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Facebook Launches New iPhone App Dedicated to Posting and Sharing Photos

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Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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Facebook today released a new standalone iPhone app dedicated to posting and sharing photos on the 900-million strong social network. Facebook Camera aims to make using photos on Facebook "faster and easier", according to a press release.

The app, much like the Facebook Messenger app launched last year, is designed to streamline a single Facebook feature that users are constantly interacting with, rather than using the clunkier Facebook iOS app. Photos are such a large part of Facebook that the company recently spent $1 billion to purchase photo sharing service Instagram.

Facebook built the app to make it much easier for mobile users to share multiple photos to the network -- something that is cumbersome in the standard Facebook app. Facebook Camera, made by a dedicated Photos team, streamlines browsing photos that friends have posted, a task which is all many users want to use Facebook for. From All Things D:
Facebook seems to have learned a heck of a lot from Instagram. Photos in Facebook Camera are full-bleed, spanning the entire width of the iPhone's screen (which was probably tested when Facebook tweaked the photo experience for mobile last week). You're able to comment and like photos directly from the stream. And of course, there are filters (albeit ones with names nowhere near as fun as Toaster or Valencia).

More than this, it's very lightweight. The app moves much faster than browsing photos within Facebook's proper app. And by introducing a separate camera app, it's another way of bypassing the cumbersome, clicky process of adding pictures via the main Facebook app.
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Instagram and Facebook Camera may seem like competitors -- and within Facebook they will be, sort of. Ellis Hamburger reports for The Verge:
The Facebook Camera team has been working on the app for months, and Mark Zuckerberg reportedly kept his desire to purchase Instagram close to the vest, as if he almost impulse-bought it. Had the Instagram deal never occurred, Facebook Camera wouldn't really be much of an Instagram competitor anyway, lacking any mobile-only social circles and hashtagged sharing around specific topics. "Enhancing the Facebook photos experience on mobile is long overdue," Facebook's Derick Mains told me. "We really had to step up our game, and we're committed to building Instagram independently."
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Facebook Camera is available free on the App Store. [Direct Link]

Article Link: Facebook Launches New iPhone App Dedicated to Posting and Sharing Photos
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2012/05/24/facebook-launches-new-iphone-app-dedicated-to-posting-and-sharing-photos/
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davie18

macrumors 6502
Dec 29, 2010
287
339
3 facebook apps now? Is that really needed? Why not just make one very good app instead?

Pretty soon I'm going to have to have a folder just called 'facebook'.
 
H

HarryKeogh

macrumors 6502a
Jun 25, 2008
609
863
Y'know, I just hope Tim Cook will green light Facebook functionality throughout iOS. I could care less about Twitter functionality. No one I know is on Twitter. Everyone is I know is on Facebook.

I really don't want to install another app to make something that should be super-easy already, easy to do.
 
F

fjanderson94

macrumors member
Dec 1, 2011
50
0
NH
I think this is nice but I dont want to have a whole folder dedicated to just facebook and their apps. It should be more simple and one easy to use application.
 
840quadra

840quadra

Moderator
Staff member
Feb 1, 2005
9,256
5,968
Twin Cities Minnesota
Perhaps the company could focus on making the native Facebook application a bit more reliable / faster, before making more potentially system crashing applications.

As it stands, the mobile website version of Facebook is more responsive on all my iDevices than is the dedicated application.

I will stick with my native camera application, Camera Awesome, or other similar apps, and posting my edited photos up using other methods.
 
jlgolson

jlgolson

Contributing Editor
Jun 2, 2011
383
8
Durango, CO
fjanderson94 said:
I think this is nice but I dont want to have a whole folder dedicated to just facebook and their apps. It should be more simple and one easy to use application.
Click to expand...
Part of the problem is speed. The generic Facebook app is huge and clunky -- and the complaints reflect this. For users who JUST want to chat, or JUST want to interact with photos, these dedicated apps are perfect.

If you don't want the dedicated apps, just use the main one. You'll lose a little functionality, but it works.

Isn't having MORE options a good thing?
 
R

reden

macrumors 6502a
Aug 30, 2006
716
823
bobr1952 said:
Well I was thinking the same thing--I wonder if they do plan to get rid of Instagram after all?
Click to expand...

Companies buy other companies for millions if they plan to get rid of them. Lets be realistic. I don't think they plan to get rid of something they just paid 1 billion dollars for.
 
srazz

srazz

macrumors regular
Jun 15, 2010
160
45
iTunes is down for the count. Did this new app overload the system?

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srazz said:
iTunes is down for the count. Did this new app overload the system?
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Its back. However, this new app isn't listed???
 
I

irun5k

macrumors 6502
Jan 14, 2005
379
0
Richardgm said:
I'm impressed with the app. It makes me wonder why they bought Instagram.
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It appears we've all been under some spell to make us think that Facebook (particularly their CEO) knows what they are doing.

It seems the market, and even common folk like us, are starting to see the light.
 
S

slrandall

macrumors 6502
Jun 15, 2011
412
0
jlgolson said:
Part of the problem is speed. The generic Facebook app is huge and clunky -- and the complaints reflect this. For users who JUST want to chat, or JUST want to interact with photos, these dedicated apps are perfect.

If you don't want the dedicated apps, just use the main one. You'll lose a little functionality, but it works.

Isn't having MORE options a good thing?
Click to expand...

I understand what you're saying, but I'd like one big dedicated app. The speed issues are from Facebook just using a WebView wrapper for their HTML instead of actually using a native ObjC approach.

I know this allows them to create more universal applications and push out updates more quickly, but the speed issue is really horrendous. Additionally, any time you open a new page it re-downloads everything, not just the new stuff. So they could really make a great mobile experience if they decided to bite the bullet and code the thing natively.
 
arkmannj

arkmannj

macrumors 68000
Oct 1, 2003
1,728
513
UT
so when do they work on their "Facebook" app, right now it's about the worst app I have when it comes to slowness, bugs and stability.
 
Winni

Winni

macrumors 68040
Oct 15, 2008
3,207
1,196
Germany.
HarryKeogh said:
It never fails to amaze me that apparently nobody understands that Facebook's users are the actual product that Zuckerberg's company sells to its real customers...

More than 900 million wonderfully detailed and freely given profiles that can be sold to advertisers. No wonder Mark has become so rich so quickly.

The next time somebody complains that the government is spying on you, try deleting your Facebook profile first.
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AppleGuesser

AppleGuesser

macrumors regular
May 1, 2012
240
102
Macon, GA
Like others have said, why can't they just make ONE great App. What in the world are they doing with billions of dollars?? They are billionaires and I am sure a 12 year old could make a more functional app. I dont want another facebook app, i just want one functional one to keep up with family and friends.
 
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