Facebook Home Android | Facebook Home For Android | Review
Facebook Home Android | Facebook Home For Android | Review
Facebook Home Android Is a Launcher That Works with Existing Android Phones.
On Android phones, the launcher determines what your home screen, lock screen and other elements look like.
All Android phones have a default launcher, but there are others you can install.
You can get a launcher that gives you extra home screens, or changes the way app icons look.
Facebook Home Android is just another alternative launcher that you can download for free.
In place of a traditional lock screen, you get full-screen images from Facebook and status updates that you can swipe through, along with regular phone notifications.
From there, you can jump right into Facebook Messenger, open your most recent app or view your app list.
You can also post Facebook status updates, photos or check-ins directly from the app launcher.
Facebook isn't doing its own app store for Facebook Home Android, it's relying on Android's existing one.
You can still have Gmail, Chrome, Maps and other core Google services, and you can download more apps from Google Play, just like you can with any alternative launcher.
In other words, Facebook hasn't done any deep modifications to Android, like Amazon did with its Kindle Fire tablets.
That allows Facebook Home Android to run on existing phones, in addition to new phones with Home pre-installed.
Facebook Messaging Is a Huge Focus The other big feature in Facebook Home Android has the rather silly name "Chatheads." When you receive a text message, Facebook message or group Facebook chat, a little circular icon pop ups with the sender's face on it, along with a brief preview of the message.
This could be the Facebook Home Android killer feature, as it seems a lot faster and more convenient than traditional messaging.
Facebook says it will deliver monthly updates for Facebook Home Android.
Eventually, Facebook plans to show advertisements somewhere within Home, and the company may also open up certain features of Home to other apps.
There's One Facebook Phone for Now, but Maybe More Later Although Facebook hasn't built a phone of its own, the company has partnered with HTC to offer a phone with Facebook Home Android pre-installed, called the HTC First.
Other companies will be able to create phones with Facebook Home Android pre-installed if they choose.
More devices will be supported in the "Coming months." To get Facebook Home Android, you must have the latest version of Facebook and Facebook Messenger installed.
You'll see a notice in the Facebook app, taking you to the download in Google Play.
Installing it should leave your existing apps and data intact, and you can always uninstall it to go back to your regular Android home and lock screens.
Facebook Home Android | Facebook Home For Android | Review