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 is shifting the movie-making Slideshow feature from its Moments app to its flagship iOS app in an attempt to counter Apple's Photos update in iOS 10. For those unfamiliar with Apple's big addition to its Photos app coming in iOS 10, a new feature called Memories uses facial- and object-recognition to automatically cluster photos based on people, scenes, dates, and locations, and...

Facebook today announced plans to add human curation to its Facebook Events feature on iOS devices, with designated curators set to highlight notable events in a select number of cities. Facebook Events, for those unfamiliar, is the Facebook feature that allows users to create dedicated Facebook event pages for parties, festivals, and more, and sign up to attend those events. Event pages are a ...

Facebook has begun notifying users who upload photos from their iOS devices that their synced albums will be deleted next month (via TechCrunch). Facebook's iOS photo syncing feature was launched in 2012, and let users automatically upload all photos on their mobile devices to a private album called 'Synced' or 'Synced from Phone'. The idea behind the feature was that copying the photos...

Facebook has officially shut down Notify, its real-time, notification-based news app for iOS. The company sent an alert to users of the app last night, explaining that it would be transitioning parts of the Notify service into its other products and that the app would no longer be supported. Notify, which went live in November, enabled users to receive news notifications and choose their...

Facebook is planning to introduce an optional end-to-end encryption mode for its Facebook Messenger chat platform, currently used by more than 900 million people, reports The Guardian. Citing sources "close to the project," The Guardian says the encryption will be an opt-in feature because turning it on will impact some of the new machine learning features being built into the Messenger app...

Facebook yesterday released its Moments private photo sharing app in Europe and Canada, almost a year after it appeared in the U.S. App Store. The app helps users find Facebook photos of themselves, their friends, and particular places, and collects these together for private viewing or sharing. It does this by attempting to recognize who appears in them based on facial features, and also...

Although a number of social networks have introduced scaled-down apps for the Apple Watch, the biggest holdout thus far has been Facebook. Thanks to a third party app called "Littlebook," Facebook users will now be able to browse their news feeds right from Apple's wearable device (via The Next Web). In addition to basic browsing, Littlebook lets users interact with posts by tapping to like...

Social networking site Facebook is developing a new standalone camera app aimed at encouraging Facebook users to share more photos and videos, reports The Wall Street Journal. Developed by a Facebook team in London, the app reportedly opens directly to a camera much like Snapchat, giving users a way to quickly capture photos and videos. Another feature planned for the device is the ability to...

Facebook has announced a new feature coming to its standalone Messenger app that will let users start up group calls with up to 50 friends and family members. Rolling out now to the iOS and Android Messenger apps, the update will use previously established group chats within Facebook's messaging client as a springboard for starting a voice call with the group's members (via TechCrunch). Users...

As was rumored last week, Facebook today announced plans to bring chatbot support to its Messenger platform. At the Facebook F8 Developer Conference, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg demonstrated a Messenger chatbot on stage, using the Messenger platform to order flowers from 1-800-Flowers through a text conversation. "To order from 1-800-Flowers, you never have to call 1-800-Flowers again," said...

Facebook is planning to provide developers with toolkits for customer service chatbots and live chat APIs, according to a few sources that spoke with TechCrunch. The company will debut the new features at Facebook's F8 conference next week, following in line with a host of recent institutions getting behind chatbot support. Facebook's intentions are to connect its users with businesses via...

Facebook today announced a dedicated segment of its popular iOS and Android app will find a renewed focus on both live and pre-recorded videos, taking the place of the Messenger button which sent users to that separate private messaging app. The social network's main focus in the new hub will be on starting up your own live videos, or joining in on another, but Facebook hopes the new feature...

Facebook has introduced a new accessibility tool to its iOS app for blind and visually impaired people to help identify images posted on their social feed. The function, called Automatic Alternative Text, works via VoiceOver and generates descriptions of photos that are spoken out loud as a user swipes past photos in the Facebook app. Previously, people using VoiceOver would only hear...

Facebook released a new feature today for its iOS Messenger app that allows users to receive booked flight information updates. The instant messaging service's first 'airline bot' enables KLM Royal Dutch Airlines customers who have booked tickets through the airlines' website to have all their flight information delivered to a dedicated thread within the app. The bot is designed to...

Apps that add real-time filters to selfies and videos are growing in popularity, and today Facebook announced the acquisition of the team behind MSQRD, a much-downloaded live filter app available on iOS and Android devices. First introduced in January of 2016, MSQRD applies live filters to photos and videos captured with the iPhone's front-facing camera. It includes face swapping capabilities, ...

Facebook today announced the rollout of its long-requested expansion of the simple "Like" button, with the introduction of "Reactions" onto its web and mobile platform. The update, meant to give users an easier and more diverse way to react to a friend's post, will begin slowly rolling out to Facebook users worldwide today. To use Reactions, all you have to do is hover over the traditional...

Both Facebook and Twitter today joined the ranks of a growing number of tech companies announcing support for Apple's decision to oppose a government order that would require it to weaken the security of its iOS devices. The FBI is demanding Apple create a version of iOS that would let it crack the passcode on the iPhone 5c used by San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook, something Apple has called a...

Facebook this morning came under fire once more over concerns regarding the impact its iOS app has on iPhone battery life. Writing in The Guardian, technology reporter Samuel Gibbs claims to have found that uninstalling Facebook's iOS app and accessing the social media site via Safari can save up to 15 percent of an iPhone's battery life. Gibbs relates how he uninstalled the app on his...

Facebook today announced that the Live Video feature it introduced in December is now available to all iPhone users in the United States, with plans to roll it out to the rest of the world in the coming weeks. Facebook's built-in Live Video feature is designed to compete with live streaming services like Periscope and Meerkat, which allow people to share in-the-moment video through iOS apps....

Facebook has begun rolling out support for further 3D Touch actions on compatible iPhones in the latest update to its primary iOS app. The newest iteration in the social media company's series of weekly app updates allows iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus owners to use "peek" and "pop" gestures directly from within a Facebook timeline. A light press or "peek" on a profile, link, page, group or...