Facebook

Facebook is the quintessential social network, but you may not always feel like being social every time you log in to your Facebook account. Whether it's because you don't have the energy or the time to engage with friends, you do have the option to browse Facebook without anyone knowing you're online. The way to achieve this is by turning off your "Active Status," which can be done within...

Facebook has introduced a tool that lets users export notes and text-based posts to third-party services, making it easier than ever to leave the social network without saying goodbye to your content. The new "data portability types" mean people can now directly transfer their notes and posts to Google Docs, Blogger and WordPress. The updates are extensions to Facebook's existing tool that...

When it came to adding a Dark Mode option to its iOS app, Facebook was late to the game. The social network announced it was coming in June 2020, but dragged its feet for months before eventually rolling it out to mobile users in November the same year, over 400 days after Apple first introduced the feature in iOS 13. Dark Mode‌ has been available on the social network's website for a while ...

Facebook has just made a photo transfer tool globally available that lets account holders easily download all their pictures and videos from the social network to Google Photos. Previously, the majority of Facebook users wanting to download their media from the site had to do it manually. From today, however, users with a Google Photos account can automate the job, and Facebook says more...

After previously only existing as an "Easter Egg" setting, Facebook in April 2019 added a Dark Mode theme as an official display feature of its standalone Messenger app. Facebook says that Dark Mode is designed to provide less harsh brightness in situations where ambient lighting is lower while maintaining contrast and vibrancy. If you have an OLED iPhone, such as an iPhone X, iPhone XS,...

With the release of iOS 11, Apple nixed its built-in integration with Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, and Vimeo, a feature that allowed iPhone and iPad users to store their third-party account information and access it within apps that needed to use those services. The equivalent feature remains in macOS High Sierra, although Apple has removed it completely from macOS 10.14 Mojave, which many...

Facebook brought its redesigned Workplace apps out of beta today, opening up the business-focused team chat service to anyone who wants to use it. The new Slack-like apps for mobile and desktop are called Workplace Chat, which have the same functionality as Workplace's existing messaging features, but come as standalone apps for PC, Mac and iOS. After installing the apps, Workplace users...

Last year, PayPal launched within Facebook Messenger as a way for users to shop and complete payments directly through the messaging app. Today, the two companies are expanding the focus of this feature and opening up peer-to-peer payments for Facebook Messenger users who have linked their PayPal account to the app. With a rollout starting today, Facebook Messenger users will be able to tap on ...

Facebook has been testing a new "Explore Feed" that's designed to help users discover relevant content outside of the standard News Feed, and now the feature is officially rolling out to users on both mobile devices and the desktop, reports TechCrunch. Facebook confirmed the rollout of the feature in a statement:"We are beginning to roll out a complementary feed of popular articles, videos, and...

Facebook Live, the feature that allows Facebook users to broadcast live video to followers and friends, was today updated with support for screen sharing. As noticed by The Next Web, there's now a button for sharing your computer screen when broadcasting on Facebook Live. Image via The Next Web Using the screen sharing feature requires a Facebook Screen Sharing browser extension to be...

After announcing support for job applications within the Facebook app on iOS earlier in 2017, Facebook this week has been testing out a LinkedIn-like résumé/CV "work histories" feature for certain mobile users. Discovered by developer Jane Manchun Wong, and shared by The Next Web, the feature lets Facebook users share their work experience with potential employers without having to leave the app. ...

Facebook today announced that you can now order food directly from within the Facebook app on iOS. Alex Himel, Facebook's vice president of local, explained that food ordering and delivery has "gotten complicated" within other apps and services, so the company aims to streamline that process by adding it to Facebook. Like other newly added services -- including local weather and jobs search -- ...

Facebook quietly launched two official Workplace by Facebook desktop apps for the Mac and PC, TechCrunch discovered this afternoon. Workplace is Facebook's enterprise collaboration software designed to compete with Slack and other similar business apps. The apps are available as a beta, with download links located in the Help section for Workplace. The apps are designed to allow users to...

