Yesterday, Facebook rolled out a worldwide update to its Facebook app for iOS that brings the new News Feed design along with Chat Head feature and more. Despite going through an interface change again, I admit, I quite like the new Facebook app for iOS that not only gives a much neater design, chatting within the app has also been made easier and more fun with a huge collection of “stickers”
Read more after the break.
First up, when you open the new Facebook app for the first time, you’ll be greeted with a new interface with larger images. You can easily and quickly customize what you would like to see on your News Feed (the certain type of updates you would like to see be it from your friend’s list, groups, location, etc.).
When you receive a new chat, the Chat Head will float above your Facebook interface, whereby you’ll be free to move around so it doesn’t get in your way, much like the Assistive Touch feature on your iPhone. Do note that while you can put the Chat Heads anywhere you like, you’re still limited to the side of the phone only, who would want something blocking the middle of the screen anyway.
When you open the chats, the dialog box will drop down over your Facebook app and you can start chatting immediately. To close the conversation, all you need to do is drag all or a specific Chat Head to the “x” icon below.
To close a conversation, “Drag down to close”
Now here’s my favorite part – stickers. If you haven’t already visited the Sticker Store, do so and download all the sticker packs that are available for free, for now at least.
All the stickers are pretty standard, there are a large collection of cat-themed ones, and even a pack that is animated.
You can’t see it here, but I think it’s safe to say that all the stickers in this pack are animated
Sadly though, while you can receive the stickers anywhere – Android, iOS and even web (nope, it’s not supported on Windows Phone 8), you can only send via the iOS app and the animated stickers can only be seen on an iOS device.
Finally another notable new feature on the new Facebook app is the ability to share things on your friend’s timeline. Discovered by our friend at LiewCF, when you wish to share something, you now have a new option for you to post to a Friend’s timeline, on your page and even onto Groups.
Now that the new News Feed is available for iOS devices, I actually can’t wait for Facebook to finally deliver the changes to its web version. Sure, you’ll need to get used to the new interface for the 10th time, but it’s much neater this time round and pictures are so much bigger.
