Facebook for iPhone 3.3.1 Includes Groups, Deals, Photo Check-Ins
Version 3.3.1 of Facebook for iPhone brings Groups, Deals, and enhanced Places functionality to the most popular Facebook mobile app. Released today, the app allows users to post to Groups and read Group feeds, add photos and tag additional friends to an existing check-in, and discover rewards Deals offered at local Places.
Facebook last made a major update to its iPhone app when it launched Places, and fixed a few bugs with a release in September. When Groups was launched last month, the only mobile way to access the feature was through m.facebook.com, which has now changed. Details about the new Deals feature leaked a few days ago, but today Facebook walked members of the press through how it businesses can use it to incentivize check-ins.
Groups
Users will immediately see evidence of the update upon launching Facebook for iPhone Version 3.3.1. The Requests icon has been removed from the home screen, with friend requests now appearing in a tab within the Friends icon. Requests is replaced with a Groups icon. When tapped, users will see a list of all the Groups they’re a member of, with counts denoting unseen posts next to each Group’s name. Users can tap through to a Group to read its feed, post updates or upload photos, or see a list of Group members. There is no access to Group admin controls, Group Chat, or Docs.
Enhanced Check-In Capabilities
The Places icon on the home screen now shows red notification counts denoting nearby check-ins by friends. Upon tapping through, users will see a check-ins feed with unseen nearby check-ins highlighted in yellow. Once a user has checked in to a Place, they can return to that Places page to tag additional friends who arrive after the check-in was made, or upload photos with captions to show what they’re doing at the Place. A user can no longer add photos or additional tags from the app once they’ve checked in elsewhere. Friends a user frequently checks in with will appear in a starred category at the top of their friend list for quick tagging.
Deals and the New Composer Design
When users visit their news feed, they’ll notice a new design of the composer for publishing content. Instead of a camera icon, “What’s on your mind?” status publisher, and Places icon, they’ll see three uniform buttons for “Photo”, “Status”, and “Check In”.
Upon tapping the Check In button within the news feed or Places, users see a list of nearby Places. These Places will now show yellow coupon icon if they are running a Deal (our coverage here). Users can tap through to the Places page where they can see details about how to claim the Deal, for instance by checking in, or checking in and tagging three friends. Once a user completes the Deal’s instructions, they’ll be shown a confirmation screen which includes the reward, an expiration date, and how many people have also claimed the Deal. This can be shown to an employee of the Place to redeem the reward.
Upon checking in to a Place with an active Deal, or claiming a Deal, the Places check-in story published to that user’s stream will include information about the Deal, according to Facebook’s Director of Local Emily White. Doing so could entice the user’s friends to visit.
Conclusion
The new version of Facebook for iPhone is fast, easy-to-use, and offers both unique mobile functionality and new replications of web interface features. Instead of answering user demands for minor features like maintaining the ability to add photos to albums, or allowing users to remove friends, Facebook is giving users new ways to take advantage of the iPhone’s GPS and camera. While Facebook for Android also received an update today, Facebook apps for Palm, Blackberry, Windows, and others which still don’t have Places functionality will now look even more antiquated.
November 4th, 2010 at 12:51 am
[...] Updated Facebook iPhone/Android apps include: Facebook Groups, Facebook Deals, photo check-ins; http://eicker.at/FacebookApps [...]
November 4th, 2010 at 3:48 am
[...] via insideFacebook [...]
November 4th, 2010 at 4:14 am
I also noticed this morning that both our Betapond Places now have a ‘merge’ link at the bottom of the page. I presume everyone is seeing this on their Facebook Places pages?
http://betapond.com/blog/2010/11/merge-your-facebook-place-and-your-page/
November 4th, 2010 at 8:42 am
Facebook has effectively cornered Groupon and alike with this deal platform. 500+ million users and millions of businesses with Fan pages. I wrote about this earlier today – http://blog.culturahq.com/post/1476860874/goliath-gets-their-group-deal-on
November 4th, 2010 at 9:04 pm
How to add photos I’n the album I’n the new version of facebook from iPod, I’n the older version there used to be a + sign to add photos into a specific album, but in this version there isn’t a + (add) sign.
Please help me with this. Thank you.
Johnny.
November 5th, 2010 at 2:11 am
[...] 2. Post sobre las mejoras de la nueva versión de la App de Facebook para iPhone [...]
