As you have undoubtedly heard by now, Apple has finally made the 3.0 version of Facebook’s iPhone app available in the App Store. We got a build shortly after developer Joe Hewitt submitted it a couple weeks ago, and reviewed it, something which led to a lot of emails asking what was taking Apple so long to approve it. But there’s good news for those of you who were patient: Your version is better than ours.
Hewitt hinted at some changes in a tweet today, and after talking to him, we got the details. “Apple asked me to fix a really minor issue last night, so I sent them a binary with features I’d done in the last two weeks,” Hewitt tells us. So what’s new? The two big features are landscape mode and home screen organizing, we’re told. Sure enough, neither of those are available in the (test) version I currently have.
Hewitt also notes that the app looks slightly different as he decided to remove the grid lines on the home screen while making the last minute changes. (See the top screenshot.)
So there you go, thanks partially to the long wait, you got some new features that weren’t meant to come until the next iteration. It’s nice that Apple let Hewitt know about the small issue rather than rejecting the app and making him fix and resubmit. Of course, they probably read his rant against the App Store approval process and knew that would have been a very bad move.
You can find the new Facebook app here.
Update: As some commenters are noting, there is a bug right now that allows status updates to be seen by friends of your regardless of privacy filters. Hewitt says the Platform team is looking into it, and that it’s a backend issue that should be resolved quickly. A new version of the app will not be necessary.
I absolutely love it. Much more functional than 2.5. Now I can’t wait for push notifications. I know, I know you’re going to say Boxcar 2.0 but… I’m stingy with my $3.
ha ha. well if you want twitter + facebook push, that’ll be $4, so i totally understand. it’s not like you spend that everyday on coffee
I actually try to do that when I’m out drinking. I go “if I skip the next beer, I can buy an app.” So then I buy the app, and still order the beer
i do the same. and then 3-5 more beers.
Good news for iPhone users. The long wait full of expectations and enthusiasm has yielded fruit. What I like about 3.0 version of Facebook’s iPhone app is its new firing landscape mode and gridless home screen.
Is anyone else unable to upload photos from the newsfeed page? I get a “connection error” message every time I try and I am on a wireless network and all other internet serveces are working (like updating facebook as well)…
any ideas?
bug?
Same thing here..connection error. reboot phone, sign off FB on PC…no joy.
I am having trouble with all of it. Can not post comments, can not send to inbox, can not upload photos, It is useless right now for anything other than reading posts. Whats up with this???
I am unable to upload images from my phone to friends pages…..always give me an alert that says “unable to upload your image”. It’s VERY annoying. Any help would be appreciated!!
Got the same issue
Beware! There’s a big where privacy settings aren’t working for things done from the app. My limited profile list all saw a bunch of status updates. A few other people on twitter are starting to report the same thing.
interesting. i let hewitt know about that. thx.
Thanks…. I saw all these comments from coworkers on my status and started having a mild coronary.
i updated with what hewitt said, they’re still looking at it, but it should be a relatively easy back-end fix, i’m told.
They should make sure no other privacy settings are overridden such as blocking photo albums, wall posts, etc. from everyone being able to see them.
Holy crap. How does something like this get missed during the QA process? I have no faith in this clown anymore. Ignoring privacy settings is a pretty big deal.
Allows status updates to be seen by friends of your regardless of privacy filters??
>>>> Congrats! Finally best efforts got success. Facebook 3.0 is working well, user interface really appreciable and makes navigation and event management very handy. But soon privacy policies regarding status updates are to be fixed, sad to miss the push notifications here.Allows status updates to be seen by friends of your regardless of privacy filters??
>>>> Congrats! Finally best efforts got success. Facebook 3.0 is working well, user interface really appreciable and makes navigation and event management very handy. But soon privacy policies regarding status updates are to be fixed, sad to miss the push notifications here.
Already seeing a big privacy bug being reported. If you have privacy settings setup blocking your status updates from certain lists, and you post a status update from v3.0 of the app, everyone can see your status update regardless if they’re blocked.
So he added landscape with no option to turn it off? Awesome.
I dunno about anyone else but when apps have no option to turn off landscape using them in bed is pretty damn annoying.
actually, that annoys me too on certain apps. still, i know some people love it.
It would be great if Apple paid attention to this as well, specifically for Safari, Text Messaging, and Email. I’d turn it off completely if I could.
Or hell just add a toggle/lock button if it could be fit into the UI.
How do we get this *done*?! Apparently you can turn off auto-landscape if you jail break – if I was an iPhone dev that’s the first place I’d be looking for inspiration on how to improve. And honestly, I can’t believe Apple devs have never used their iPhone in bed. Why is this not fixed already?!
