Facebook

Submitted by Laszlo, 1 August, 2010
Last updated on 4 October, 2017
Category
Social Networking

Description of App

Keeping up with friends is faster than ever.

  • See what friends are up to
  • Share updates, photos and video
  • Get notified when friends like and comment on your posts
  • Watch and interact with live video
  • Play games and use your favorite apps

Read our Data Use Policy, Terms and other important info in the legal section of our App Store description.

Continued use of GPS running in the background can dramatically decrease battery life. Facebook doesn't run GPS in the background unless you give us permission by turning on optional features that require this.

Version

75.0

Free or Paid

Free

Apple Watch Support

No

Device(s) App Was Tested On

iPhone

iOS Version

10.1.1

Accessibility Comments

This app is mostly accessible with VoiceOver.

VoiceOver Performance

VoiceOver reads most page elements.

Button Labeling

Most buttons are clearly labeled.

Usability

There are some minor accessibility issues with this app, but they are easy to deal with.

App Store Link

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/facebook/id284882215?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D4

Developer's Website

http://www.facebook.com/iphone

Developer's Twitter Username

@fbaccess

Recommendations

17 people have recommended this app

Most recently recommended by Michael Hansen 2 years 1 month ago

Options

Comments

By Randi

10 years 4 months ago

Thanks Dave. I was going to ask about downgrading when I saw the posts about it. I did have an oder version on my computer. (Not very good about syncing my phone which is probably a good thing in this case...) I downgraded, and the app of course works much better. Will wait to see what they do with the next update. Hopefully it will be fixed soon. A big disappointment... I prefer using the app rather than the website...

By Dave Nason

10 years 4 months ago

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team
Hi Randi. Glad to hear it. Just remember to delete the app before each sync with your computer, or you'll unintentionally update the one in iTunes. I actually made a copy of the actual app file on my computer in case I ever need it. I too much prefer using the app rather than the website. I'd recommend the facebook Messenger app too by the way, I think it's great.

Of course that should have said if you decide to update the in the app in the future to check out accessibility progress, remember to delete it again before syncing if you'll want to downgrade again...

By AnonyMouse

10 years 4 months ago

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team
Sadly, the v5.4.1 that was released yesterday brought many headaches in regarding with Facebook crashing quite a bit. So they were very fast in coming out with a new release this evening to the v5.4.2 to resolve this problem. So if you are stuck with the v5.4.2 then all I can report is that they haven't broken any more in the way of accessibility since v5.4. At this time if you still have the v5.3 on your iTunes. Stay with this version for now.

By Daniel

10 years 3 months ago

Hi David, I was just wondering how do you store a copy of an app file in this case Facebook just in case one accidentally updates an app without meaning to with iTunes. I am using a Mac which is running Mountain Lion V8.2 and Itunes 11.0.1

The first thing I notice after testing the new version for 10 minutes, is that the issue where the time of posting in the newsfeed was not spoken now is fixed again! Just about time they fixed that one :) But the bug where one can't see who's liking stuff is still there... When it says e.g. Roger, John and 87 other people likes this, you will only enter Rogers profile when double tapping that link. The Share-button seems to be more present with VO in this version, even though I haven't yet tested sharing something to see if it works correctly, but I guess that will work fine now, once we've gotten access to the button. Overall, the best thing for me after 10 minutes of exploring, seems to be that the time-thing now is sorted out again! :) Happy facing! ;p

Hi, Are the issues that arose in 5.4 with the keyboard in the status field gone?

By Santiago

10 years 3 months ago

Well, I haven't tried the newest update on my iPhone yet, but on my iPad, it still makes noises and doesn't say what you type when updating the status.

By Kelly Sapergia

10 years 3 months ago

I still have, I believe, version 5.3 on my iPod Touch, but noticed they came out with 5.5 today. Is it worth updating to the new version, or should I stay with 5.3 (or whatever I've got) for now?