November 5th, 2010 at 9:03 pm
I agree with Johnny. I liked the fact that you could add photos to a
Specific album, but now you can’t do that. The only way to add photos is to hit the photo button, but that sets it as your profile picture. Please fix, all I want is to be able to add a photo to a specific album. Thanks.
November 9th, 2010 at 12:13 am
[...] Atnaujinta iPhone aplikacija. ANDROID taip pat. [...]
November 10th, 2010 at 2:08 pm
Yes I Also Agree With Johonny & Andrew I want To Add Pictures To My Albums And I Cant It Really Sucks.. I Cant Even Add Pic To A New Album… Fix this Problem Please Very Soon…
November 10th, 2010 at 6:21 pm
This update is BAD! And not in a cool 80′s sort of way. Myself as well as what looks like thousands of users are expirencing crashes. I’ve got about 4 seconds after I log in before the site goes down. Also I agree with the “albums” issue. I really liked being able to upload pics to specific albums. Can’t do that with this new version.
I didn’t realize how much I liked the OLD version untill I updated to this NEW version. I’m going to make sure I read the damn reviews before I do anymore UPDATING!
November 11th, 2010 at 12:44 pm
@Coral: Sorry to hear you’re having trouble with the new Facebook for iPhone app. What kind of iPhone and iOS version are you using? We’ve heard that users using iOS 4 on the original iPhone or iPhone 3G have been experiencing significant slow-down while using native iPhone apps. This could also be causing problems with 3rd party apps like Facebook for iPhone. As with most problems with mobile apps, often the best thing to do is delete the app and re-download it. This solves issues for many users.
November 11th, 2010 at 1:59 pm
Hi Josh, I have the 3GS. Nothing seems to be running slow and I wasn’t having any problems with the facebook app untill I downloaded the new 3.3.1 version. I have not tried deleting and re-installing the app. I’ve read that some have tried this and been succesful while others can’t get the app to re-install at all.
I really like facebook for iPhone because it’s sooo much easier to use on my phone than the actual site and of course I love being able to upload photos. It was probably to most used app on my phone but now it’s unpredictable and I can’t upload pics to the album of my choice. My boyfriend has the old version on his phone and last night I actually used his to log into my FB account to upload pics! I’m thinking about trading phones with him just for the FB app! Lol just kidding.
Anyhow, thanks for your reply Josh.
November 12th, 2010 at 2:03 am
This app crashes after 3sec when i start it. I am running it on my Iphone 3G. Tried to re-install still not working.
November 13th, 2010 at 3:55 pm
I just loved the convenience of being able to upload photos straight away to a specific album. This FB update is rubbish!! :-(
But that’s all I would change about it, apart from that, I love the app. :-D
November 14th, 2010 at 6:25 am
Since this latest update, facebook shuts down after about 4 seconds. I deleted the app and tried reinstalling but it didn’t help. Still experiencing same problem. Same problem that Coral reported.
November 15th, 2010 at 12:30 am
I have the same problem. Reinstall reboot nothing works. I now don’t even get the three seconds. If I could I would revert to the old version. I also have I phone 3g. I thought it could b a memory thing but it is not 50% free capacity.
November 15th, 2010 at 11:19 pm
Well, earlier today I downloaded the most recent 3.3.2 version and it froze on me then crashed then crashed everytime I opened the app. I deleted it and re-installed it and now it’s working fine. Very happy about that :) I’ve not yet tried to upload pics but I see that the option to upload to specific albums is back! ;) Hope it goes smoothly tomorrow when I do try to upload some. I’m going to stay optimistic untill then!
November 23rd, 2010 at 7:58 am
[...] pero sin móvil – Mark Zuckerberg: The iPad Isn’t Mobile – La plataforma móvil de Facebook – Facebook for iPhone 3.3.1 Includes Groups, Deals, Photo Check-Ins – Facebook apuesta por el uso en móviles – Local Deals Come to Facebook Places – Facebook Revamps [...]
December 2nd, 2010 at 2:09 pm
[...] at a Place and then have to option to check-in the friends that they are with, Josh Constine of InsideFacebook.com reported. They can also take photos while at the Place and upload them to Facebook to show others [...]
January 23rd, 2012 at 8:56 am
[...] bei mir jetzt schon vermutlich die Hälfte meiner App-Nutzungszeit ein. Durch Facebook Places und Deals wird sich dies und die Bedeutung der Geolocation 2011 weiter intensivieren. Ich rechne auch damit, [...]