iPhone

Facebook for iPhone 4.0 Update Ports New iPad App Design and Features

by M. Dorn on October 11, 2011 · 0 comments

Facebook for iPhone users now have access to all the new features for in the official Facebook for iPad app that launched this morning. Now available in the App Store, the 4.0 update includes a major redesign of the navigation system that facilitates quick switching between features, and the ability to access third-party mobile apps.

The new features can also be found on Facebook’s mobile sites m.facebook.com and touch.facebook.com, which can both be accessed from Android phones that have yet to receive native Facebook app update with the lastest changes.

The update to Facebook for iPhone’s 91 million monthly active users and 51 million daily active users gives developers a huge new distribution channel for their mobile web and iPhone apps.

One of the worst things about the old Facebook for iPhone app was the grid screen navigation. If users wanted to switch between in-house Facebook apps such as the news feed, Photos, Messages, and notifications, they had to exit their currently used app to the grid screen, then dive back into another app.

This process was both cumbersome and sometimes caused users to lose their place — something especially annoying when one went to look for new Messages or notifications, saw they had none, and wanted to return to the previously used feature. The slowness of switching apps through the grid screen contributed to Facebook spinning out Messages as a standalone app, and preparing a dedicated native Photos app.

Facebook for iPhone 4.0 reduces the friction of app switching through a slide-out navigation menu that is accessible from any screen and houses all in-house and third-party app bookmarks. Users can open the navigation menu, but then easily close it to resume their previous activity.

Similarly, a floating top navigation bar gives persistent access to Messages, notifications, and requests. When their icons are clicked, an overlaid screen slides up from the bottom and slides back down revealing the previously used app when a user is done.

The navigation menu also houses a revamped search feature from which users can find friends, Pages, apps, Groups, Events, or any other Facebook property. It replaces the tabbed search that clumsily required users to choose what they were searching for first, and didn’t include live links to apps.

When users click on the bookmark, search result, or news feed link for a native iPhone app, that app is instantly launched if already installed, or the App Store is loaded so users can download it. Bookmarks to web apps on Facebook’s new mobile app platform are launched within Facebook for iPhone’s internal browser, and users merely need to confirm their login — they don’t have to reenter their username or password.

Despite Facebook confirming with us that it would remove the Places check-in feed from its smartphone apps, users can still see the locations of friends through a renamed in-house app called Nearby. As before, users can view the checkins of friends as a feed or as photos on a map, as well as add their own check-ins.

The app does lack some of Facebook.com’s newest features. There’s no way to subscribe to someone’s public updates or edit your Friend Lists or Smart Lists. Facebook has also removed the ability to filter the news feed by Friend Lists, which previously allowed users to select to only see updates from a subset of friends. Hopefully these features will be integrated soon.

Facebook for iPhone hasn’t received such a major redesign since its launch years ago. At first, some users will surely be grumpy about having to relearn how to navigate the app. With time, though, we believe users will grow to appreciate the streamlined navigation and ability to access their web and native apps. By becoming an app portal and reducing navigation fatigue, Facebook for iPhone’s 100 million MAU milestone could be right around the corner.


Source: Inside Facebook

What the iPhone 4S Can Do for Games

by M. Dorn on October 4, 2011 · 0 comments

Apple announced a new model in its iPhone device series today that boasts the iPad 2’s A5 chip and dual-core graphics. The iPhone 4S means faster games with better graphics, a sequel to top-grossing iOS game Infinity Blade, and bad news for handheld console makers like Nintendo and Sony.

The current generation of handheld console includes Nintendo’s DS family (the most recent of which being the 3DS) and Sony’s PlayStation Portable family, with the upcoming PlayStation Vita being the newest. In the past two years, Apple has largely caught up to what the DS and PSP could do with games on a basic interaction level with support for synchronous multiplayer experiences and enhanced processing power that brought us game genres like first-person shooting and racing. The iPhone graphics trailed handheld consoles slightly, depending on which engine the developer chose to build their games, but today Apple says that the iPhone 4S will be able to graphics “that aren’t even available on home gaming consoles.”

