Facebook released version 4.1 of its iPhone app to bring the new Timeline version of profiles to iOS. The app is now in line with Facebook’s offering for Android and the mobile touch site, which we detailed last week.

Facebook for iPhone has more than 57 million daily active users, according to AppData, our data tracking service covering traffic growth for apps on Facebook. For the first time, Facebook for Android has more DAU than its iPhone counterpart. The Android app reached that milestone when it passed 58 million DAU on Dec. 16.

Although Facebook for iPhone still leads in monthly active users, the Android app has a higher percentage of DAU per MAU. This suggests Facebook is more “sticky” among Android users.

Facebook noted in the iPhone app changelog that iPad support for Timeline was on its way. Facebook for iPad, has 5.5 million DAU, according to AppData.

Facebook has launched Timeline on its Android app and m.facebook.com for touch devices after introducing the new profile to users worldwide late Wednesday night.

Note: There is not a set release date for Timeline in the iOS app, but Facebook tells us it is coming in an update soon. iOS apps must go through an approval process before entering Apple’s App Store.

The mobile Timeline is a visual and navigational improvement over the old profile. Users can easily scroll through past posts, which now feature larger photos and the ability to swipe horizontally to see additional content without leaving the Timeline. The mobile version allows users to browse all of the rich content in the new profile format and to hide or delete items, but there are fewer controls for editing the Timeline than the full website provides.

For example, mobile users can change their cover photo, but they cannot edit the About section of their profile. They cannot star posts to feature them more prominently, as is possible on Facebook.com, nor can they change the privacy settings of an existing post. Mobile users are also unable to add “life events” or make posts that are dated in the past. This means they cannot use the mobile map add places they have been before. These actions, however, are likely better suited for the web experience when users have more screen space and are likely to be spending more time on the site.

The mobile Timeline also features Open Graph app activity. Tapping on a Washington Post Social Reader item, for instance, opens a new browser window with a mobile version of the app. Tapping on a Spotify item will open the native app if it is installed on the device.

Facebook is deepening its integration with Windows through a new Skype-to-Facebook feature and a Messenger client for Windows 7 that allows users to access the Ticker, Chat and Notifications.

The Skype-to-Facebook functionality, found in the Skype 5.4 Beta for Mac and Skype 5.7 Beta for Windows released last week, allows users to make Skype calls to one another without leaving Facebook. In order to use the feature, users must link their Skype and Facebook accounts and then launch calls from a video call button that appears after selecting a Facebook friend. Facebook first introduced Skype integrations this year, several months before Microsoft acquired Skype in October.

Facebook’s Messenger client for Windows 7 is a bit more involved, enabling users to access three core real-time features of the Facebook platform directly from their desktops. TechCrunch has confirmed that the client is currently in limited beta on the platform and is wholly developed by Facebook — not as part of a new partnership with Microsoft. Facebook has been experimenting with different ways to package Chat in native apps in the past year, including launching a standalone mobile group chat app for iOS, Android and BlackBerry in August.

It may be worth noting that these features move Facebook further into territory that Google has expanded into in recent years as well, while Google is still trying to get Google+ growing to larger scale.

Facebook picked up yet another small startup in what may help efforts to build a full-featured, standalone photo or video app.

The company bought Digital Staircase, the maker of a handful of photo and video editing apps like MovieCam, according to the startup’s blog.

“We’re announcing today that we’re being acquired by Facebook to help bring these mobile innovations to a broader audience. Many things may change, but our dedication to immersive experiences will not,” the company wrote in a statement.

Digital Staircase had a modest amount of success with a handful of paid apps. The company had published five apps to date, although three of them hadn’t seen any updates in two years. Its two most recent releases were MovieCam and MovieCam Go, priced at $2.99 and $1.99 respectively. Those apps seemed to hover in between the #100 and #200 range in the paid apps part of the photography category, indicating it might have been difficult to scale up beyond much of a lifestyle business.

>> Read more on Inside Mobile Apps.

Facebook has quietly released a new feature in Facebook for iPhone 4.0 update that could create new opportunities for marketers. If users click or enter a URL that uses the fb://page URL scheme and have the official Facebook for iPhone/iPad app installed, the corresponding Facebook Page will be opened in that app. Before the 4.0 and later software updates, fb://page URL scheme links would load a blank screen in the apps.

