“I recently created a Facebook account after a long absence from the social media service. After I created my account I promptly installed the Facebook app and the Messenger app on my iOS devices,” Jim Lynch writes for CIO “I shouldn’t have bothered, Facebook’s iOS apps are a pain in the rear end and aren’t worth installing.”
“If Messenger is so great then why didn’t Facebook just offer it as an extra option for those who would appreciate and enjoy its features? The rest of us could have just used basic messaging in the Facebook iOS app and skipped having to switch back and forth between the main Facebook app and Messenger,” Lynch writes. “Another problem with the Facebook app on iOS is that it somehow manages to screw up the volume level on some people’s iPhones.”
“The easiest way around the problems of the Facebook apps is to skip installing them on your iOS devices,” Lynch writes. “If you want to use Facebook, just login via Safari on your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch. Facebook works perfectly in Safari, and you have the added benefit of being able to send and receive messages the usual way instead of having to fiddle with Messenger.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Facebook users: On iOS, do you use the Facebook app or visit Facebook.com via a web browser?
Facebook via safari on iMac and iphone. I got tired of the facebook app sending messages out that I liked something that I just drove by.
Huh? Posting for you?!? Please elaborate.
I use Friendly+ – so I can easily switch back and forth between 2 different accounts.
I believe it also does not Location Services all the time. It seems every time I try to tag a location while on Friendly+ is asks me for permission to Location Services at least …
Um … the iOS Facebook Messenger app works just fine on an iPhone. Not really sure what they’re talking about!
I agree. No problems, but on Safari I can copy and paste text to insert preceding postings. Otherwise, no problems with phone or iPad. Amazing how some people are so unlucky and miserable in their own little worlds.
He’s a Facebook hater. Fuck him.
Everyone should hate Facebook, Fu** Facebook it’s an abomination and a blemish on modern society.
I remember when the mobile app came out it was really bad. And it continued to seem like they were just hobbling along, missing the opportunity to make a really great app. Then as Facebook features grew and had more and more types of features/interactions, the mobile app still was hobbled in some way, and wasn’t full featured.
Today, it still has some puzzling misses, but parallels desktop Facebook much better.
I wish there was copy / paste on others’ posts on mobile.
Exactly. The info provider’s website is usually way ahead, featurewise (and buggednesswise), than the app.
I also absolutely hate the proliferation of apps on iDevices. It is just a way for companies to lock the competition out. Not so if you just visit their websites, because you retain the ease of easily choosing which company to visit.
Case in point: the proliferation of newspaper apps.
I’ve had the volume issue and bloated app size happen to me. Listen to music, then when you load up FB app, the volume notches down as if the FB app is about to play a video. I have FB app auto-play video option turned off completely but this still happens. I also suspected it’s because of the in-app sounds from FB app but that’s also turned off… Yet this volume interference still happens. Very annoying.
Also the bloated size ballooning to over 500GB (on a 16GB iPhone!) is crazy. Feel like I’m using android needing to keep deleting and reinstalling apps to keep memory/storage space in check….
I use Paper app for FB on my iPhone and iPad.
I’m suspicious of anybody who recommends using the browser app instead of the native app, as responsiveness and usability are severely impacted, and several features are missing. The location services thing is a non-issue as you can simply disable it.
The only problem I’ve had with Facebook on iOS is that it caches content or photos and balloons to several hundred megabytes. I’ve deleted Facebook before when it was taking up north of 350MB. I’d blame it on Facebook, but the same thing happens to Spotify and several other apps, including a local classified app. I put the blame on Apple. There’s no way to nuke an app’s data separate from the app, so the only way to reclaim the lost space is to delete and reinstall the app(s).
Seriously? These people couldn’t put in a control to flush the data?
Right, the developer could have programmed that capability into the app themselves. Would you really want to be able to wipe data from every app? So much for game saves, customer data, spreadsheets, anything else that’s designed to store important information rather than cached images. It just doesn’t make sense for most scenarios for apple to do this; it should be done by the app developer.
You and Sean are both making a big assumption; that the data that accumulates is controlled by the developer. I don’t know that it is and neither do either of you. It’s possible that the developers built in a cacheing scheme and that it’s not flushing that cache, but it’s just as likely that iOS is doing it. Like I said, it’s a bunch of apps that accumulate “data” even if I don’ t want them to, so I’m not sure the developers are at fault. It’s possible, but I’m not sure.
Regardless, yes – it would be nice to “flush” an app’s data without deleting the app itself, just like how I can delete a folder from a computer, and empty the cache in Safari or even “reset” it.
Paper app for iPhone Facebook app for iPad. BTW the Paper still has messenger built in. Superior experience that having 2 separate apps ( Hate That !! )
Paper for iPhone by Facebook. Also has messenger built in. Superior experience from Mike Matas, an original iPhone OS1 designer.
Paper app is a waste of time and unnecessary. Same with Friendly+…..
Browser All The Way
Facebook sucks
I have had my identity stolen twice in the last six months in the Fecebook iPad App. Now I log on for five minutes, read the posts and then log off.
Your identity was probably stolen from your Ashley Madison account; not facebook.
I am still mystified by people who don’t understand they are the product with Facebook. I am not even a member and Mr. Zuckerberg thinks he should be allowed to track my movements around the web planting cookies and unique identifier Facebook icons on the pages of his minions. And profit from selling the “anonymized” (that’s in quotes because you can easily reconnect the data to the original users) data about me – someone who has clearly opted out.
Here’s a nice tip. Go to /private/etc/hosts and create these entries:
127.0.0.1 facebook.com
127.0.0.1 facebook.net
127.0.0.1 http://www.facebook.com
127.0.0.1 connect.facebook.net
127.0.0.1 graph.facebook.com
127.0.0.1 facebookinc.122.2o7.net
127.0.0.1 ads.ak.facebook.com
127.0.0.1 creative.ak.facebook.com
127.0.0.1 creative.ak.fbcdn.net
Or better yet, do it at your router level so all your local WiFi devices can be free from Facebook’s evil tracking.
Author is crazy. I won’t say that the Facebook app couldn’t be better, but it works fine. Now if you talk about the problems with Facebook itself. That’s a different story, and then why would he create an account in the first place?
I use the facebook app, but periodically I delete & reinstall to clear the cache
iCab Mobile. Not only will it display full screen with no chrome, but it will also block ads and other tracking features ubiquitous in Fapbook. I’ve also got a couple gestures defined for overcoming some of the site’s annoyances, like returning to the top of the page, quickly viewing all open tabs, or even a simple back page gesture. And as stated above, 1 interface deals with what would otherwise be 2 iOS apps.
I visit Facebook.com via a web browser
Suspended my Facebook account six months ago and haven’t looked back. I’ve gained back time each day doing more productive things, and avoid all the whining and negative vibes I got from it all the time.
Yeah…more productive things like MDN.
App. I’d love a peek into the social lives of those not on social media. That’d be a cool study. Which group is more social.
I installed the Facebook app so that I could set the credentials in the iPhone settings so that when I have sites that allow the Facebook sign-on option, my credentials are there and ready. I’ve disabled all notifications (and accompanying sound) from the app and have never installed the messenger app. I’m not big on social media apps to begin with though.
Facebook app on iPhone runs fine…though it does way too many things people never ever use. Messenger is terrible as a separate app.
The app that really stinks on iPhone and does change the volume is YOUTUBE app. It is the most unintuitive app ever…try to search for something and then go back or just try to store a url of a video to see later. It always brings my volume to zero…it plain stinks, but we know who owns it.