By It’s no secret that the Facebook app for Android hasn’t been the most thrilling experience in the world. While their app is a lot better than what it used to be (and believe you me, it stunk), there’s still a ton of room for improvement.
But for all the critics there are on the Google Play Store ranting about the app’s shortcomings, the most important critic of all has reportedly said “enough is enough.” According to Business Insider, Facebook is so fed up with its subpar Android app that he is forcing its developers to ditch their iOS devices in favor of Android devices.
They apparently want their developers to suffer the same nonsense Android users do every day, and perhaps then they’ll come together and get serious about offering an exceptional experience.
Yours truly has flown the coop on the official Facebook app in favor of alternatives like Friendcaster long ago, and until I see substantial improvement I don’t see myself coming back anytime soon. You can imagine the intrigue this story stirred within me, and I’m sure it’s stirring within you all the same.
If this story happens to be true then we should definitely be headed for greener pastures before too long. If you haven’t heard the news, the iOS version of Facebook was updated today to rebuild the app from the ground up.
That means they got rid of the HTML5-ridden mess and decided to make full use of iOS’ native user interface elements. Having used the update on my iPad I can say without a shadow of doubt that change was for the better.
Hopefully they are looking to do the same for their Android app. Oh, and let’s not forget that they don’t even have a tablet interface yet — we’re going to want that whenever you can get it to us, Zuck. What do you think of the current Facebook experience? Let us know in the comments section below!
lmao! i cracked up reading the title… the app is pretty horrible
good, cause its terrible
I ditched it a long time ago… when the mobile site runs better and faster than the app, I have no need for it taking up space on my phone.
The Facebook app hasn’t been horrendous as of late. But a tablet interface is long overdue.
Edit: the main reason I kept it on my phone even when it sucked (and I used the mobile site) was for sharing links quickly and easily.
Agreed 100%. I don’t have many issues with the app itself, unless I’m using it on my tablet. That’s a different story completely.
Of course, if the fb team decided to take this chance to take a few pages from the g+ app’s playbook, I wouldn’t complain. Since the beta, I’ve maintained that g+ is better than fb in every way (both app and site) except that nobody (I know) uses it.
Because of Google updating it’s G+ App, I have been using G+ a lot more.
terrible .. works terrible needs major overhaul
Although I do agree that the Android Facebook experience is not the best, it still has come a long way and is pretty decent for a mobile social networking app. I usually don’t have any troubles with speed or smoothness on my GS3 so I can’t complain much about that, but then again I have not used Facebook on an iOS device in ages (nor have I used the mobile site.)
In my opinion, getting a tablet version going for Android would be what I’d be worried about the most if I was Zuckerburg. At this point, THAT experience is what I would consider as terrible.
It f****** sucks!
That it does…
thank you jesus! bout time zuckerberg
The app has always been a sloppy mess. I hope that this is correct, I want to see these guys work with Android for awhile, instead of hanging out with the iOS kids. We hold the larger marketshare of smartphones… Forget iPod Touch and the iPad share, there’s a ton of us Android users who WANT to use Facebook too…
What phone is that? I want the phone…
Yes! That is a perfect phone. (Except for what’s on the screen.) Almost zero margins and four real buttons. Perfect.
Perfect except that it only runs 2 apps:Facebook and farmville.
It’s a concept Facebook phone I found online somewhere :p
Gimmie that with an S4, on-screen keys, AOSP supported, and a micro-sd slot.
(Wolfson audio, would also be welcome.)
Release this, Motorola, and take my money, dammit.
(This would then become the first Motorola device I’ve owned)
then expect a locked bootloader
Ugh…
1.) Nexus devices come with locked bootloaders.
2.) Motorola is unlocking current/recent devices here:
https://motorola-global-portal.custhelp.com/app/standalone/bootloader/unlock-your-device-a
3.) I said “AOSP”, which would imply un-encrypted bootloaders.
Food for thought that might help you avoid making such ridiculous statements in the future.
Sexy phone… Somebody should make that phone!
Wasn’t that the facebook HTC phone you guys showed awhile back?
The touch button icons are the same as my HTC One S. It has to be an newer HTC of some kind.
It’s embarrassing that they haven’t improved it yet. It’s the only app I use regularly that has such usability issues.
Google Voice is even worse, it can’t even properly have one message thread per contact.
Yeah Google should force its developers to use Android phones, too.
I don’t believe it’s supposed to. I think it tries to have one message thread per conversation.
which is fucking annoying, lbr
Yea about 2 updates before the whole fiasco of them adding more applications to our app drawer, was the last time it was working properly and flawlessly for me. It is a damn disaster now with heavy refresh issues on my Evo 4G. It takes forever to load now. I thought it was ok before the last 3 updates.
People still use Facebook?
People still make silly comments like that?
I guess we all need to know how your “sammich” is…
I guess we all need to know how passive aggressive you are, Wick.
I prefer “smart ass”, but thanks.
Strange isn’t it? Facebook is the worst…next to apple.
Android fans need to force ourselves to use facebook in order to see how bad it is.
Every person I knew use it. Unless you are a loner.
The app is even worse after the update…
At least pics load now. (The only reason I actually use FB at all is for George Takei’s feed, a Dr. Who feed. and some other “humor” feeds…and images rarely loaded when clicked on….it hasn’t failed to load an image *once* since the update)
At a minimum it should be able to the basic functions that the website can. It can be pretty painful performing a simple task on the app. That said, it used to be a lot worse but it still has a long way to go. If they can make the phone version work well that can be the place holder while the tablet interface is being worked on.