By Randi

10 years 3 months ago

The bigtgest thing I see with this update is that the problem with ppsting status updates has not been fixed. I did see a post on twitter a week ago saying this appears to be fixed and would be released after a few weeks of testing. I hope this wasn't the version they were talking about... I do like seeing the timeframe of when statuses have been posted though.

That is certainly a tough call to make if it is worth updating. For what it is worth there are a small number of improvements to the new v5.5 release. Some of those were mentioned above. The Timestamp has returned. That alone is a nice feature to have returned to us. So every Status now has the Timestamp as we we had at one time. The ability to Share seems to have been improved. Still does not have a way to Like nor Comment on a Link that our friends has posted. The bug when we Compost a new message still exist. Nothing has changed at all. So you are not able to see the actual field box nor hear the characters being typed or deleted. There have been some improvements else where in the app. I've notice some improvements with in the Profiles area. They have also finally labeled the Gears to News Feed Settings. For the time I've played with the app. I no longer see any Time Gap issues that we have been plagued for some time now. So overall, they have made some baby steps forward. So that decision is yours alone. Unlike the 5.4 where we had some step backwards. This new v5.5 does appear make up for some of that. Love to hear in what you have found that are new and if any new improvements worth mentioning. Hope to hear from you! HTH

No problems here with accessing the friends list, but I use an iPhone, so maybe it's different on the iPad... A little thing I want to ask you guys about; In the older versions I've been searching for a place that let's me manage pages I like, and that will let me remove some of them... I've never found such a feature, and since I cannot find it in the new one either, I figured i might as well ask you if there is a way of doing this that I've missed out on? By now, the only solution I've found to this, is to do it on the website on my mac...

I'm using the iphone 4s, and I've noticed that if I go to the app a few hours after I've posted, it doesn't show that it was actually posted 3 hours ago for instance. It showed 3 mintes at one point. When I turned the phone off and came back into tht app, it had changed to an hour which was appropriate at the time. about 2 hours later, I went back to the FB app to check for updates, and my original status update was still showing as being posted an hour ago instead of 3 hours ago. Again I reset the phone, and the time stamp adjusted itself when I went back into the app. Anyone else noticed this?

Randy, Have you tried a manual refresh? This may be a silly question but I thought ask. If so, so much for the Time Gap. Now we can't get a reliable refresh?

By Randi

10 years 3 months ago

The problem of time stamp not changing seems to be resolved... It's been working well for me the last few hours. at least that's cleared up now...

By Dave Nason

10 years 3 months ago

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team
Hi Daniel. Basically I've kept version 4.1.1 on my Mac. If I have a Newer version on my phone, for example I'm trying out the new 5.5 update at the moment, I temporarily delete the app from the iPhone before syncing with iTunes on the Mac, so the new one doesn't get synced to the Mac. If I want to go back to 4.1.1 again, I go into the Apps tab for the iPhone and tick the box for Facebook to get it to sync to the iPhone again. Otherwise after unplugging the iPhone I just download the current one from the App Store again. Just in case I accidentally mess this up, which is what I think you're asking, I've taken a copy of the app file for version 4.1.1. I did this by going to the Finder: Finder>Dave_MacBook>Music>iTunes>iTunesMedia>MobileApplications and navigate to the Facebook app. Hit Command+C to copy it and paste it into a random folder and to a USB key. I haven't actually messed up as yet (touch wood) and so haven't had to use it. But I hope / assume I could restore this if I needed to by deleting the app completely from iTunes and dragging and dropping this back-up file either into the Finder folder or into iTunes itself. Hope that makes sense. Dave

By AnonyMouse

10 years 2 months ago

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team

Be curious if there has been any accessibility changes tin this version.

