I can't say it's absolutely true, but when it comes to mobile word gaming, there's Scrabble people and then there's Words with Friends people. It feels segregational. Rarely does one play both. At least, that's what I see when it comes to my family and friends.
Everyone who loves Scrabble sticks with Scrabble, while those who just liked playing from time to time or never played at all veer towards Zynga's word clone. Me... I'm one of the rare few who plays both. If you're addicted to word games—any words games—how could you not?
The other day I finally decided to open my Words with Friends play to more of my online buddies, opting to connect to Facebook. It took me a good three months, but I finally did it, though not without some painful hiccups. I remember when I connected Scrabble to Facebook—very easy. Too bad Zynga couldn't have made it easy.
Problems Connecting Mobile to Facebook
First off, I thought it was quite intuitive what needed to be done. As long as you had the updated Words with Friends with the Facebook and Twitter connect options plainly visible, it seemed like a super easy task. Simply hit the "Facebook" sign and follow the instructions. For some, it is that easy. But for me and my iPhone 4, it definitely was not.
I immediately received the following error:
"Account Already Connected: This Facebook account has been connected to another user."
I don't know how this happened, because I never actually tried opening up Words with Friends on Facebook before trying this method, so I was very baffled by this error. But I took this as a sign to get on my computer, log-in to Facebook, and install the Facebook version. I figured it might have something to do with the fact that the email address I used to sign up with Words with Friends on mobile was different than my Facebook email address.
Problems Connecting Facebook to Mobile
So, I installed Words with Friends on Facebook and it immediately presented me with a popup message asking, "Are you playing on Mobile?". After clicking "Yes" it presented me with an option to sign in "using my email account instead" or my Facebook account. I figured that would be the obvious fix for this problem, so I entered in my email address and password for Words with Friends and pressed continue.
"Sorry, we could not verify that information. Please try again."
This was very frustrating. I know my email address was correct, as well as my password. Yet, just in case, I tried updating my password in the Words with Friends app on my iPhone by going to "Settings" and typing in my password again in the "New Password" and "Password (again)" spots. Then I pressed "Save And Close" and went back to Facebook on my computer to try connecting again.
"Sorry, we could not verify that information. Please try again."
I then tried deleting the Facebook app and reinstalling it, then going through the process again. This time, the "Are you playing on Mobile?" message did not automatically appear; I had to click on "Start a Game" and then press "Close" to get the popup message to appear (which is a very weird process). But again...
"Sorry, we could not verify that information. Please try again."
Okay, I uninstalled the Facebook app and reinstalled yet again, then when through the same steps to connect my Words with Friends email address, but this time I clicked on the "I forgot my password" link directly in Facebook to make sure it was kosher. Alas, no luck.
I then when back to the iPhone app and tried to connect to Facebook that way again (even force-closing the app and deleting and reinstalling it), but kept getting the "Account Already Connected: This Facebook account has been connected to another user." message, as well as "You have already authorized Words with Friends. Press 'Okay' to continue."
Contacting the Zynga Helpdesk
After this, I decided to send a support request to Zynga with Friends (you can do that here if you need to). Eight communications and three representatives later, I finally got it connected.
Before that, I did peruse their Helpdesk to see if there was information already available on the subject, but all I found was a quick explanation of logging in with email vs. logging in with Facebook. Funny how it doesn't mention anything about connecting to Facebook when you already have the app installed.
Apparently, if you try to connect to Facebook by hitting the Facebook icon in the mobile app or by setting it up using the Facebook app, you run the risk of having a generic Words with Friends account associated with your Facebook user ID. That's what happened in my case. So, why do they even give you these options if they don't work 100 percent of the time? Very strange.
How to Connect to Facebook Without Any Problems
Learn from my mistakes (or Zynga's mistakes). The surefire way to connect your mobile Words with Friends account to Facebook is by first uninstalling the mobile app, then reinstalling it. Here's what you should do.
1. Before uninstalling, open Words with Friends on your mobile device and go to "Settings" to make sure your email address is listed, then type in your password of choice (twice). If you already set a password before, it doesn't hurt to do it again. It can be the same one.
2. Click on "Save And Close" to finish.
3. Now, uninstall the app.
4. Reinstall it. If you have the paid version in iTunes, just re-sync with iTunes and make sure Words with Friends is checked for syncing in the Apps section. You will not have to pay again.
5. Once reinstalled, open up the app. You should be presented with a similar message to this:
6. Use the "Login with Facebook" option, NO MATTER if you have an email address account or not. You will be able to update that in a later step.
7. Enter your Facebook login information. If you're already logged into Facebook on your device, you may not have to do this. You will just need to grant Words with Friends access by clicking "Allow".
8. After setting up Facebook connect, you'll re-enter the app, where you should be asked if you already have a Words with Friends (or Zynga with Friends) account already. If you have an account, then enter your email address and password. If it doesn't ask you, go to "Settings" and try updating your email address and password there.