For example, if you click the link of or enter the URL fb://page/7844589738 in an iOS device that has Facebook for iPhone/iPad installed, that app will launch and bring up t he official Facebook Page for InsideFacebook.com (7844589738 is the Facebook ID of the Page for Inside Facebook). Marketers could distribute URL scheme-linked text via email or mobile site, and users wouldn’t notice the strange URL, they’d just click on a link and suddenly see the Facebook app open.

This new functionality could let marketers instantly bring users to their Page where they can Like it or write on its wall, rather than forcing them to open the m.facebook.com site where they might not already be logged in. Marketers could attach this link to a QR code to promote their Page and gain Likes from iOS device users. The fb://page URL scheme could become even more important if users gain the ability to access Page tab applications from mobile devices in the future.

iOS URL schemes allow specific first- and third-party iOS applications to be launched with special URLs. They can also be used to immediately perform certain functions such as setting a recipient for a new text message, showing directions in Google Maps, or add a shortened URL to a tweet in Tweetie or Twitterific. However, if the user doesn’t have the corresponding app installed, neither the app or a browser version will load.

Previously, URL schemes could be used to open a specific photo album, Event, or user profile in Facebook for iPhone. With the latest major Facebook for iPhone and iPad software updates, official Pages and Places Pages can now be opened with URL schemes as well. Page use the “fb://page/[Page ID]” URL scheme while Places use “fb://place/[Place ID]“.

There may be a URL scheme suffix that allows the info or wall tab to be loaded specifically, though none of the logical suffixes I tried worked. Android devices have their own URL scheme, and some developers have found ways to open user profiles in the Facebook for Android apps, though I haven’t seen a solution for opening Pages.

Facebook for iPhone/iPad has 52.3 million daily active users and 92.7 million monthly active users according to AppData, many of which stay logged in on the app at all times. This creates a large audience that can utilize the Facebook Page URL scheme to quickly gain access to a Page from a logged in state, allowing them to Like it or leave a wall post.

iOS app developers could use the Page URL scheme to send their users out of their app and to their Page so they can gain Likes. Similarly, marketers could distribute a Page URL scheme as an “iOS only” link to gain Likes.

In the physical world, marketers could also tie the URL scheme link to their Page to a QR code and display in their brick and mortar store or distribute through print materials. Users could then scan the QR code to launch their Facebook app and Like the Page. This could become a way to speed up in-store promotions where users who show they’ve Liked a business’ Page get a discount or free gift.

Those trying to take advantage of the URL scheme functionality should be sure their audience is likely to have an iOS device with the Facebook app installed. Otherwise providing a standard browser link that’s accessible across devices and to those without the Facebook app is a safer bet, even if it means users may have to log in to Facebook again before they can Like the Page.

Facebook recently launched its mobile app platform that allows users to access canvas apps built in HTML5 from their mobile devices. Page tab applications cannot be accessed from mobile yet, judging by the fact that some Page tab app developers such as RootMusic have begun building in HTML5. Once Page tab apps are opened to mobile, Page URL scheme links could become a powerful way to drive traffic to them as well as helping Pages gain Likes.

[Thanks to Sam Cornwell for the tip]

Facebook for iPhone users now have access to all the new features for in the official Facebook for iPad app that launched this morning. Now available in the App Store, the 4.0 update includes a major redesign of the navigation system that facilitates quick switching between features, and the ability to access third-party mobile apps.

The new features can also be found on Facebook’s mobile sites m.facebook.com and touch.facebook.com, which can both be accessed from Android phones that have yet to receive native Facebook app update with the lastest changes.

The update to Facebook for iPhone’s 91 million monthly active users and 51 million daily active users gives developers a huge new distribution channel for their mobile web and iPhone apps.

One of the worst things about the old Facebook for iPhone app was the grid screen navigation. If users wanted to switch between in-house Facebook apps such as the news feed, Photos, Messages, and notifications, they had to exit their currently used app to the grid screen, then dive back into another app.

