I've been having the exact same issues since I switched over to the EA app from Origin. I had originally hesitated to make the switch because hours weren't logged. Now it appears that the hours are logged, however each and every day I get the message stating "Something went wrong and we couldn't locate your friends list. Try again in a bit."
In Origin, all of my friends are there. When I play Battlefield 2042, I can see my friends list (people who I have added who play Battlefield 2042) and when I log into EA's website, the friends are present there as well. This definitely needs to be fixed. If you are going to develop a replacement for Origin, you should ensure it functions fully before starting to push it onto people. Your own deadline is coming up to have a functioning product and replacement for Origin.