Following the footsteps on a somewhat controversial “silent” Android app update, the Facebook app for the iPad and iPhone has also received an upgrade. Version 5.6 of Facebook for iOS renovates several key features of the Facebook app, specifically, group messaging and cover photo editing.
In keeping with Facebook’s aim for a more visual News Feed and Timeline, the new edition of the iOS’ Facebook apps now allows users to change their cover photos from inside the app itself. If you’ve got a beautiful landscape in your phone’s gallery or a picturesque vista you can take a shot of, you can now immediately post that as your cover picture. The sad news however is that the feature is currently for iPhone users only but everyone’s hopeful that an update for the iPad will follow soon, For comparison, Android has had this feature for a few weeks already. Wakey wakey, Facebook iOS department! Keep them updates coming!
On the other hand, messaging using the Facebook for iOS app has been revamped as well. The focus of this edition is group messaging. From a buried and relatively unknown feature, Facebook is striving to bring the group messaging capabilities of Facebook to the forefront of everyone’s iPhones. According to the release notes, there should now be “fewer taps to start a group message”.
While messages to individuals are relatively easy to keep track of, multiple group messages can be a nightmarish mishmash of names and conversations. Facebook had the foresight about that possible problem and thus included a nifty option to rename group conversations, thus making them easier to find.
Interestingly, although all of these features are very useful updates, they are rather minor updates and not groundbreaking innovations. It is somewhat understandable as we’ve all seen from the Facebook Bootcamp, Facebook is aiming for timely updates instead of perfect ones. Done is better than perfect. Bite-sized minor updates are better than no updates at all, right? What do you think of this latest Facebook for iOS app update?
Pingback: Android Gets Facebook Update Similar to iOS