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 has today announced a new series of cloud-streamed games for its app and website, but the service will be unavailable in-app to iOS users due to Apple's App Store policies (via CNBC). Facebook explained in its announcement that the games will not be spun off into a separate cloud gaming service, instead remaining within Facebook's app and website. The first set of games...

Around a month after Facebook began quietly merging its Messenger service with Instagram direct messaging, the transition has been officially launched, with a full rollout to all users soon to follow. As a result of the merging of the chat services, Instagram users can chat with Facebook users and vice versa using the same platform. Features previously only available on Facebook Messenger...

Apple has decided to temporarily waive the 30 percent cut that it takes from in-app purchases for Facebook's in-app paid event feature, reports CNBC. Facebook had accused Apple of hurting small businesses by collecting fees from the new feature, which lets users attend online classes and events through Facebook. The policy update will pertain to ClassPass and Airbnb, two companies that are...

Facebook is now actively seeking an option to make its Messenger app the default app for messages on iPhones, reports The Information. Emboldened by changes in iOS 14 that allow users to set a default email and browser app of their choice, Facebook believes it now has a more persuasive case to argue for a similar change for messaging apps. Last year, Apple also allowed Siri to send...

Facebook has said it will stop users in Australia from sharing news on the social network if a proposed law from the country's competition regulator comes into force that would require it to pay local media companies for their content (via CNET). The threat comes after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) submitted a draft regulatory code that would "address the...

In a company-wide meeting, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday referred to Apple's App Store as monopolistic and harmful to customers. Apple "blocks innovation, blocks competition," and uses the ‌App Store‌ to "charge monopoly rents." The Facebook Gaming app on Android Zuckerberg's comments, which were said to 50,000 Facebook employees over a webcast, were shared by BuzzFeed News. Apple, ...

Apple blocked Facebook's attempt to tell users about the 30% fee that Apple would take of all in-app purchases made through a new online events feature, Facebook has told Reuters. Apple reportedly told Facebook the update violated an App Store rule that prevents developers from showing "irrelevant" information to users. Facebook planned to launch a new tool in its app that lets online...

Facebook today warned advertisers that Apple's upcoming anti-tracking tools could cause a more than 50 percent drop in Audience Network publisher revenue due to the removal of personalization from ads within apps. In a blog post, Facebook said that it does not collect the identifier from advertisers (IDFA) from Facebook-owned apps on iOS 14 devices, as Apple added a feature that requires...

Facebook's "classic" web interface is set to become obsolete in September, according to a Facebook support page spotted by Engadget. Mark Zuckerberg unveiled the refreshed design over a year ago at Facebook's "F8" developer conference. It has been the default since May, with the option to voluntarily return to the previous design. From next month, there will be no facility to access the...

As Apple battles with Epic Games over its App Store fees, Facebook is joining the fight over its new Paid Online Events feature, which allows small businesses in 20 countries to charge Facebook users to attend online classes and events. Facebook wants Apple to waive its 30 percent fee taken from in-app purchases or let Facebook process event payments with Facebook Pay, both of which Apple...

Facebook, owner of Instagram, is facing a lawsuit over allegedly harvesting the biometric data of users, according to Bloomberg. Last month, Facebook offered to pay a $650 million settlement in a similar lawsuit in which it was accused of illegally collecting biometric data via Facebook's photo-tagging feature. The settlement has not yet been approved by the judge, but if it is, affected...

Facebook Lite, the social network's slimmed down app for low speed connections and low-spec phones, is being deactivated, reports MacMagazine. Facebook Lite was designed to work on poor internet connections like 2G networks or in rural areas with a bad signal, mainly by not downloading high resolution images or autoplaying videos, and the app could be used on older phones at the expense of...

Facebook today joined Microsoft in condemning Apple's App Store policies, after the company was forced to remove the games feature from its Facebook Gaming app, which launches today on iOS. Facebook Gaming app on Google Play Store In a statement given to The Verge, Facebook said it has had its Gaming app rejected multiple times by Apple in recent months, but Apple cited its App Store...

Popular iOS apps including Spotify, SoundCloud, Waze, Imgur, and many more are reporting crashing and freezing issues this morning, as pointed out by users on Reddit and in the MacRumors forums. The issue appears to be related to Facebook's iOS SDK, which is used by many apps for login purposes. On Facebook's developer website, the company confirmed that it is aware of the issue and is...

Facebook has begun rolling out Dark Mode support for its flagship iOS app, which comes just over a year after the Facebook Messenger app also gained ‌Dark Mode‌ support. Photo via 9to5Mac After evidence showing the company had been working on the feature surfaced in April, select users are now able to activate the feature under Settings & Privacy within the Menu tab. Users are able to...

Facebook is adding the option for users to turn off all political advertising in the Facebook and Instagram apps from today, the company has announced in a blog post. The option will pop up for users directly on any political ad that appears on the two Facebook-owned platforms. Users will also be able to hide ads by clicking on the advertisement or by accessing a new menu option in either of...

Facebook is testing a new app that's designed to help friends and families in the U.S. to coordinate phone calls or set up group calls with up to eight people. "Catchup," built by Facebook's internal R&D group, differs from other group chat apps, in that the calls are audio-only, not video, and displays users' status to indicate they're available to talk. Catching up has never been this...

Facebook today announced that it has acquired the popular GIF sharing platform GIPHY, and it will be joining the Instagram team. Instagram has supported GIPHY search in Stories for years now, but Facebook said it will "further integrate" the platform's GIF library into Instagram and other Facebook apps. The sum of the GIPHY acquisition by Facebook is reportedly around $400 million, according...

Multiple iPhone and iPad users are seeing their apps crashing at launch as of this afternoon, and the issue appears to be caused by a faulty Facebook SDK that the apps are using. There are multiple complaints about apps crashing continually on iOS devices on the MacRumors forums, and a wide range of apps appear to be impacted. Google's Waze app, for example, won't launch, and there have been ...

Facebook appears to be working on a dark mode for its flagship iOS app. WABetaInfo managed to enable the hidden setting, which is still under development and not yet available to public or beta users. 9to5Mac followed suit, and their screenshots suggest Facebook is aiming for a theme that's closer to greyscale than the true blacks used in Apple's dark mode for iOS 13. Facebook offers a...