This process was both cumbersome and sometimes caused users to lose their place — something especially annoying when one went to look for new Messages or notifications, saw they had none, and wanted to return to the previously used feature. The slowness of switching apps through the grid screen contributed to Facebook spinning out Messages as a standalone app, and preparing a dedicated native Photos app.

Facebook for iPhone 4.0 reduces the friction of app switching through a slide-out navigation menu that is accessible from any screen and houses all in-house and third-party app bookmarks. Users can open the navigation menu, but then easily close it to resume their previous activity.

Similarly, a floating top navigation bar gives persistent access to Messages, notifications, and requests. When their icons are clicked, an overlaid screen slides up from the bottom and slides back down revealing the previously used app when a user is done.

The navigation menu also houses a revamped search feature from which users can find friends, Pages, apps, Groups, Events, or any other Facebook property. It replaces the tabbed search that clumsily required users to choose what they were searching for first, and didn’t include live links to apps.

When users click on the bookmark, search result, or news feed link for a native iPhone app, that app is instantly launched if already installed, or the App Store is loaded so users can download it. Bookmarks to web apps on Facebook’s new mobile app platform are launched within Facebook for iPhone’s internal browser, and users merely need to confirm their login — they don’t have to reenter their username or password.

Despite Facebook confirming with us that it would remove the Places check-in feed from its smartphone apps, users can still see the locations of friends through a renamed in-house app called Nearby. As before, users can view the checkins of friends as a feed or as photos on a map, as well as add their own check-ins.

The app does lack some of Facebook.com’s newest features. There’s no way to subscribe to someone’s public updates or edit your Friend Lists or Smart Lists. Facebook has also removed the ability to filter the news feed by Friend Lists, which previously allowed users to select to only see updates from a subset of friends. Hopefully these features will be integrated soon.

Facebook for iPhone hasn’t received such a major redesign since its launch years ago. At first, some users will surely be grumpy about having to relearn how to navigate the app. With time, though, we believe users will grow to appreciate the streamlined navigation and ability to access their web and native apps. By becoming an app portal and reducing navigation fatigue, Facebook for iPhone’s 100 million MAU milestone could be right around the corner.

Update 10/13/2011: Bugs in Facebook for iPhone 4.0 caused it to fail to load properly once installed. Facebook has since released 4.0.1 and 4.0.2 updates to fix these issues. Delete, re-download, and reinstall the app if you’re experiencing crashes or it fails to load.

In the release notes of Facebook for iPhone 4.0.1, Facebook explained “Notice to Users Upgrading from an older version: If you’re having trouble starting the app after the upgrade, please delete and reinstall it- this has been confirmed to solve the issue. The update fixes an issue that was causing the app to hang or crash for some users when upgrading from an older version.”

New Screenshots and functionality details of Facebook’s forthcoming HTML5 mobile site and application platform have emerged. Documentation of the updated mobile site and platform, externally referred to as Project Spartan, was briefly published to the Facebook Developers site last night, and TechCrunch recorded screenshots before Facebook took the pages down. We dug into the documentation and found many interesting facts about the mobile site that will impacts users and developers.

The Facebook mobile site will receive a significant redesign, users will be able to authorize and use third-party mobile apps from within the mobile site, these apps will be accessed through bookmarks shown alongside Facebook’s in-house apps, and users will have the ability to post to the news feed and send Requests/invites that are delivered as notifications.

For developers, the same SDK and APIs used for Facebook web applications will work on mobile, a new authentication mode called Authenticated Referrals will allow users who’ve already installed an app to login with two taps, and mobile apps will be optimized to work across all iOS and Android devices.

Sources at the company told us last week there would be a major mobile launch in “three weeks” but TechCrunch is reporting that the date has been moved up along with the native Facebook iPad app launch. It will likely come at either Apple’s iPhone event on Tuesday or a Facebook press event on Monday. Regardless, these updates are coming, though Facebook will surely continue to refine the mobile platform. How users and developers react will influence the power dynamic between Facebook, Apple, and Android, and could be an important determinant of Facebook’s long-term success. (We first wrote about Facebook’s HTML5 strategy for third-party mobile web apps in February, four months before it was reported in other mainstream press like TechCrunch.)

