Messenger Platform

User Profile API

The User Profile API allows you to use a Page-scoped ID (PSID) to retrieve user profile information that can be used to personalize the experience of people interacting with your Messenger.

Availability

To retrieve a user’s profile information, you need to have Advanced Access for the Business Asset User Profile Access feature. Some fields require additional permissions for access.

Though a PSID may be valid, in some cases it may not be able to be used to retrieve a person's profile information. For example PSIDs associated with Instant Games Pages are not accessible via the User Profile API.

User Opt-in

The following events will authorize your Messenger bot to access a person's profile information:

  • The person starts the conversation via a welcome screen and tapped the "Get Started" button.
  • The person starts the conversation by clicking a "Send to Messenger" button.
  • The person starts the conversation by sending a message.
  • The person starts the conversation by accepting a Page's message request.
  • Your Messenger bot uses the askPermission() function of the Messenger Extensions SDK in the webview to ask for the user_profile permission.
  • For Business apps, the Business Asset User Profile Access feature is additionally required, and can be applied for via App Review.

Some entry points allow apps to initiate a conversation without granting the app authorization to access the person's public profile. In those cases, the app will be granted permission to access the person's profile after the person replied to the initial message. Notable situations where a person may initiate a conversation with the app, but not authorize profile permission include the following:

Profile Unavailable

Currently, the User Profile API does not support retrieving profile information for Messenger accounts that were created using a phone number.

In this case, the API will return the error code 2018218 along with the message 'No profile available for this user.'

Available Profile Fields

Apps that have received App Review approval for the required feature and permission may retrieve the following fields for users who have made this information public and have opted-in to your Page.

Field Name Description Feature or Permission Required for Access

id

The user's PSID

Business Asset User Profile Access feature

name

The user's first and last name

Business Asset User Profile Access feature

first_name

First name

Business Asset User Profile Access feature

last_name

Last name

Business Asset User Profile Access feature

profile_pic

URL to the Profile picture. The URL will expire.

Business Asset User Profile Access feature

locale

Locale of the user on Facebook. For supported locale codes, see Supported Locales.

pages_user_locale permission

timezone

Timezone, number relative to GMT

pages_user_timezone permission

gender

Gender

pages_user_gender permission

Requesting feature access to user fields for the Page

  1. Go to Page Settings > Advanced Messaging
  2. Under 'Info About People' select the field and click the 'Request' button.

Retrieving a Person's Profile

To use the User Profile API, send a GET request with the profile fields you want for the person:

curl -X GET "https://graph.facebook.com/<PSID>?fields=first_name,last_name,profile_pic&access_token=<PAGE_ACCESS_TOKEN>"

If the app is able to access the person's profile, the User Profile API will return a JSON string with the requested fields from the person's profile.

{
  "first_name": "Peter",
  "last_name": "Chang",
  "profile_pic": "https://fbcdn-profile-a.akamaihd.net/hprofile-ak-xpf1/v/t1.0-1/p200x200/13055603_10105219398495383_8237637584159975445_n.jpg?oh=1d241d4b6d4dac50eaf9bb73288ea192&oe=57AF5C03&__gda__=1470213755_ab17c8c8e3a0a447fed3f272fa2179ce",
  "locale": "en_US",
  "timezone": -7,
  "gender": "male",
}

If the app is unable to access the person's profile, an empty object is returned.

See Also