Facebook Updates iOS App With Faster News Feed and Rebuilt Timeline

[MacRumors]

Facebook has updated its iOS app with a faster news feed and a rebuilt timeline, all in the name of speed.

Back in August, the company released a completely rewritten iOS app, foregoing the HTML5-based app that was available previously.

What's new

- Post your photos to albums and enjoy a speedier app.
- You can now choose an album when uploading photos
- News feed loads more quickly
- Completely rebuilt timeline opens faster on your iPhone

Facebook is a free download on the App Store for iPhone and iPad. [Direct Link]

Article Link: Facebook Updates iOS App With Faster News Feed and Rebuilt Timeline

[doug in albq]

How about a cover image/photo that is larger than 851 pixels wide?

Low resolution is so last year...

[antster94]

Lol no one cares

[xizdun]

People still use Facebook? Ahoy, all ye (exhibitionists) to whom the word privacy means nothing.

[jlgolson]

Originally Posted by xizdun

People still use Facebook? Ahoy, all ye (exhibitionists) to whom the word privacy means nothing.

Yeah, more than a billion people actually.

[pgiguere1]

Originally Posted by doug in albq

How about a cover image/photo that is larger than 851 pixels wide?

Low resolution is so last year...

So last year? The vast majority of laptops sold this year have a resolution of 1366x768. Facebook is designed so that everything fits perfectly in that resolution and that there's room left for the timeline year indicator and the chat sidebar on the right side with enough spacing that it doesn't feel totally cramped.

Facebook has to have their target demographic in mind. The average Windows laptop sold this year cost $507 so it's not exactly surprising that high resolutions on laptops are pretty rare.

Sometimes it's hard not to have a distorted vision of the average technology when you often visit Apple websites where everyone seems to be buying high-end hardware, but most people don't. Even a resolution like 1440x900 is above average on laptops. In fact, even 1024x768 is still more in use than 1440x900 and above.

[myrtlebee]

News feed doesn't load (noticeably) faster for me

[Risco]

Originally Posted by xizdun

People still use Facebook? Ahoy, all ye (exhibitionists) to whom the word privacy means nothing.

Oh for goodness sake, you only share what you want to share. You can make your profile as public or private as you want.....

[Snowy_River]

Anyone know if this new version has restored the ability to save photos? And if it has finally included the ability to share things?

[C DM]

Originally Posted by Snowy_River

Anyone know if this new version has restored the ability to save photos? And if it has finally included the ability to share things?

Saving photos (at least in most cases) has been available for a while. Sharing (also in most, but not all cases) was introduced about a version or two ago.

[Snowy_River]

Originally Posted by C DM

Saving photos (at least in most cases) has been available for a while. Sharing (also in most, but not all cases) was introduced about a version or two ago.

Saving photos was lost in their big rewrite back in August. For that reason, I didn't update. Since then, I've kept an eye on my wife's Facebook app (she did update), and I haven't seen any sign of it having returned. So, what is "a while"? As it must be less than four months (if we were to assume that my wife hadn't updated her app since the August update - unlikely, but not impossible), it would be helpful to try to speak in more precise terms.

Sharing was one of the most requested but not present features up to the big rewrite, and it didn't appear with the big rewrite. So, I'm not sure what you mean by "a version or two ago", but if the last "new version" of the app was the one releases in August, then you're simply wrong. If, on the other hand, you're talking about updates, and sharing was introduced in one of these minor updates from Facebook since August, while I wouldn't call those "versions", thank you for the information.

If it seems like I'm being snippy, that's because I feel like your reply was dismissive. As I noted, these have been known issues for some time. If they have been addressed within the lt few months, great. But you don't need to make it sound like they've been fixed for a long time (quite "a while", for "a version or two"), when in fact the longest it could have been is a few months.

[DJJAZZYJET]

Its still laggy, and facebook disappoints one again ... as usual.