The demo for this point was Infinity Blade 2 — a sequel to Chair Entertainment’s top-grossing iOS title. The original game leveraged the Unreal Engine 3 on iPhones for a graphically rich gameplay experience. When brought to iPad, the developer was able to introduce new textures to the game for an even better visual experience. Now, for the sequel, the developer is able to bring the same level of visual fidelity to iPhones — and increase the size of the game itself.

> Read the rest on our sister site, Inside Mobile Apps.


Source: Inside Social Games

Facebook for iPhone 3.5 Hitting 50M DAU, Ports Recent Privacy Changes, Still Includes Check-Ins

by M. Dorn on September 7, 2011 · 0 comments

Facebook yesterday released version 3.5 of its Facebook for iPhone mobile app. The update includes many of the new privacy, friend tagging, and location features that were added to the web interface two weeks ago. Users can also now post rich feed stories with thumbnails and captions by copying links into the publisher or tapping “Share” in the web view.

Despite Facebook saying it would shift Places from focusing on check-ins to applying location as a layer, users can still view the Places check-in feed and map. However, now these features show all friends who’ve recently tagged a Place in an update, even if they were discussing somewhere they’d been or plan to go and not their current location.

On August 23rd, Facebook announced an overhaul of its privacy settings, bringing controls in-line with content. The changes have since rolled out to the web interface for most users, but now Facebook has begun porting the changes to its mobile interfaces starting with its most popular mobile app. Facebook for iPhone grew 2.4 million daily active users this month and today will  reach 50 million DAU.

The mobile site m.facebook.com now includes the revamped publisher, and an updated privacy settings page. The iPhone app offers access to the privacy setttings page through its internal browser so users can set default post privacy, past post privacy, and whether they must approve tags before they appear on their profile. The Android, BlackBerry, and other mobile apps still lack the new publisher.

Location, Friends, and Privacy in the Publisher

When iPhone users go to add a status update, they’ll see their city-level location as determined by their IP and other signals at the bottom left of the publisher. They can tap this or the Places button to reveal the option to remove city-level location, tag an existing Place, or add and tag a new Place. Specific location tags are appended to the end of the update as “- at [Place]“. Photos can also be added to any update.

Previously a major deficiency of the iPhone app compared to the Android app was the inability to tag friends in updates. Now users can select to tag friends in posts by tapping the friends button, with the tags appended to the update as “- with [name]“. Upon opening the tag selector they’re first presented with “Recents” for easy access to their closest friends, as well as a search option and a browsable list of all their friends.

A gear icon reveals the audience the post will reach, whether thats “Public”, “Friends”, a custom audience, or one of their friend lists. This feature is very streamlined, and actually requires several fewer clicks than the web interface to select to post to a friend lists. It should make it easier for users to share wider variety of content by being able to restrict its visibility to those for whom its relevant and appropriate.

Rich Link Sharing

The update notes for Facebook for iPhone 3.5 note that this version “Added the ability to share external links from a web view.” This means that when users are browsing the internet through the app’s internal browser, the can now tap a forward and then a Share button to initiate a status update linking to the currently viewed URL.

What’s more interesting is how Facebook now formats these links. Previously, links posted through the iPhone publisher appears as simple hyperlinks. Now, whether through the Share button or by copying and pasting a URL into the publisher, Facebook converts URLs into rich feed posts that include a headline, caption, and thumbnail image the same way URLs are formatted when pasted into the web interface’s publisher. This lets users create much more compelling stories out of URLs that attract more clicks. This could help Facebook drive more referral traffick and become more important to web publishers.

All Location Tags are Now Check-Ins

After a year of users announcing their current location as verified by GPS proximity through check-ins, Facebook confirmed with us that it would scrap the check-in feed and map. This was because users would now be able to any add location to any post no matter their current coordinates. We criticized this decision because the feed and map of just current locations had made it easy to find nearby friends and arrange meet-ups.

In this iPhone update, the check-in feed and map are still available, except now they feature any friend who’s added location to a post, regardless of whether they were currently at that Place or not. If users click the Check-In button or go to tag a Place in a status update, they’re prompted “Where are you”, indicating that Facebook hasn’t quite sorted out whether location tags and check-ins are the same thing.

As users change their behaviors and start tagging Places they aren’t currently at, the feed and map will become confusing because it will show a friend at local restaurant when they’re actually across the country but had just posted a recommendation tagging the eatery. While its value will diminish as users adopt the new location capabilities, this stay of execution of the Places feed and map should come as good news to those like me who use the features to find clusters of friends on the weekends.

