Since Cradle of Empires update 8.4.0 Facebook changed the way its services work and applied additional restrictions. As a result on Apple devices friends do not load and synchronization does not work if the player did not allow tracking on the first start of the game. Our developer team is working on a solution. As a workaround we can offer the following (kindly note that it will work not for all players as required setting may be missing for some reason):

1 - Open Device settings 

2 - Find Empires app in the list on the right side of the screen.

3 - Enable Allow tracking option.

4 - Swipe the game to close.

How to swipe away app on the iPhone: https://support.apple.com/HT201330

How to swipe away app on the iPad: https://support.apple.com/HT212063

5 - Open the game > open game settings > accounts > tap on the Facebook connected button to log out and tap the same button to log in.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact us from within the game or send an email to support@awem.com