 

What's New in Version 5.6

 

Keep your timeline fresh by updating your cover photo on the go.
• Take a new cover photo or choose one from camera roll (iPhone only)
• Fewer taps to start a group message
• Easier to name and find group conversations

By AnonyMouse

10 years 2 months ago

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team
PLEASE NOTE: This review is on the iPhone and the iPod Touch So far I have seen a number of accessibilities changes in this new version. The first to Note is on the Timeline or your Newsfeed page. You will notice that they have finally corrected the Top Left Corner button to Main Menu. The field in the Status has now been corrected as well. Did you notice that the Newsfeed page is nicer? You know have the top row of buttons in this order. Starting with the Top Left is the Main Menu, Friend Request, Messages, Notifications, and Message Friend at the Top Right. Right below the Main Menu and the Friends Request is the Status button. Below the Notifications and the Message Friend is the Check In button. Right in the middle is the Photo button below the Message button. So this is a much easier layout and easy to find. Great improvement to this area. You still can't see all of the people that Liked a Status. You still can't Like a Status that is a Link. I still can't figure out a way to categorize my friends in to categories. Noticed the layout at the top follows you around in a variety of areas. Can be nice at times but also kind of annoying. Also, remember at any time that you are in the Newsfeed area. That if you double tap such items such as the Notifications. You will find the News Story button at the Top Right Corner underneath the Message Friends button. Lastly, is that the Timeline says the Ago a bit strange. So it will say it was posted 3 hours ago. Some odd reason it sounds like it was chopped off or it has some weird character when it says it. I will update this post as I find more things to note. If you have seen improvements please let us know of what you have found.

So far this looks very promising! I messed up last night and managed to hit update in app store, so I got version 5.5 instead of the old 5.3, which I have prefered to use until now, because of e.g.VoiceOver not reading the edit field when posting a status update in 5.5. This issue seems to have been fixed in the new update, along with some new accessibility improvements as mentioned above. So I'm very happy at the moment for not having to go through the process of downgrading to 5.3 again through syncing with iTunes and all that mess... So far I'm very satisfied with the new update.

By Larry Thacker Jr.

10 years 2 months ago

I've had that last problem in the previous version as well. There seems to be a random caracter at the end of at least some of the updates. It can appear after the time stamp and other parts of the message as well such as the location. It is usually an E or an H but I've also seen J.

By Santiago

10 years 2 months ago

Has anyone tried updating the Facebook app to version 5.6 on iPad? I just updated the app, and VoiceOver loses focus everywhere. Can anyone else reproduce this issue, or is it just me? I'll try deleting the app completely and reinstalling it.

I just tried using version 5.6 on my iPad Mini, and it's a mess. Flicking around the screen did nothing, although I was able to explore by touch just fine. I tried reopening the app and restarting VoiceOver, and neither worked. I just hear that clicking sound one hears when there is no element to move the cursor to. As if that isn't enough, the Friends list is still broken.

The only thing I can do with it on my iPad now is update my status. When you first enter the app, it says photo button. Couble tap on that, and takes you to where you can update your status. At least, it tells me what I'm typing now, but that's the only good thing about this version. Updating the status is the first thing you can do when first entering the app, but once you go away from that, it goes downhill from there. I can get it to focus on one status for a second, but try to double tap it or move around to what you think is the next status, you get nothing but clicking. You'll either get a status or just see news feed as a heading.

By Daniel

10 years 2 months ago

Hi all, at the moment I'm using V5.3 and when I updated to V5.5 of this app I only incounted it once or twice but when moving through my news feed after a while for no apparent reason VO or the FB app it self decided to kick me out and I then end up at my home screen again. This was enough though for me to downgrade back to V5.3 where I didn't incounter this issue. The question is. Do any of you get this behavour using the latest update of FB? V5.6? I'm using an Iphone 5 with the version before 6.2.3. Sorry I can't remember my IOS version but I am fully confident it's the one before the latest IOS update that came out a few days ago. (the one where Apple say they fixed the by passing phone bug). Hope that makes sence in reguards to what version of IOS I'm running.

By AnonyMouse

10 years 1 month ago

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team

There has been some new changes to the Facebook app. In my review is only for the iPod (iPhone,Touch) perspective.

There are good news and bad news with the new update for Facebook. It seems to be that way for each release they make for the iPod devices.

The good news are that some buttons are now labeled better which were once confusing.

