As you may expect, the official Facebook app is one of the most popular on iOS and Android systems, so it’s always exciting when we hear of a big update coming our way. In the last few weeks, Facebook has begun the roll-out of ‘FB5’, claiming the makeover has made the app ‘simpler, faster and more immersive’ for users.
The redesign was announced at the recent F8 Developer Conference at the end of April, and is now beginning to appear in users’ apps. It puts more of a focus on Groups, as part of Facebook’s efforts to ‘put communities at the centre’.
So how does it look?
At the top of the app, you will now find a bar of widgets, including People you may know, News Feed, Groups, Videos and it still has the Notifications icon. If you tap on the Groups Widget, you’ll now be taken to a new tab, where you can see your groups and explore other suggestions with content relevant to groups you are already active in.
Credit: Facebook
Facebook explained: “The tab now shows a personalised feed of activity across all your groups… And the new discovery tool with improved recommendations lets you quickly find groups you might be interested in.”
In an effort to return to it’s roots (being a social platform), Friends’ Facebook Stories still sit below the widget bar, however, these now appear as large rectangles, dominating much of the top of your News Feed.
There has been a somewhat mixed reaction from users on Twitter that have already received the upgrade and Facebook have also announced plans to launch a similar redesign of the desktop version. That is still a way-off though, so we have plenty of time to adjust to it on mobile before it’s released!
Have you received your update yet? Join the discussion and let us know what you think on Facebook or Twitter using the hashtag #FastestIW!