And all this time I thought I was the only one who had to fight landscape mode in bed. It is quite annoying at times.
like.
Agreed. I love reading sideways, which isn’t a problem in Tweetie, but Safari gives me the arm cramps.
Finally Wait is over downloading the application and going to Write a review on the new Facebook
So the app reviewers were probably using this app for the last week or so and found the bug. I doubt they found this bug in their review process.
Dear Fellow Cyber Information Superhighway Users:
I made a Long Distance from my home in Arlington, VA to Chicago, IL. The cost was only 12 cents per minute. I wanted to ask about how to use the calendar function on my new PDA to plan out my days. They told me that I can Download the instructions from the World Wide Web. Wow, what technology. I asked the typist at work if we have the World Wide Web at our company. She said, no, but we have something very advanced called the Intranet. She proceeded to use the Personal Computer to send a CC Mail to someone for advice. He said that he does have access to the Information Super Highway at his home, and that he would go home and Dailup a connection, at which time he would Download the manual for my PDA. This is just incredible. He even says he Surfs the Web all the time.
I just check my answering machine. I played the cassette back, but it flipped to the reverse side. Then the mixed tape I made came on.
I called back but got a busy signal. Then I remembered I recorded the number from a show I taped on my VCR. I played the tape but it wouldn’t work in the VCR becuase it was a BETA tape adn the VCR only plays VHS.
I’m loving it!
Its a really fantastic app, and miles better than the original facebook app, but i preferred the screenshot with gridlines. Small issue, and its not to everybody’s liking, but i really liked it with the grid lines in there.
Apart from that, Well Done Mr Hewitt!!!
I went to the app store, and its still showing 2.5. What gives?
Okay seriously I wrote in the last article about the FB app “It’s TOO blue” — Then 15 minutes later they remove the blue… STRANGE? I’m suing.
your avatar is too blue!
true.
Found these First screenshots of facebook 3.0 Application
http://www.shou...screenshot.html
heh, the icons wiggle when you hold them down. liking it so far.
Try a little bit and I would say the best thing is the memory management is much better in 3.0. I don’t see the memory keeps dropping constantly, esp for the photos.
Anyone having issues viewing upcoming events?
Poop all over Facebook! that’s what I think of that compnay!
Crashes when I scroll through my friends. Anyone else have this issue?
I do… if I get to the bottom of the friends list, it crashes.
Also, there´s some cases where when I press the “Older posts” button at the bottom of a friends feed (mainly thise who have few posts, strangely enough), nothing comes up
I don’t have that issue because I cannot even look at my friend’s list because it crashes every time I try and look at my friends list.
Yep, also crashes when you try and go into chat.
I love it for the ability to administer my page alone. It’s quite beautiful and it actually does all the stuff they said it was going to do! It’s sad I should be so happy with that.
Next version I’d like to see them add an attachment bar of some sort. Be great to have the same visual appeal to our FB updates from the iPhone.
Took me 4 weeks to get my update out.. I wish small devs like us have this power of submitting an update and getting approved in a matter of days ;(
Playing around with this now, it’s really well done. Also very fast. Congrats to the team.
Where is every one getting 3.0? It’s still showing up as 2.5 for me.
Use iTunes to download and than sync to iPhone… app store on iPhone is not working yet…
running it on iPhone 2G… lightening fast !
+1 facebook
yet again, the “unable to load friends” bug is still there… I can’t access my friends list OR search for friends: http://twitpic.com/fidqm
LIVE FEED is gone!
Hey,
I was wondering if there is a way to add the “birthdays” section under “events” to the home screen of facebook where you can add friends or pages.
Thanks.
MG, Love the “Real Time QA” in the comment stream! Another selling point for TechCrunch.
Once our new app is out of “Apple Review purgatory,” can we hire these guys?
Maybe it was me having to restart my iPhone to get it to work, but this app is hella fast. My 3G feels like a 3GS when I’m using Facebook. Nice work, Joe.
How do you delete pages or people you have added to the new menu?
Never mind it is just like a normal iPhone page. Pretty slick.
Finally Wait is over downloading the application and going to Write a review on the new Facebook. Its a really fantastic app, and miles better than the original facebook app, and its not to everybody’s liking, but i really liked it with the grid lines in there.
nobody cares about your review.
We need an app like this for Blackberry Javelin now so when i actually buy it (I have been planning to buy one for the past 2 months
), am not found wanting
Is there a time issue? I´m living in Sweden and the time stamps on mail etc. seems weird.. hmm…
Why when i’m using the app and my friends chat to me I get no alert or anything that someone is talking to me… odd
Everytime I try and upload a photo I get a connection error, other than that it looks fantastic. Still early.