Finally Done
Once set, you should be good to go. If you didn't do these steps first and are getting the "Account Already Connected: This Facebook account has been connected to another user." message, you will need to contact Zynga support so they can clear the accidental generic Words with Friends account that was automatically created for Facebook.
Hope this helps anyone with problems connecting their mobile accounts with Facebook.
I'd like to think that Zynga will fix these issues. Realistically, you should be able to connect your accounts by hitting the Facebook button on the mobile app or by using your Words with Friends email and password in the Facebook app. You shouldn't have to uninstall and reinstall the app to perform this, but that's life I guess.
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22 Comments
Thank-you very much!! Tried this and it worked. I appreciate you taking the time to post this.
Glad it helped! As long as I helped one person, I'm happy, because I was totally frustrated when dealing with it myself.
OMG THANK YOU SO MUCH!
This unfortunately didn't work for me. Maybe 'cause I'm on Android, but when I got to Step 8, it never asked me if I already had a WWF account, and in Settings it kept saying my email and username were already taken.... :(
Hmm. Yeah, I did not try this on Android. Figured it would be the same though. Maybe it had something to do with the recent update for the app. You're probably going to have to contact Zygna to resolve your problem. You can do that here. But be prepared for more than a couple of emails to get it fixed, unless you're lucky.
Same here, Greg, and I'm on Android as well. How annoying!
Account Settings message:
Account Settings is for making changes to an account that you are logged into. Therefore it makes sense that you can't change the user name of that account to one being used by another account. It doesn't matter if they're both accounts that you created, you can't do that as it would result in duplicate addresses/user names. Account Settings isn't for logging in to a different account.
If the message concerned the email address then you need to reinstall the app and use that email address to log in with. If you're not sure what email address goes with a particular user name then go here: http://www.zyngawithfriends.com/wordswithfriends/support/WWF_Forgotten_Email.html
Many MANY times this is the result of a person misspelling the email address either when they first created an account or when trying to access an existing account. What happens is that you accidentally create multiple accounts. Unfortunately it can be more confusing when one of those accounts was created through Facebook. Multiple accounts requires ZWF Support intervention so they can sort out what's what and delete extraneous accounts.
Later builds tried to mitigate those situations by detecting if you had connected from a given device and/or Facebook and try to guide you to the right login choices.
try again. my mom has the android galaxy s2 and i worked on it forever before finding this page. it works! also, uninstall facebook app, then reinstall it.
Thank you for this solution to getting my WWF Facebook games on my iPad. However, I could not access my WWF email account game, until I downloaded another version of WWF to my iPad. So, I use WWF for my Facebook friends, and WWFHD Free for my email login friends. A little clunky, but at least I can play all games from my iPad now! Thanks again Kevin.
Thanks you SO MUCH. This was an infuriating problem that I had tried repeatedly to solve. Thanks for taking the time to help.
This whole thing is very frustrating. I have three different Words with Friends. One on my IPad, one on my IPhone and one on facebook. I cannot get into the facebook account with either the IPad or IPhone. I keep getting the error message saying that the account is already in use. Zinga was of no help. That's life, I guess.
That sounds like you are currently logged into a WWF account that is different from the WWF account that is linked to your Facebook account. Have you tried loggin in using the Facebook option at the WWF login screen BEFORE you are actually logged into any other account?
HOW COME YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE THAT KNOWS ABOUT THIS?! SORRY FOR THE CAPS BUT IM SUPER EXCITED I CAN USE MY CHEATS AGAIN... GOOD WORK BY YOU.
Facebook defaults our email addresses with their own now.. For instance facebookusername@facebook.com.
All I had to do was go into settings and put in my Facebook email and it worked perfectly. I did this for hanging with friends on my iPad and words with friends on my daughters iPod. Worked great!
Thank you SO much!
Hi Thanks for this. It's really useful as I've had the same problems. You mention uninstalling the app on the iphone. I have current games in progress. Will uninstalling it lose my games or will I be able to carry them on after I reinstall it? Thanks
oh my gosh! thank you so much! i have been working on my moms phone for forever now and could not figure anything out. i was on the phone for three hours with tech support and they were of no help. she went to att tech support, nothing! i am now a rockstar in my mothers eyes. thank you sooooo much!!!
Thank you!!!! I've had this problem for 2 months & NO one could tell me how to resolve it. I followed your instructions & I'm back on my Color Nook playing my FB friends in Words with Friends.
hello this is my problem how can i resolve your instruction, dont know how to play my fb frends n words with friends,
hello dear, really i dont know any about this program, suport me pls.
You're awesome! This worked like a charm. Thank you
Hi Justin,
I hope you are still available for questions on this very old post. I use the WWF Classic App and my friend uses WWF2 on Facebook. I cannot figure out how to get the games between us to show up on my app. When it is my turn, a chat head pops up and it takes me to Facebook to play my turn against her.
Any suggestions?
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