The Friends list is now back inside of the profile page. As you had noticed before two things had happened. Those version they had not only seperated your Friends list out of your profile and placed it on to the Menu page. It also, lost the abilility for us to put our friends in to categories.

This is now back in to the Profile page. We can now place our friends in to those categories once again.

As you will see the Menu page is a bit cleaner but not significantly different.

So those are the only major things that I could find with in this version.

Now for the Bad News.

There is now an unlabel button on the Newsfeed page. Plus, I also notice a lot more clicking sounds. So it obviously recognize that there is an element here but fails to tell us what they are. So you will need to double tap on those elements to find out what they do.

The options that we once had before of how to show the Newsfeed. The part where we select from the Most Recent and such. This has disappeared and I currently find this as an option anymore.

The other noticable issue I have. Wehen reading down the Newsfeeds. At times it seem to lose its focus. So I'm am flicking down the list and then I'm suddenly back at the top of the status bar. Quite strange. Not certain if this is me or an issue with Facebook.

Some may ask. Have they fixed the Like issues? No they have not.

In the past. If there are for example 8 people that Like a status. We were able to double tap on the 8 people like this item. It would then show us all 8 people that Liked this status. This has not been resolved and continues to only take us to the last person that Liked it and their profile.

There don't seem to be any significant problems that should prevent you from updating it. Just be advise of the things I have mentioned above.

If you find any other new changes or things that are broken on the iPod side please leave your comments below.

What's New in Version 6.0

Brand new ways to chat and a cleaner look for News Feed.

New for iPhone
• Keep chatting from anywhere in the app with chat heads
• Send stickers to bring your messages to life
• Explore new feeds like Music, Photos and Games

New for iPad
• Keep chatting from anywhere in the app with chat heads
• Browse brighter, more beautiful stories

Chat heads and stickers will be available to everyone over the next few weeks.

 

 

By MarkSarch

10 years 1 month ago

Thanks for your post Anonymouse and to see the features and bugs on the new version, thanks for all details. personally I seen: One specific big change. the feature that was desapeared on the previous versions Camera Roll broken has been again accessible on the new version 6.0 this allow choose pictures and videos to upload. easier selecting by date and time.

By AnonyMouse

10 years 1 month ago

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team
There does appear to be a slight problem to consider before updating. This was pointed out to me by an user. For those on the iPod (iPhone/Touch) devices. If you go in to the Notifications page. There is no way to get back or to navigate out of this area. So thanks for the heads up!

By Cory K

10 years 1 month ago

There's a back button after reading a notification and then a main menu button to go back farther. Just like it use to be. Dunno where this came from.

Hi I don't find anymore the back button, how ever works for me using the gesture using 2 fingers activate the back button I hope works this for you AmonyMouse.

Hello Marco, Not certain in what you mean by using the two fingers gesture? I did find that if you double tap on any of the notifications status. You will then not only see the status but it gives you the Back button at the top left hand corner. Double tapping on that will get you back to the Newsfeed page.

Hi right here your answer anonyMouse current position. • Two-finger “scrub”: Move two fingers back and forth three times quickly (making a “z”) to dismiss an alert or go back to the previous screen.

By AnonyMouse

10 years 1 month ago

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team
This was a request upon an AppleVis User in how to find and manage your Friends List. 1. Double tap on the Main Menu 2. Double tap on your name 3. Double tap onFriends 4. Double Tap on a Friend of your choice 5. Double Tap on the Friend again 6. Double Tap on Edit Friend List There you go. HTH

Hi, the above explanation was really helpful. Tried and it works. At least I'm able to find all the element you mentioned. Thanks a lot

By Luca

10 years 1 month ago

Hi, before i upgrade... can you tell me if 1) when some one share a link is it now possible to read the link text? in previous versions sometimes it says only some one shared a link but you have to double tap to know what iis it. 2) Same problem when someone shares a status. is it solved?

