Facebook has been on the rise in terms of functionality over the past few months. The social network now allows users to make video calls, share locations, and follow messages through its app — but that’s not all. According to Betonmobile, a new in-app browser will be introduced in the coming weeks, making it easier than ever to access content without leaving the app. The addition follows Facebook’s update to its iOS app last year, which added a feature called Instant Articles that allows users to read the news without opening the browser on their device.
The share function
Not only can you browse the web in Facebook’s mobile apps, but you can also share articles and other webpages from these apps. Word has it that this will gradually roll out to all of Facebook’s smartphone apps – including Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp – but at this time there’s no timeline as to when we can expect this feature to come to iOS devices. The company will initially roll out the functionality in its flagship app, with work beginning today. Initially, this will only be available for certain types of links (like photo or video URLs), although Facebook hopes to make it more general over time. Like the Leon app download, this new Facebook update aims squarely at keeping people in the ecosystem while providing a better experience for its 1 billion+ monthly active users.
The camera function
Users can find and save websites using a search bar at the top of their mobile device screen. When they tap save, they can add the page as an icon to appear on their home screen so they can easily open it with a tap in the future. Features also include text and audio-based searches, bookmarking pages for offline viewing, and more ways to organize saved links into folders. Searches work by searching by either title or content, and the results load inline in the Facebook in-app browser. Users can filter out adult content or just allow all results to be shown by default. An example of how this feature could be used would be if someone is planning a trip to Paris and wants information on flights or hotels, they could type Paris in the search bar and get information on those topics instantly.
security
Users can use Facebook’s built-in web browser from any web page link or enter a URL themselves. The company says this will make it easier for people to keep browsing when they’re running out of data or have exceeded their monthly data plan on mobile devices with limited internet capabilities. The feature is still being tested and should be rolled out globally soon enough. It will be part of a broader effort by the company to make its platform more accessible through mobile browsers.
Saving news reports
If you’re surfing through Facebook on your phone and see something that catches your eye but needs to scroll through feeds again, you can now save stories with a single tap. When an interesting story pops up in your feed, you’ll see an option at the bottom of the post that says Save. This will save the post and create a link so you can easily find it later when you have time to read more about it. The post will also automatically show as read in News Feed because you saved it for the future.
Why this is big news
For years, Facebook has struggled to keep users in its app while allowing them to easily browse other websites. The company believes it has struck a perfect balance with this latest update, allowing users to surf the web on their phones while still logged into Facebook. This is an especially useful feature for those who need to sign up or create accounts on other websites, but don’t want to leave their Facebook account open and unprotected outside of the app. It’s worth noting that this feature won’t come to iOS just yet, as Apple doesn’t allow third-party browsers on its operating system. So make sure you’re using Android if you want this update!
Here are some pros and cons of this update:
Many apps out there offer some sort of browser functionality, including Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat, but none come close to what Facebook does to them. In addition to allowing users to quickly switch to another website from their app, it allows for much smoother loading and prevents ads from interrupting your browsing experience, as you often see when clicking links on social media platforms. There are some downsides, but they could cause issues, including privacy concerns (although those concerns would only apply if someone had malicious intentions), as well as issues related to speed, as more scripts mean longer loading times, although we’re not sure how slow or hurry until we get our hands on one.
Is this good news or bad news?
That’s good news! Users have an easy way to get back to their Facebook feed while browsing other websites or apps on their phones. It also makes it easier for people who want to share content from other places (like Twitter) to Facebook without having to leave the app and come back to Facebook. The only downside I see with this new browser is that some websites might not work as smoothly with this feature as Facebook needs to make sure things load quickly and safely for everything to work properly. But overall this will be a really handy feature! There is no word yet on when this new browser will be available, but hopefully it will be soon!
What do you think of this change?
The changes Facebook has made to its news feed have received mixed reviews, and I think this change will draw similar responses. The in-app browser sounds like a good idea as it would give Facebook more control over the browsing experience and would not have to rely on third-party apps for the browsing experience. It’s worth noting that Facebook has been neglecting its mobile product lately, so this is an attempt to revive its mobile market share.
I find it interesting that they choose yet another way for us to interact with them, which can be perceived as intrusive, but if they make their site easier to navigate, then I’m all for it! We’ll see how users react when the update rolls out later this week.
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