Hold on a minute, he get’s to fix an issue, resubmit and NOT have to wait 2 weeks again like the rest of us!
does your app service a site with 250 million users? I think not.
do you have 12 million monthly users of your app?
Why should it matter, we all paid the fee to be in the developer program.
If there is a two tier app submission process they should make it public. I had a bug that wasn’t really a bug and was already in the published version for sale. Had the updated rejected for it. Fix took less than 2 minutes to fix, but now am still in the blackhole of an approval process two weeks later.
why can’t i still tag my friends’ photos?
ok, i know i can’t have everrrrrrything, but, there are still some things that would make this app LOADS better. though i’m sure i’m not the only one thinking it…multiple photo upload, tag other ppl’s photos, under Photos, have a tab to toggle between my photos and friend’s photos, leaving comments on videos, managing the news feed segments, managing friends (deletion), ghosting on chat (iphone and main site)
I really just want the Facebook app to give me a shortcut to a friend group for the news feed so I can ignore the majority of friends I’m not so keen on.
The app crashes everytime I either try and enter chat or scroll through friends page. Anyone else experiencing this?
How hard is it to add functionality to SAVE PICTURES to your phone? Tons of people asked about that int he last version. I can do it in safari on any website I go to. Why not the facebook app? The people that make this app are just plain stupid.
I am really disappointed in the upgrade. I would get a white screen for a few minutes, then it would crash. So, I tried uninstalling it and reinstalling, but after I uninstalled and go to it in the Appstore, it says “Installed” and won’t let me reinstall. So, I can’t use Facebook on my iPhone at all now.
Troy, I had the same problem and it then went on to cause my iphone to crash. Now i’ve lost everything, including all the texts off my husband that meant so much to me
I’m so upset. I was told the only option was to restore my phone, and that the facebook app caused the problem.
Same problem here…sad monkey. White screen of death.
Exactly same situation here.
Upgraded.
Got white screen, followed by exit.
Uninstalled.
App Store still says “Installed”.
No more Facebook!
I guess I need to completely restore my iPhone?
Same problem here – the App store won’t let me reinstall it so now I’m w/out facebook.
Another 1st generation user here who is unable to use the latest upgrade because it crashes every time I open it. Anyone know how to revert to the previously installed version? If not, I guess I’m stuck with the mobile website.
Hey, Joe … I downloaded the Facebook upgrade from my iPhone, and got the gray Apple screen and the phone wouldn’t turn on. I had to restore and am now spending a ton of time resyncing everything to my phone. Would love to see the new Facebook, but I’m afraid to touch it now. Will you be fixing whatever is causing it to crash iPhones? Message boards are full of folks complaining about this.
Nan, they better had fix this, or there will be an increase in the number of very upset iphone facebook users. I’m totally gutted, I’ve just come back from my honeymoon having taken loads of photos on my phone. I’ve lost ALL these photos, and other memories, including texts sent between my husband and I on and before our wedding day. They might be able to fix this issue, but they can’t bring those back.
Also, my hubby has put the new facebook app on to his phone, and he has no problem with it other than the fact he hates the new layout and wants to try and find a way of reverting back to the old one. He has the 3GS, I have the 3G, I wonder if it’s been designed to work on the 3GS but without consideration of the old 3G system?
I’d welcome a response from the development team, and an apology.
Updated to the new FB app on my 1st gen iPhone, but the thing won’t even open w/out an immediate crash. I think I’ll switch back to the old version before it wipes out everything!
If anyone knows of a fix to this, I’m all ears…. gracias!
All the new stuff is great but it won’t load my news feed or status updates at all. I turned my phone off and even deleted the app and it still won’t work…
I just updated my iphone for facebook and was not happy to see the changes it made! I like the way my profile showed up and had update and add photo buttons~ and now reading all these comments on privacy issues, I am PO that I wont be using the app now on my iphone for those reasons!! why fix it when it was fine the way it was?? NOT HAPPY!!!!!
I would have NEVER UPDATED if I had known the whole app would be changed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OMG!!! I AM REALLY PI$$ED OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I CANT EVEN USE IT NOW!!! AND LIKE OTHERS HAVE TO RESYNC MY IPHONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Anybody can tell me how to switch back to the old facebook app? i use a mac and still have the old facebook in my trash, but how will i make the iphone recognize the old version?
thanks!
installing the new facebook app made my iphone crash, how do I restore it? Right now I can’t even turn it on..