, which is entirely out of my control. Along with my second extension request, I inform Facebook about all of this.

Well, Facebook doesn’t seem to care about any of that, and I guess they denied my extension requests. They now have disabled the Warzone Facebook login just a few days before Christmas, so players can no longer sign in with their Facebook accounts.

What’s even more insane is that they even disabled Facebook sign in on the Warzone website, which had the privacy policy all along exactly where they were asking for it to be! I have no idea why they’d disable that.

What am I doing about it?

The whole experience has me frustrated, as I try my best to maintain a working product, but I’m not sure what I could have done differently to keep the app working in this case. I understand it’s really frustrating for players who can’t sign in to their account, especially if they’re close to getting booted in a game. I’m just as mad about this as you are.

Facebook did give me a button to request an appeal, so I clicked that and filled out the form. However they say it can take 48 hours for the appeal. If anyone out there has friends or family that work at Facebook/Meta, it might be nice to consider sending them this to see if they can get the appeal process expeditated.

This isn’t the first time I’ve gotten grief over having Facebook sign-in option. I’ve considered removing it in the past, but it’s a difficult thing to do since I know there are players out there who rely on it, and I don’t want to leave them stranded. However, given that now Facebook has disabled it completely, I guess it’s a good time to remove it. So I plan to completely remove the Facebook sign in option from the website and app. If you previously used this, be sure to migrate using the steps above.

I will update this post if there are any further developments.