With the 3.5 update, Facebook for iPhone now approaches parity with most of the web interface’s core features. Of the recent privacy changes, the only thing noticibly lacking is the option to change the privacy settings of previously published content on a post-by-post basis. With the basic functionality, Facebook can now concentrate on prepping the iPhone app to be compatible with its HTML5 mobile site that could offer gaming that is expected to launch at the f8 developer conference later this month.


Source: Inside Facebook

Facebook for iPhone 3.4.3 Can Display Menu in Landscape Mode to Its 45 Million Daily Users

by M. Dorn on June 30, 2011 · 0 comments

Facebook released v3.4.3 of its Facebook for iPhone native mobile app yesterday. Though the release notes only list “Various bug fixes” and “Improved security”, we’ve discovered the update permits users to view the navigation menu in landscape mode. As many of the app’s features could already run in landscape mode, this allows for a more unified experience.

Despite few tangible improvements in versions 3.4.2 or 3.4.3, Facebook for iPhone is still the most advanced of Facebook’s native mobile apps, boasting some features lacking in the latest version of Facebook for Android. Event checkins, a Places map, and Find Friends were all added in the 3.4 and 3.4.1 updates. The app also recently began pulling the news feed from m.facebook.com, streamlining development for Facebook’s mobile team.

This month also saw the leak of screenshots and documentation of a new Facebook mobile photos app for iOS, which could be integrated into Facebook for iPhone or released as a standalone app. That app might allow for multi-shot sharing, filters, video support, and an activity feed.

The Facebook for iPhone continued steady growth through June, gaining 2.79 million daily active users to reach 45.2 million DAU, and gaining 4.3 million monthly active users reach a massive 80.7 million MAU. These stats, from our application growth tracking service AppData, make Facebook for iPhone the largest Facebook app by DAU, and the second largest by MAU to Zynga’s CityVille.

With Facebook for iPhone 3.4.1, users can now turn their phone horizontally to switch the navigation menu to landscape mode. This might make it easier for those using the app while laying on their side, or who use the app’s features in landscape mode and don’t want to switch to portrait mode when navigating between features. And, by bringing landscape navigation to the iPhone app, Facebook also sets itself up to offer a more unified interface experience with its forthcoming iPad app (many people prefer using their tablets in landscape mode).

For the time being, though, one downside we’ve found is that users can’t access the Account menu or add bookmarks in landscape mode.

Overall, Facebook has said that it is focused on both native apps and its mobile web site, and it is working on an HTML5 version that could offer many of the multimedia features available for native apps.

The booming popularity of all of its mobile services, though, means it has its hands full adding new features for its demanding users. Users on the comments thread of the announcement are requesting the ability to tag friends in status updates as users can on Facebook for Android, and the option to Like comments.

Expect Facebook to continue upping its mobile focus as it faces a broad range of mobile competitors.


Source: Inside Facebook

Facebook’s iPhone and Android Apps Let You Find Friends From Your Phone Book, Grow the Site

by M. Dorn on April 22, 2011 · 0 comments

Facebook for iPhone 3.4.1 released yesterday and Facebook for Android 1.5.3 released Monday both now allows users to “Find Friends” from their device’s contacts list and send them friend requests or invites to the site. This will help Facebook gain more users and create more connections between its existing users, increasing their loyalty and engagement. The updates also prompts users to add their phone number to their profile if they haven’t already, and Facebook for Android users can now tag friends in status updates.

The iPhone update builds on the recently released version 3.4 which added Event checkins, a Places map, and started pulling the news feed from m.facebook.com. The Android update follows 1.5.2, which added photo uploading to Groups and walls, and better landscape mode viewing.

Facebook’s Find Friends feature has been a staple of the website’s home page for years. When users import their contacts from their email provider, they’re shown a list of non-friends they can send requests or invites to join Facebook to. Facebook also uses the data to power friend suggestions for both the person who uploaded the contacts and the contacts on the list. While a fundamental part of to site’s growth and loyalty strategy, Facebook has also had to respond to German privacy concerns about the feature with changes.