Here we’ll take a look at the biggest changes evident from the leaked documentation and what they mean:

Mobile Site Redesign

The current design of the mobile site is not especially intuitive. Users must browse to entirely separate screens to access core functionality such as notifications or the publisher. This can makes the browsing experience exhausting and cause users to spend less time on the mobile site.

The new redesign previewed in the leaked documentation and seen here shows a more persistently available top navigation bar that lets users access their notifications, Messages, and friend request with fewer clicks. The notifications button reveals an overlaid drop down rather than opening a different screen, so alerts about new activity can be checked without losing one’s place on the mobile site.

Third-Party App Access From a Bookmarks Menu

News that users would be able to access third-party Facebook apps from mobile leaked months ago, but the documentation reveals exactly how they’ll be accessed. A button on the mobile site’s top navigation bar will slide out a list of all of a user’s installed apps — both Facebook’s in-house apps such as Events and Groups, as well as third-party apps and games.

A bookmark will appear in this menu for any app a user has installed. Thanks to “bookmark synching”, a bookmark will also appear on the homepage of a user’s web version of Facebook. Users will also be able to search for new or previously installed games through the mobile site bookmarks menu. This will make Facebook mobile search engine optimization important for mobile apps looking to gain new users.

Facebook won’t require developers to use a different SDK or set of APIs on mobile than they use to build apps on Facebook.com. This means some developers will simply have to redesign their apps for mobile, rather than having to re-code them. This could help quickly populate the mobile platform with apps. More complicated apps that use flash such as games will need to switch to HTML5, though Facebook has reportedly been working with a large set of top developers to make their apps compatible with the mobile platform.

Two-Tap Login and Requests Notifications for Growth

The authorization given to a mobile app upon install will be valid on the web as well, so users won’t have to grant permissions to an app twice. Once a user has installed an app, they’ll be able to quickly log into it later with a two tap process called Authenticated Referrals – one tap to select the app, and a second to confirm they are entering a third-party app.

Along with using or playing with an app, users can publish content to the news feed through a familiar sharing prompt. They’ll also be able to send Requests to friends, such as an invite to play or a call to complete an in-app action. These Requests are delivered to friends as notifications that they can click through to open an app.

Right now, these notifications don’t look especially compelling, and therefore might inspire users to try new apps or reengage with old ones. Facebook may need to make mobile app Request notifications more appealing if it wants to attract developers to the Platform with the opportunity for strong viral growth.

Initially, the Like button social plugin will be available for use within mobile platform apps. Developers can use the button to create a lightweight sharing flow. As part of the permissions process developers will be able to request a user’s email address so they can communicate with them, or market to them, outside their apps.

Technologically, there are still some functionality disadvantages of using HTML5 mobile sites rather than native smartphone apps. For example, they only native apps can access device hardware such as the camera and GPS. Facebook will need to make up for this with virality if it wants its mobile Platform to become popular with developers.

There’s no mention in the documentation of Facebook Credits spotted earlier this year, so its still unclear how payments will be processed within mobile apps. A big part of why Facebook needed to create the mobile platform was to allow it earn money from app sales and in-app purchases, which can’t happen if its is merely a social layer within apps sold through Apple or Android’s mobile app stores.

Launching the Platform without Credits support could attract some developers who don’t want to pay Facebook’s 30% tax. However, punching credit card details into a mobile device can be especially difficult and lead to significant drop-off, so developers may actually want Facebook Credits support because it could increase sales volumes. Third-party mobile payments companies could also step in here to facilitate developer monetization.

Facebook is on the cusp of a serious turning point. If it can make the mobile Platform fun for users and attractive to developers, it could create an important new revenue stream, ride the growth of smart phones, and gain leverage against Apple and Google. If users find accessing third-party Facebook mobile app clunky and developers don’t see enough potential for viral growth, though, the Platform could fail and Facebook might get cut out of the mobile money stream.

Facebook has updated its mobile site m.facebook.com with the hybrid news feed launched for the web version of the site that it had launched on Monday. Since the Facebook for iPhone and Android apps both pull the news feed from the mobile site, the 93 million daily active users of the two apps now also see a single feed with Top Stories followed by Recent Stories. Users of these mobile interfaces no longer have the option to view separate Top News and Most Recent feeds.

