Facebook update offers smoother, faster iOS app

Facebook iOS app update

Facebook's latest update to its iOS app offers a faster and smoother user experience -- one that many have been waiting for.

Facebook has answered our prayers for a less clunky app with an update release of its iOS app. The 5.0 version is available now for all iOS users.

Much of our Facebook app woes are attributed to the mobile app’s lag and response time when attempting to do just about anything, from opening a new page to scrolling down through your newsfeed. All that is in the past as Facebook has rebuilt the app from in the Objective-C programming language rather than HTML5, resulting in a shortened loading rate when performing essential tasks.

“We’ve rebuilt the app from the ground up, so now the app opens much faster and your news feed and notifications load right when you open Facebook,” wrote Mick Johnson, product manager of Facebook in a blog post announcing the update.

When we updated our Facebook app, we noticed that while the mobile pages load much faster without getting caught up on a loading screen, there’s still a slight delay of a few seconds before the newsfeed or profile page fully loads. But the response time should definitely quell many complaints, and loading time will still depend on your network.

While the app’s interface mostly remains unchanged, you’ll notice a bar at the top of the newsfeed screen which indicates the number of new stories that are pending your perusal. It’s a minor welcoming feature that you may have seen with Twitter and LinkedIn’s apps.

Among the more noticeable updates are the photos. When tapped open up immediately, photos will maximize to the full dimensions of your screen. The comments, likes, and other information are situated on the bottom of the screen, and overlap the image. You can close the photo by selecting, “Done,” or swipe down on the image.

Improvements have also been made to its Messenger app. You can send photos to friends by selecting the “plus” button next to your chat box. In the top right hand corner of a conversation page, a button with three dots will open up a page where you can customize how often you’d like to receive alerts notifiying you of a new message, create a group conversation, and locate where in the world a friend is provided they’ve enabled location sharing on Facebook.

While Facebook has struggled with its mobile strategy, the update to its iOS app will come as a relief for its users, and increase engagement with the application. It is a first look at a renewed, mobile-centric company that’s finally restructured its product development process to release updates to its mobile apps in conjunction with the desktop edition.


Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

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