Users can access Find Friends in Facebook for iPhone by clicking the Friends icon on the home screen, and then the arrow button in the top right corner. The app will then scan the device’s contacts list for phone numbers and email addresses that match other Facebook users who can be sent friend requests “Add” buttons next to each and an “Add All” button at the top. Then the flow reveals the device’s contacts that aren’t associated with a Facebook account that can similarly be sent invites to the site individually or all at once.

The Find Friends interface states that Facebook stores contacts, uses them for friend suggestions, and explains how to manage uploaded contacts in Account -> Edit Friends – > Invite Friends -> Manage Invites and Contacts. However, contacts from a user’s phone don’t seem to appear here after using the mobile Find Friends feature, so it’s unclear how they’re being used and whether users can remove them, which could stir more privacy concerns.

While relatively buried in the apps compared to its prominence on Facebook.com, Find Friends for iPhone lets Facebook tap into extraordinarily valuable data — a user’s list of phone numbers. Having stored someone’s number may be a better indicator of friendship than having emailed them, so these mobile iterations of Find Friends might help Facebook make more accurate friend suggestions than the web version.

These Facebook native mobile apps don’t allow users to edit their profiles, but the new updates can generate a special prompt asking users to add their phone number to their profile. The prompt appears to those who haven’t added their number via the web interface. The prompt explains “When your number is on your profile, friends can use Facebook to call you. Only friends will see it.”

By encouraging users to add their phone numbers, Facebook is looking to become a sort of cloud-phonebook. Being able to look up a Facebook friend’s number online or use the instant call or sms functions on the mobile apps significantly increases Facebook’s utility, and therefore engagement. The prompt’s language is designed to calm fears about privacy and make it seem natural and helpful to add one’s number.

Rather than just translate features from the web interface to the native apps, these Facebook for iPhone and Android update take advantage of the unique data users store on their phones. The addition of Find Friends to the smartphone apps will help augment Facebook’s mobile-centric developing world growth strategy. With daily active user counts of 39.5 million on Facebook for iPhone, and 23.7 million on Facebook for Android, the updates will draw new users in its core markets where these smartphones are popular, and make sure these users have plenty of friends to interact with.


Source: Inside Facebook

Facebook’s iPhone App Vaults to #1 on Suspected Ranking Algorithm Changes

by M. Dorn on April 19, 2011 · 0 comments

Earlier today on our sister site Inside Mobile Apps, we reported that Apple may have changed the ranking algorithm for the iOS app store, favoring active usage in addition to downloads. A number of the bigger pay-per-install networks, which help developers break into the top of the charts through buying downloads, noticed strange shifts in the rankings last week that seemed to favor older apps with large active user bases like Netflix and Pandora.

While Apple hasn’t publicly confirmed the changes, the big beneficiary has been Facebook, which scaled the charts to number #1 after having mostly lingered between #10 and #20 for the last 16 months.

Facebook’s iPhone app has been adding monthly active users at a clip of just over 600,000 users a week. It almost certainly has the largest daily active user base of any third-party app on the iOS platform with 39.5 million users opening it every day, according to AppData. Just for a frame of reference: if Apple is getting close to having cumulatively sold 200 million iOS devices as analysts estimate, the app gets opened on at least one out of every five iOS devices every day.

Facebook for iPhone Statistics

While adding 600,000 users a week sounds like a lot, it’s actually small compared to what we’ve heard top-ranked free apps would pull in before the algorithm changes. The very top three places often represent more than 300,000 downloads a day while almost all of the top 10 slots usually do at least 100,000 a day, according to conversations we’ve had with developers who have held those ranks.

All of this goes to suggest that Apple is favoring active usage more relative to downloads. There isn’t anything that Facebook appears to have done to independently boost its app; the company did release an update on April 4 — but that was about a week and half before its rise. Facebook is a remarkably sticky app with roughly 55 percent of its monthly active users opening up the app every day.

Here are some additional growth charts, showing a steady, linear trajectory for the app. Like we said above, we can’t identify any growth spikes on Facebook’s side, so it does appear to be a change on Apple’s side. Overall, the extra visibility will likely help convince users who haven’t already downloaded the app to install it. We’ll be watching AppData to see if the changes produce any measurable bump in the number of monthly actives the app is adding.


Source: Inside Facebook

← Previous Entries

Page 1 of 201234...10...Last »