After beginning as a small test in Portugal in September, Instagram this week is beginning to roll out a feature that lets you automatically share the same Instagram Story to your Facebook Story with the tap of a button. TechCrunch spotted the cross-platform Story syncing, and Instagram parent company Facebook subsequently confirmed the feature's rollout will be coming to all United States users...

Facebook is testing a new mobile app feature called Instant Videos that downloads video clips for later viewing whenever a user's phone is connected to Wi-Fi, to save from burning through their mobile data plan. First spotted by The Next Web's Matt Navarra and later confirmed by TechCrunch, the feature will identify pre-loaded and cached videos in the news feed with a lightning bolt icon so...

Instagram is currently testing a new feature that allows users to share new Instagram Stories directly to their Facebook account. The feature, first reported by Mashable, appears to be Facebook's latest attempt to increase the visibility of Stories in its main app, essentially by getting users of its more visual-oriented Instagram network to double-post stories as Facebook Stories. 🚨 ALERT 🚨I ...

Facebook has begun testing out a new commenting feature on iOS and Android devices, allowing users to choose a custom colored background for their comment that all Facebook users will see underneath the original post. As of now, only "a small fraction" of users have noticed the new feature on mobile (via Evert Groot and The Next Web), so it appears this is just one of many early-on tests that...

Facebook today announced a few updates and expansions coming to its popular memory features, one of which will present users with monthly and seasonal memory recaps instead of just memories that happened on one specific day. Similar to On This Day, monthly and seasonal recaps will appear on user News Feeds and can be shared with their friends. The social network is also implementing new...

Facebook's iOS app is today being updated with a new feature that will let users take 360-degree photos using the camera function directly within the Facebook app, reports TechCrunch. Facebook has supported 360-degree images for some time, but it previously required users to take a panoramic photo with their smartphone or use a separate app. Now users can open the camera, choose the 360...

Facebook's Safety Check service is set to become a permanent feature of the social media network on both mobile and web, with the next update of the iOS app. The Safety Check feature first appeared in 2014 to help users let loved ones know they are safe if they are close to a crisis. Facebook announced on its Disaster Response page that the service will roll out to become a permanent feature...

Facebook today announced an update coming to its iOS and Android mobile apps, as well as its main website, that is aimed to make birthdays more "meaningful" for users based in the United States. Two weeks ahead of your birthday, Facebook said it will now send you a message in your News Feed with the option of creating a fundraiser. If you opt-in, you can choose from any of the 750,000 U.S....

Facebook today announced plans to make several changes to the Facebook News Feed with the intent of making it "more conversational and easier to read and navigate." The "look and feel" of News Feed is being refreshed with improved color contrast to make typography more legible, larger link previews to make it easier to read links, circular profile pictures, and updated icons and Like, Comment, ...

Facebook is introducing a new "Trending News" section to the Facebook app on iOS and Android devices, designed to make it easier for Facebook users to access current and trending news stories, reports TechCrunch. Trending News aggregates news stories from a wide range of sources and ranks them by the number of publications that are sharing a particular story. The Trending News section can be...

Facebook today announced the launch of an upcoming platform called "Watch," which is designed to Facebook-exclusive TV shows. Watch is Facebook's official platform for shows on Facebook, and it will be available on mobile, desktop, and in Facebook's TV apps. According to Facebook, its shows are "made up of episodes -- live or recorded -- and follow a theme or storyline." Watch includes a...

Facebook has removed two of its standalone apps from the iOS App Store: the high school chat app "Lifestage" and community-focused gathering place "Groups." Lifestage had been on the App Store since August 2016, while Groups had been around as a standalone app since 2014. The company discussed the closure of Groups directly on its website (via TechCrunch), assuring users that the feature will...

Last week, a source in the Taiwanese supply chain reported that Facebook has entered into small production on a smart home speaker with a touchscreen, preparing to compete with companies like Apple and Amazon in the smart speaker market. A report by Bloomberg this week has continued that rumor, and added onto it by claiming the company is in fact working on two separate speaker devices to release ...