For most users, there’s now no escaping the sweeping changes Facebook implemented this week. While those who never realized they could switch between relevancy-sorted and reverse-chronological feeds will now be more likely to see fresh, compelling updates, others who grew accustomed to bouncing between the feeds may be displeased that they need to alter their behavior.

At the top of their feed, mobile users will see now Top Stories, followed by Recent Stories, and finally “From Earlier Today” which includes older Top Stories and Recent Stories. Since the two popular smart phones apps pull the news feed from the mobile site, Facebook was able to make just a single code changes to update both the iPhone and Android app interfaces without requiring users to download a software update.

Facebook uses a variety of signals to determine what updates become Top Stories, denoted with a blue triangle in the top left corner. On the web version users can mark and unmark updates as Top Stories. Mobile users don’t have this option, and must accept the decisions of the EdgeRank news feed sorting algorithm.

However, users can filter the news feed according to type of update, such as Status Updates, Events, or Photos. Facebook has also made its new Smart Lists available as mobile news feed filters in addition to all of a user’s manually built Friend Lists. These give users some options if they’re not content with what they’re seeing in the new default “All Stories” feed.

The hybrid news feed feels a bit more natural on mobile, where a quick, lightweight experience works better than having a ton of options like on the web. While many users are still complaining about the web interface changes and the introduction of the Ticker, we believe some of the announcements made later today at the f8 conference will illuminate the importance of the recent redesign.

Users shouldn’t expect the mobile changes to stop, as we hear Facebook may release a major redesign of its popular smart phone apps. It might also launch the standalone mobile photos app that leaked in June. We’ll be providing deep analysis of what the announcements at f8 mean to users and developers, so check back later today.

Facebook yesterday released version 3.5 of its Facebook for iPhone mobile app. The update includes many of the new privacy, friend tagging, and location features that were added to the web interface two weeks ago. Users can also now post rich feed stories with thumbnails and captions by copying links into the publisher or tapping “Share” in the web view.

Despite Facebook saying it would shift Places from focusing on check-ins to applying location as a layer, users can still view the Places check-in feed and map. However, now these features show all friends who’ve recently tagged a Place in an update, even if they were discussing somewhere they’d been or plan to go and not their current location.

On August 23rd, Facebook announced an overhaul of its privacy settings, bringing controls in-line with content. The changes have since rolled out to the web interface for most users, but now Facebook has begun porting the changes to its mobile interfaces starting with its most popular mobile app. Facebook for iPhone grew 2.4 million daily active users this month and today will  reach 50 million DAU.

The mobile site m.facebook.com now includes the revamped publisher, and an updated privacy settings page. The iPhone app offers access to the privacy setttings page through its internal browser so users can set default post privacy, past post privacy, and whether they must approve tags before they appear on their profile. The Android, BlackBerry, and other mobile apps still lack the new publisher.

Location, Friends, and Privacy in the Publisher

When iPhone users go to add a status update, they’ll see their city-level location as determined by their IP and other signals at the bottom left of the publisher. They can tap this or the Places button to reveal the option to remove city-level location, tag an existing Place, or add and tag a new Place. Specific location tags are appended to the end of the update as “- at [Place]“. Photos can also be added to any update.

Previously a major deficiency of the iPhone app compared to the Android app was the inability to tag friends in updates. Now users can select to tag friends in posts by tapping the friends button, with the tags appended to the update as “- with [name]“. Upon opening the tag selector they’re first presented with “Recents” for easy access to their closest friends, as well as a search option and a browsable list of all their friends.

A gear icon reveals the audience the post will reach, whether thats “Public”, “Friends”, a custom audience, or one of their friend lists. This feature is very streamlined, and actually requires several fewer clicks than the web interface to select to post to a friend lists. It should make it easier for users to share wider variety of content by being able to restrict its visibility to those for whom its relevant and appropriate.

Rich Link Sharing

The update notes for Facebook for iPhone 3.5 note that this version “Added the ability to share external links from a web view.” This means that when users are browsing the internet through the app’s internal browser, the can now tap a forward and then a Share button to initiate a status update linking to the currently viewed URL.

