Facebook launches Account Kit at F8: Helps businesses increase sign-ups on apps, websites

At its ongoing F8 conference, Facebook announced a slew of launches to help developers build more personalised and user friendly products and help businesses monetise their apps. One such launch –  Account Kit helps businesses grow their app or website by giving people a choice to sign in with their phone numbers of email addresses without the need for a password. It’s a complementary solution to Facebook Login and doesn’t require people to have a Facebook account, says the company. Account Kit gives people the option to log in to new apps using only their phone number or email address, hence eliminating the need for them to remember passwords or usernames, for that matter. There is no need for any information from their Facebook profile, so there’s no prerequisite to have one. By removing these barriers to entry, the Account Kit plug-in helps increase sign-ups and enables businesses to expand their audience. Facebook claims that the Account Kit is simple to implement for both new and established apps, so businesses can focus on building their core product and not worry about creating a login system and handling password storage. Account Kit is built on Facebook’s infrastructure—as technology, systems and devices change, the company says it will update Account Kit to help keep the app’s on-boarding flow current. The way it works is pretty straightforward. On the login page, where the ’login with your Facebook account’ option is generally found, the user will also see a ‘mobile number’ option. On entering the mobile number, the user will receive a code over SMS that can be used to log in into the site. Currently, Facebook supports SMS login for over 230 countries and regions, in more than 40 languages. An app can use Account Kit to send up to 100K confirmation SMS per month at no charge to the owner. Businesses can choose to adapt the look and feel of Account Kit to match their brand. If used alongside App Events from the Facebook SDK, businesses can get aggregated analytics to help them better understand audience and their login preferences. Also, as a backup option, if a user doesn’t receive an SMS but has a Facebook account, he/she can choose to receive a Facebook notification to complete the login process. Facebook shares the example of Saavn, a music streaming app that integrated Account Kit phone number login. The company claims that Saavn saw over half a million registered phone number users and a 33% increase in daily new registrants within the first two months after the integration.