The new Facebook and Messenger apps were recently released, and for the most part, received good feedback from users. I’ve been using it for about a week now, and I thought it was about time for me to share my thoughts with the world on it, so here it goes!
Facebook App:
The Facebook app, used to be slow, and clunky at times. some times, I found it to be faster to actually close the app, open Safari or Chrome on my iPhone, go the the Facebook website, log in, and then get done what I needed to do. It was actually that slow. Facebook now claims that they’ve given the app a two percent speed boost. “Well, that don’t sound like much!” Someone reading this might say, but I’ve actually found it to be considerably faster than it’s predecessor, which I’d like to forget about. The user interface has seen a few changes, with the buttons getting a slightly different look, as well, when you like something, you’ll see a neat looking blue animation, which is nice on the eyes. The app launches quickly, there is no lag at all, and is very responsive. Overall I think this is a great update to the app, but I do have one issue with it, and that is, the inability to share anything. Upon launching the app, you’ll probably notice the absence of the share button under posts in your news feed, or anywhere within the app. Why Facebook didn’t add this in, is a complete mystery to me. But i’m sure we’ll see it down the road in the future.
The Facebook icon on the homescreen also changed a little.
Changes:
We’ve rebuilt the app so it’s faster and easier to use.
* Scrolling through news feed is faster than ever
* New banner lets you tap to quickly see more stories – no need to refresh
* Photos open fast and close with one downward swipe
* Instant access to your notifications
Facebook Messenger:
The Facebook Messenger app got updated just a little before the main Facebook app did, or at least, that’s when I noticed it. Overall, the experience this the same, with a few changes in the UI, and a few other changes here and there.
Changes:
Add smileys, hearts and other emoji to messages
· Tap the person’s name at the top of your conversation to view their Facebook Timeline
My experiences with this app have been great, but on Android, my experiences haven’t been so wonderful.
On my Motorola Xoom, running Jelly Bean, the app crashes about three seconds after it is launched. Before this update, the app worked flawlessly. The same happened in the main Facebook app, if I attempt to view my messages, no luck, just a “Unfortunately, Facebook has stopped” message.
Overall, on iOS at least, the Messenger app is great, and hopefully on the Android side of things, Facebook will get around to releasing a fix for it. An update was released for Messenger just a few days ago, and when I installed it, I hoped it would be the end of my problems, but it wasn’t, it still crashed.