Both of these are long overdue. I don’t understand why it’s taking them so long. WTF?
Been using Friendcaster for about a year now without regret. Its not perfect, but that’s where the bar is set.
Never figured out how to share images from another person’s feed using that app…otherwise, yeah..it was miles and then some ahead of FB’s own app.
the damn think constantly crashes on me. well, not actually crashes, just stops loading comments/pics when i click on them. i have to kiill it and relaunch the app to get it working. Does anybody else have that problem?
I just gave up. I have friendster on the tablet but I dont use it, nothing on the phone. I find myself on the site less every day. I just dont use it like others do. I use Google for the events because everyone has GMail so it integrates with their calendars.
You know, you can just download a 3rd party one like FriendCaster. An upgrade for the official app would still be great because many people might not be aware of this and I’d prefer to use an official app.
The widget that shows you your friend’s status updates is pretty wretched and doesn’t always even show you their most recent update.In fact the whole logic of what friends it shows you in the widget and which of those status updates it gives you seems fairly cryptic to me.
Also I can’t I edit status updates like I can on the website.
I have HTC and the app isn’t bad. Could be better but pleeeease fix the lucid’s app. That one sucks like a cheep whore.
Maybe we’ll finally get to use some basic functions like resharing a friend’s picture.
resharing on facebook is so stupid. get on tumblr for that.
I don’t use Facebook unless there is a contest that requires Facebook for entry…so I don’t really care about the app.
The app is way better than it used to be. The only issues I have with it now is the picture interface. Can’t save photos etc. I have electronically actually switched back to it from Friendcaster as notifications are actually more reliable on it now than on FC.
A better app won’t fix what’s wrong with Facebook.
I have a Galaxy Nexus and an iPhone 4S and I can tell you first hand that the Android version is WAY better than the iPhone version in the sense that it actually works.
I must live in an alternate universe from you – FB app on my phone is without doubt the worst experience I put myself through on a daily basis. Pictures don’t load, comments disappear then reappear, comments I type just don’t get posted, the app constantly tells me “connection lost” even when connected to a strong Wi-Fi of cell signal, sometimes things take thirty seconds or more to load, notifications are sporadic, it constantly changes my feed from “latest” to “top stories”, etc, etc.
I hate the damn thing and each update breaks something new. I pray to God that they can actually code a useable app this time round. Oh and I’m not using a piece of crap phone, this is a Galaxy S3. The FB Android team should be fucking fired – if I produced work this bad then I would be.
You use ipad yuck! No apple products for me period till the ip bs stops. Android tablets are better anyway. IPad is an Ifraud. Would rather use a nook color it only cost me 200 bucks a year ago works well and the more people that stop using apple products the better. Really the only way apple will get the message.
I just gained some respect for Mark.
It’s a nightmare if you want to use this app on a Xyboard 8.2! Useless!
I always assumed that everyone at Facebook (including Zuck) knew how bad it was and just didn’t care because they don’t like Google/Android.
I would use Facebook more if the app wasn’t Terrible, and if it wasn’t so bad in the browser, but the Android app is so slow even on Broadband connection… terrible. And it doesn’t work right in Chrome for Android browser.. and the list goes on..
my contacts would never sync at all. i can use the facebook app but non of my contacts appear under “friends” nor would it link to any of my existing contacts. i can’t tag anyone either…ugh…does anyone suffer from the same problem, or is this related to htc, facebook, or both?
I would ditch it but the alternatives suck as bad or worse. Friend caster is a total waste.
Absolutely sucks…..connection errors, foreclosed etc etc….
That’s just cruel and unusual punishment!
I wont believe it till I see it change for the better. Then I still wont care because facebook is pretty stupid.
Ipad…. Traitor :-P
>>
Yours truly has flown the coop on the official Facebook app in favor of alternatives like Friendcaster
I encourage you to fly the coop on FaceBroke itself in favor of G+. Not only is it well integrated with Android with a beautiful app – but it even has a tablet version.
Its super.
You should use it.
The g+ app is fanfuckingtastic. I loove using it and facebook is always a step back in time when phones weren’t smart and the apps were preloaded and awful…
i dont have an issue with the interface, but when you cant load a page in less than 30 secs, you need work done lol
Wait…
They had Android developers … whose daily driver device was an iPhone? IDIOTS!
The FB update messed it up. It now crashes all the time
This concept phone has an ideal bezel size.
even I would design a better Android app….
I wish they would let Google design the app interface that would be amazing
Facebook for Android was my biggest encouragement to use G+.
Eat your own dog food, bitches.
Not being able to sort the news feed by newest pains me. I’m tired of fb’s magical unicorn rainbows and butterfly fuzzies way of determining most popular. I see posts that are 5 days old before ones that are 10 minutes old. It’s like tearing all the pages out of a book, throwing them in the air and then letting a monkey put them in order and trying to read it.
I agree that the Facebook App sucks but this is the first right move they have made. You should always have your developers using and knowing the device they are making the app for. I say this from experience as I am an avid Android users and just recently had to design an app for both Native Android and Native iOS. My Native Android design looks awesome, but my iOS one has been said to not look like what iOS users are used to. I had to pick up an iOS device and play with it for some time to figure out the style it needed to be.
yep, makes a perfectly capable phone (my gs2 skyrocket) force close like crazy!
I still say I want htc to make that phone minus the facebook crap and timeline can go find a ditch fill it with gasoline light it and hop in.
it sucked so bad i had to uninstall it
The facebook app is a great way to test and see if Watchdog is still working.
Friendcaster is waayyyy better.