By blindgator

10 years 6 months ago

Not sure what that one guy is talking about, just updated the app and when I go to friends on an Iphone 4s running the latest Facebook it reads all of my friends names just fine when I go to my friends list. Here's how you delete/unfriend someone. Go to your friends list. Click on the friend you want to delete. on every friends page there is a button called Friend click on this here you can add a friend to the list flick through the list and one of the options is to unfriend, bingo. The only thing that I have seen with this app and this may have always been the case is when going through your newsfeed if you want to go to a friends page I haven't figured out how to get to their page from the newsfeed which maybe you could never do. It would make sense to me that you should be able to click on their name and it would take you to the actual post, an dthen if you clicked on their name it would take you to that persons page, but their doesn't seem to be a click through to get directly to that friends page. I only played around with it for a few minutes. I have also noticed on the Facebook website and app when creating an ecent and wanting to get to your entire friends list to invite people is inaccessible Anyne know a work around to inviting people to an event? Thanks

By frank perry

10 years 6 months ago

Since the latest update, vo reads some of the pages, but I have found the accessibility totally inadequate.

By Carlos Taylor

10 years 1 month ago

How does one add friends using the facebook app for iPhones? I can't seem to figure out how to do this. I don't want to search contacts on my phone, I want to search facebook.

By sockhopsinger

10 years 1 month ago

It's pretty straightforward to find friends. 1. Start the Facebook app. 2. Click the button on the top left that says "main menu." 3. Once you do so, you should then find a search field near the top left of the screen. 4. Double tap or split tap to bring up the field. 5. Enter your friend's name and click search. 6. Here's the tricky part. Once you click search and get the results, it may be difficult to know exactly which person you are trying to friend. Unless you have information that will identify your friend, you may wish to get sighted assistance to make sure you select the right person. Hope this helps.

By blindgator

10 years 1 month ago

Not sure if this is only happening to me, but just updated to the latest version that came out today April 17th, and now my news feed doesn't work, I have closed and relaunched the app several times, and all it says under the news feed is in progress in progress over and over again. What's the point of Facebook hiring an accessibility team, if accessibility keeps getting worst and worst. Either the people they hired are clueless when it comes to designing the app with Voiceover or the higher ups at Facebook don't listen to them. Either way Facebook is a joke.

By blindgator

10 years 1 month ago

Thought I should mention that a fellow VO user told me that they weren't having any problems with the latest Facebook update, so I deleted the app and reinstalled it and it seems to be working like it was yesterday. Still I question how much testing of VO is really going on considering all the new problems with every Facebook update. I normally don't update the app until I see others mentioning if it works here. If Facebook is going to make a commitment to improving accessibility, we the blind shouldn't have to hold our breath every time we update the app. Just my two cents.

Hello, The newsfeed on the new Facebook update says "in progress," because the actual stories are being loaded. To fix the issue, just relaunch the app by going to your home screen, closing Facebook from the app switcher, and launching Facebook again. An update was released today, version 6.0.1; however, I'm not sure what the fixes are. I'm guessing they fixed this issue, since its not an accessibility issue, but an issue on the app itself. You should also be aware that most of your friends on Facebook may upload photos, thus making loading times slower. I also agree that Facebook Accessibility should check their apps before submitting them to the app store. I have an iPad, and the app was difficult to use for about a month.

By jeremy jeffers

10 years 1 month ago

i've been trying to figure out how to hide certain posts from appearing in my news feed. Anyone know how to do this? i haven't been able to do this cence version 5.0. any help would be greatly appreciated.

By Cliff

10 years 1 month ago

Hi! It really seems now, after the option to choose between top stories and most resent in the news feed is gone, that it is only top stories that are shown. If this is not the case, the gap in time line is most definitely back. And the notifications in the news feed keeps jumping back and forth in time... The first can be 3 minutes ago, the second 1hour and then the third can be 32 minutes ago. Anyone else have this issue? And have you found away to get it to show most recent again, so it shows everything in the right order again. Oh, another question: where can I access the friends lists now? I've heard that they now are back to being editable, but that's of little help if I can't find them in the first place ;) Thanks guys!