Facebook was one of the first apps on the iPhone and remains one of the most downloaded apps in the platform's history.
Our Rating: 4/5
Available on: iOS, Android and Web browser
Facebook has found its way into almost every phone, but to be honest the app isn't all that great. The iPhone app has had bugs that cause it to drain the battery in the background, and at least twice a week there is an update and it could be using up to 20% of your battery on Android.
The Facebook app can do just about anything you want to. It lets you see what your friends are up to, share updates, photos, and videos, get notified when friends like and comment on your posts, interact with live videos and play games, it also lets you allow access for Siri to help get things going on the app.
Here are some powerful tips and tricks you may not know about. It is time to start using Facebook as a pro:
1.See something interesting in your News Feeds, but do not have time to look at it straight away? Why not save it for later?
You can bookmark links, videos, photos, places and more from the "Saved" pages on your Facebook profile. The page is included in the "More" tab in the Facebook mobile app. It is perfect for saving your favourite page's articles.
2. Turn off auto-playing videos in your News Feed.
If you want to save data, or simply do not want Facebook to automatically play videos in your News Feed, make sure to turn the setting off.
Under the "More" tab in the Facebook mobile app, select "Videos and Photos." You can choose to auto-play videos over cellular and Wi-Fi connections, just Wi-Fi, or never.
3. Know the distinction between "friend" and "follower" on Facebook.
There are two ways you can connect with someone on Facebook: by becoming friends with them and by following them. Being friends simply mean you and the other person have approved the friendship and likely know each other, by following an account means that the person hasn't added you back as a friend.
When someone follows you, they'll only see what you post when you share it as "public". You can turn off the ability for people to follow your account at any time from the "Follower" section of your account settings.
4. Adjust the number of notifications you get.
Thank goodness Facebook allow you to customize exactly what kind of notifications you get, all the way down to updates for an event you have clicked "attended".
It gets even better than this: Notifications you want can be customized on the desktop and your phone separately. Go to the "Notifications" section of your account settings on the desktop and tweak away...
5. You can apply a filter to a photo on the Facebook mobile app before sharing it.
While uploading images on Facebook's iPhone app, swipe on the photo to apply some built-in Instagram-like filter. You can also add text and stickers over a photo, similar to the way that Snapchat works.
Facebook also recently launched their 'Snapchat like' strategy and has seemingly had great success in replicating this strategy of camera-first sharing. The company says 150 million people use Instagram Stories daily, which is about the size of Snapchat’s total user base. With Facebook claiming more than a billion users, Facebook Stories has the potential to expand the reach of the temporary stories concept.
If you do not have the Facebook app, Facebook's fairly full-featured mobile site is also available. It can be launched in one tap, just like the app, by simply adding it to your bookmarks on your Internet like Safari or Google Chrome if you use Android. The only problem here is you will not be able to see your fellow friend's stories, but if you do have the Messenger App you will still be able to see the Snapchat like stories and see what your friends are up to.
