Facebook Home developer team disbanded

Facebook has disbanded its Home (Android Launcher) team, but the app still lives. 

Facebook's plan to take over the smartphone has not panned out and the social networking site has disbanded its team that was initially responsible for developing Facebook Home. The Android skin released last year displayed Facebook photos on its lock screen and provided easy access to chat messages and status updates.

The Home app released last year wasn't a success that Facebook had hoped for. Although it did a good job of transforming an Android phone into one that felt purpose-built for Facebook, not many users took it up. The skin came preinstalled on the HTC first, but did not get a good response and disappeared shortly after its launch.

Facebook Home saw half a million downloads after its launch, but the growth stalled from there. Google Play lists that the skin has been installed between 1 million and 5 million times which is quiet low for Facebook. Facebook says that it still has a team working on Home, but chances of it moving forward are less. The app remains available in the Play Store, however it hasn't been updated since January.

Facebook has been working on new apps like Slingshot and Facebook Paper. Paper is a magazine-style news reader service and was launched in February. The service is very similar to Flipboard and Google Currents and pulls out relevant content including photos, videos and links from Facebook feed.

Facebook launched a Snapchat clone called Slingshot earlier this month. The app allows users to share videos and photos with their friends, but the only way recipients will be able to see the messages will be if they share something back on Slingshot. The app has been officially launched for Android and iOS platforms.

Facebook updates iOS and Android apps with Nearby Friends invites and offline likes

Fcebook has two updates on the mobile world today. Facebook for iOS 11.0 got new additions to its Nearby Friends  feature while Android hit version 10.0 with offline posting. Both updates are available now in the Google Play Store and App Store.

For the iOS version Facebook only posted that today’s update included “improvements for reliability and speed.” But TechCrunch reportsthat after a bit of digging, it found two new updates for Nearby Friends. In the US version of the app, the social network has added search and invite friends buttons.

For Android, Facebook has added the following new features:

• Like posts, photos and Pages when you’re offline
• Remove tags you’ve created
• Remove tags of yourself that your friends have created
• Turn post notifications on and off
• Improvements to speed and reliability

Being able to remove tags that your friends have created is a wonderful way to make sure some of the more embarrassing things you did last night don’t end up in your Timeline.

➤ Facebook for iOS and Android

Facebook Home Android update, changelog missing

As well as bringing news about useful
or entertaining apps, we also like to
detail app updates for our readers.
One of these is the Facebook Home
Android update, although the
changelog is missing. It seems rather
odd that Facebook hasn’t provided
these details for users of the app.
The Facebook Home Android app is a
free social app compatible with some
specific devices running Android 4.0
or later. The app enables users to
replace the standard home screens on
their phones and instead show a
stream of posts and photos from
friends. It allows access to apps with
just one swipe and also means that
users can continue chatting with
friends while using other apps, once
Facebook Messenger has been
downloaded.
The app was updated yesterday to, and
under the ‘What’s New’ description on
the app it urges users to update
Facebook for Android and Facebook
Messenger to get the latest Home
Features. Under “what’s in this
version” it merely says users can
customize their app launchers to a
favorites tray and that there are bug
fixes, but there is no detailed
changelog of anything new and the app
is still listed as version 1.0.
Facebook Home does not really seem
to have lived up to expectations so far,
and it’s a strange move to push out an
update where users cannot actually
see any obvious changes. It’s
possible that the Facebook Home
update could have something to do
with recent news of a Facebook beta
program opening, where it was stated
that BETA members would get early
access to app releases.
There haven’t been many phones
added to the list of compatible devices
for Facebook Home recently, but it’s
also possible that the update regards
further devices that have been added
that we don’t yet know about.
However, the only apparent change
that we’ve noticed so far is NVIDIA
SHIELD support. If you want to check
out the Facebook Home Android app
you can find it at Google Play here.
It would be really interesting to hear
from readers who may have found that
their devices are now supported by
Facebook Home? Alternatively, if you
notice any other changes to the
Facebook Home Android app, please
let us know by sending us your
comments.