[seamer]

New computers may support high resolutions, but there are still a huge majority of users around the world where 1024 or even 1280 are still the widest resolution. It's good design practice to work within these limits without forcing the user to scroll, or to suffer an narrower layout, if it isn't actually required.

[r-m]

I do wish they'd release an update without removing/breaking a feature. Previously was able to add/remove people to/from friends lists by going to their profile, tapping "friend" then picking a list.
Now tapping "friend" just gives the option to unfriend. *sigh* I liked that feature.
Of course, it may have just moved and I'm not seeing it right now. So if anyone knows how to do it in this latest update... Please shout :-)

Originally Posted by Snowy_River

Saving photos was lost in their big rewrite back in August. For that reason, I didn't update. Since then, I've kept an eye on my wife's Facebook app (she did update), and I haven't seen any sign of it having returned. So, what is "a while"? As it must be less than four months (if we were to assume that my wife hadn't updated her app since the August update - unlikely, but not impossible), it would be helpful to try to speak in more precise terms.

Sharing was one of the most requested but not present features up to the big rewrite, and it didn't appear with the big rewrite. So, I'm not sure what you mean by "a version or two ago", but if the last "new version" of the app was the one releases in August, then you're simply wrong. If, on the other hand, you're talking about updates, and sharing was introduced in one of these minor updates from Facebook since August, while I wouldn't call those "versions", thank you for the information.

If it seems like I'm being snippy, that's because I feel like your reply was dismissive. As I noted, these have been known issues for some time. If they have been addressed within the lt few months, great. But you don't need to make it sound like they've been fixed for a long time (quite "a while", for "a version or two"), when in fact the longest it could have been is a few months.

Going all out here, and assuming most people see a new update as a new version.
And he probably was being dismissive, because both those things are present in the facebook app. Sharing did get introduced in the last "update" (before the one mentioned in this article, possibly the one before that. Not sure.) It's still crap though - only works for certain content (links and videos I think) but not everything.
Also, saving photos, that's been around since saving photos was first introduced... Even in the big rewrite and in every version/update since then. Simply holding your finger on a photo pops up an action sheet with the option to save photo.

[Carlanga]

Originally Posted by Snowy_River

Saving photos was lost in their big rewrite back in August. For that reason, I didn't update. Since then, I've kept an eye on my wife's Facebook app (she did update), and I haven't seen any sign of it having returned. So, what is "a while"? As it must be less than four months (if we were to assume that my wife hadn't updated her app since the August update - unlikely, but not impossible), it would be helpful to try to speak in more precise terms.

Sharing was one of the most requested but not present features up to the big rewrite, and it didn't appear with the big rewrite. So, I'm not sure what you mean by "a version or two ago", but if the last "new version" of the app was the one releases in August, then you're simply wrong. If, on the other hand, you're talking about updates, and sharing was introduced in one of these minor updates from Facebook since August, while I wouldn't call those "versions", thank you for the information.

If it seems like I'm being snippy, that's because I feel like your reply was dismissive. As I noted, these have been known issues for some time. If they have been addressed within the lt few months, great. But you don't need to make it sound like they've been fixed for a long time (quite "a while", for "a version or two"), when in fact the longest it could have been is a few months.

You are using it wrong, hold your finger in the photo you want and boom it opens the save button Has been working w/ all versions I have used that had it.

[r-m]

Originally Posted by Snowy_River

Saving photos was lost in their big rewrite back in August. For that reason, I didn't update. Since then, I've kept an eye on my wife's Facebook app (she did update), and I haven't seen any sign of it having returned. So, what is "a while"? As it must be less than four months (if we were to assume that my wife hadn't updated her app since the August update - unlikely, but not impossible), it would be helpful to try to speak in more precise terms.

Sharing was one of the most requested but not present features up to the big rewrite, and it didn't appear with the big rewrite. So, I'm not sure what you mean by "a version or two ago", but if the last "new version" of the app was the one releases in August, then you're simply wrong. If, on the other hand, you're talking about updates, and sharing was introduced in one of these minor updates from Facebook since August, while I wouldn't call those "versions", thank you for the information.

