iOS: Adding a Facebook Like button to a native iPhone app

Question

I would like to know whether it is possible to add a Facebook Like button to a native iPhone app. In the app, the user browses a business directory or deals. When they tap on an item to view the details, it would be nice to have a Facebook Like button that can be used to post the item to the user's Facebook page.

Facebook writes: "Currently, the Like button is only available in mobile web apps".

My app is a native app and not a web app, so therefore I assume it's not possible. However, I do assume that it is possible to mix native UI components on a screen along with web components and therefore it might be possible to implement the Like button, although I am not sure how you pass data from the native portion to the web portion.

If the only solution is a hack, then I won't implement it because at some point the hack will fail when Facebook alters their API.

Answer 1

read around SO a little, you get many leads. Here's one: Like button in iOS application

And a comment points to github.com/brow/FacebookLikeView

It has same caveats, but it seems there aren't any magic solutions.

There are these blogposts as well:

http://angelolloqui.blogspot.com/2010/11/facebook-like-button-on-ios.html

http://petersteinberger.com/2010/06/add-facebook-like-button-with-facebook-connect-iphone-sdk/

But not sure you get a native UIButton. Maybe you can open a webview in the background and emulate a click on it...

GL, update if you have some findings, Oded.