Facebook: You can't get there from here

[HoosierDaddy]

This is one of the strangest things I've seen in a major app.

My father's wife got a Windows tablet (Acer Switch 10) originally so she could Skype with her kids and grandkids. While she carries a Windows Phone she got as a gift, she has never used any other computing device.

Her kids told her to get on Facebook so I tried to set her up on it. FWIW, I always thought Facebook was a bit creepy so never used it myself. Anyway, I installed the Facebook app on the Windows tablet and fired it up. As expected it had a way to log on and what appeared to be an option at the bottom to sign up. But that option failed to do anything. No problem, I thought, just set up the account in IE and switch back to the app.

The web site tells you to enter either your phone number OR an email address. Since she has never used email, I chose to enter her Windows phone number. Badda bing badda boom, the account is set up. I open the app on the tablet and the only option is to enter the email address you used to create the account. Uh oh. I enter the number just in case they forgot to tell you you can, but no dice.

I go to her phone and install Facebook and the logon in that app accepts phone number or email. I get on a PC and the web site accepts phone number or email. Only on the tablet must you enter an email address.

I think that's a pretty dumb mistake in the app but figure I can get around it by logging on with the phone number on the phone or on a PC and ADD an email address for the account. Here's where my lack of exposure to Facebook comes in: I can't find any place to associate an email address with the account after logging on with the phone number.

Does anyone know first hand how to get to where she can use the Facebook app on her Windows tablet? The least desirable way would be to add an email address to her account because she doesn't use email and exageratingly says she'd rather die than use email. I'm sure once Facebook has an email address whatever unused account I specify (such as the placeholder email for her MS account) will start getting pounded with crap from Facebook. So the desired situation is to figure out how to log onto the tablet using the phone number used to create the #%$* Facebook account in the first place.

TIA

 

[sonekaka]

If you signed up using your phone number, facebook will issue an email address based on your username. For instance if your user name is first last, then your email for facebook would be last.first@facebook.com. In addition, you can add an email to your account by going to settings which is in the downward arrow ( above log out option using browser)

 

[HoosierDaddy]

If you signed up using your phone number, facebook will issue an email address based on your username. For instance if your user name is first last, then your email for facebook would be last.first@facebook.com. In addition, you can add an email to your account by going to settings which is in the downward arrow ( above log out option using browser)

Thanks a lot. I doubted that email address would work since there are multiple people with the same name already on Facebook. But I logged onto Facebook on a PC using her number and finally found where the assigned email was documented. It was first.last.n@facebook.com where n is a unique number. Unfortunately, you can't use that as your logon UNLESS you also add another email address at which point there is no need to use that email since it does nothing but forward to the address you added.

So now she will be able to use the Facebook app on her tablet logging in with an email address she will never use. This will not end well since she will NEVER see any emails going there and it could eventually exceed its capacity.

I realize very few people don't use email but its very bizarre that you can register and use Facebook on a PC or a phone without ever providing any email address but if you are on a tablet you must have a valid email address to use the app.

Again thanks a very lot!

They really ought to fix the bug in the tablet app that doesn't let you log on with your phone number. That would prevent people who registered with their phone number having to go thru this.