If it seems like I'm being snippy, that's because I feel like your reply was dismissive. As I noted, these have been known issues for some time. If they have been addressed within the lt few months, great. But you don't need to make it sound like they've been fixed for a long time (quite "a while", for "a version or two"), when in fact the longest it could have been is a few months.

Sharing has improved a little I think in this latest update. It seems to be available on more items than I remember.
Majority of photos have the share option, status updates that are "public" too but not status updates that are set to "friends" or "friends of friends".
Videos and links also have the share option.

[animatedude]

this is a very important useful update but still you can't create an album in a group only in your profile!

[tech4all]

Originally Posted by jlgolson

Yeah, more than a billion people actually.

Doesn't mean they're all active though.

Originally Posted by Risco

Oh for goodness sake, you only share what you want to share. You can make your profile as public or private as you want.....

I don't trust 'privacy settings' on Facebook. Just because it says 'private' doesn't mean it is. If it's on the web, it's not private.

[coltman75]

Originally Posted by tech4all

Doesn't mean they're all active though.

In October, Facebook announced that they had 1.01 Billion active monthly users and 584 million active daily users.

[Primejimbo]

Originally Posted by r-m

I do wish they'd release an update without removing/breaking a feature. Previously was able to add/remove people to/from friends lists by going to their profile, tapping "friend" then picking a list.
Now tapping "friend" just gives the option to unfriend. *sigh* I liked that feature.
Of course, it may have just moved and I'm not seeing it right now. So if anyone knows how to do it in this latest update... Please shout :-)

I just saw that, I hope it's just moved.

[applesith]

Originally Posted by xizdun

People still use Facebook? Ahoy, all ye (exhibitionists) to whom the word privacy means nothing.

Poor you.

[B2k1977]

Originally Posted by Risco

Oh for goodness sake, you only share what you want to share. You can make your profile as public or private as you want.....

This is the new America....don't you know personal responsibility is a thing of the past?

[iRCL]

Originally Posted by pgiguere1

So last year? The vast majority of laptops sold this year have a resolution of 1366x768. Facebook is designed so that everything fits perfectly in that resolution and that there's room left for the timeline year indicator and the chat sidebar on the right side with enough spacing that it doesn't feel totally cramped.

Facebook has to have their target demographic in mind. The average Windows laptop sold this year cost $507 so it's not exactly surprising that high resolutions on laptops are pretty rare.

Sometimes it's hard not to have a distorted vision of the average technology when you often visit Apple websites where everyone seems to be buying high-end hardware, but most people don't. Even a resolution like 1440x900 is above average on laptops. In fact, even 1024x768 is still more in use than 1440x900 and above.

What in god's name are you talking about, we are talking about an iOS app

[pgiguere1]

Originally Posted by iRCL

What in god's name are you talking about, we are talking about an iOS app

Your Facebook cover photo isn't platform-specific. It's 851 pixels wide no matter if you're using a browser or mobile app.

The reason this specific size has been chosen is because most Facebook traffic comes from laptops (with 1366x768 being the most common resolution).

[xizdun]

Originally Posted by Risco

Oh for goodness sake, you only share what you want to share. You can make your profile as public or private as you want.....

Yea, heh. That's what they'd like the naive like you to believe. You have ZERO control over what they do with your information tomorrow -- with the information you've provided them over all these years. You thinking deleting your account or info deletes it off their servers? Nice try. Yea, 5-10-15 years from now they will still own all that information about you, not to mention the 1000s of photos of you that you've uploaded over the years. Oh, the joy of preying on the naive (you) to get ahead in life (Mark Zuckerberg and friends). Don't tell me, you don't care about what they do with your info; you haven't got anything to hide, anyway. Yea, you won't be saying the same thing when it comes back to bite you in the behind in a few years.