What’s more interesting is how Facebook now formats these links. Previously, links posted through the iPhone publisher appears as simple hyperlinks. Now, whether through the Share button or by copying and pasting a URL into the publisher, Facebook converts URLs into rich feed posts that include a headline, caption, and thumbnail image the same way URLs are formatted when pasted into the web interface’s publisher. This lets users create much more compelling stories out of URLs that attract more clicks. This could help Facebook drive more referral traffick and become more important to web publishers.

All Location Tags are Now Check-Ins

After a year of users announcing their current location as verified by GPS proximity through check-ins, Facebook confirmed with us that it would scrap the check-in feed and map. This was because users would now be able to any add location to any post no matter their current coordinates. We criticized this decision because the feed and map of just current locations had made it easy to find nearby friends and arrange meet-ups.

In this iPhone update, the check-in feed and map are still available, except now they feature any friend who’s added location to a post, regardless of whether they were currently at that Place or not. If users click the Check-In button or go to tag a Place in a status update, they’re prompted “Where are you”, indicating that Facebook hasn’t quite sorted out whether location tags and check-ins are the same thing.

As users change their behaviors and start tagging Places they aren’t currently at, the feed and map will become confusing because it will show a friend at local restaurant when they’re actually across the country but had just posted a recommendation tagging the eatery. While its value will diminish as users adopt the new location capabilities, this stay of execution of the Places feed and map should come as good news to those like me who use the features to find clusters of friends on the weekends.

With the 3.5 update, Facebook for iPhone now approaches parity with most of the web interface’s core features. Of the recent privacy changes, the only thing noticibly lacking is the option to change the privacy settings of previously published content on a post-by-post basis. With the basic functionality, Facebook can now concentrate on prepping the iPhone app to be compatible with its HTML5 mobile site that could offer gaming that is expected to launch at the f8 developer conference later this month.

UK Won’t Ban Facebook – Facebook, Twitter and Research In Motion met with United Kingdom officials Thursday regarding the social networks’ role in summer riots there. The government ended up not moving to restrict access to the social networks in emergencies such as riots.

Facebook Takes Third Spot for Video – Facebook becomes the third largest video site on the Internet, comScore reported. That is 51.5 million people who watched videos on the platform in July.

AT&T to Discontinue Facebook Phone – AT&T is reportedly set to drop its “Facebook phone” called the Status, according to TechCrunch.

Places More Popular Than Foursquare – London developer Golden Gekko reports its clients report much more Facebook check-ins than Foursquare in Europe. Magnus Jern reported that the ratio ranged from 5-10 to 1. However, the future of the service is unclear.

Facebook Hit 1 Trillion Pageviews - Facebook surpassed 1 trillion pageviews according to Google’s Ad Planner tool, although comScore says otherwise.

Facebook Mobile App to Offer Photo Filters - Facebook looks to be competing with Instagram’s classy mobile app by offering almost a dozen photo filters to its mobile own application — following Facebook’s attempt to buy the startup, according to The New York Times. News of the feature first leaked out in June.

Recapping Facebook’s Bug Bounty – Neal Poole did a basic rundown of Facebook’s Security Bug Bounty program, which included information about multi-line JavaScript URI, redirects preserving fragment portions of URLs, XSS filters and more.

Facebook Wraps Up Farm Bureau Dispute – Facebook and the Farm Bureau had a dispute over Facebook trademarking “FB,” but it seems like the lawsuit is set to be wrapped up.

Milyoni Chart for Credits – Milyoni created a nice chart and whitepaper that includes ways that Facebook Credits can, and cannot, be used.

Facebook to Open Second Campus - Facebook is set to open up an additional campus from its current Menlo Park, Calif. headquarters. The second campus pwill be southwest of the current location, to be constructed in 2013 to accommodate about 2,800 employees.

Ticketmaster Allows Users to Find Friends – Line Nation’s Ticketmaster service launched an app that allows users to see where their friends are sitting on seat maps and tag themselves.

BBC Does Facebook On-Demand Video – BBC has developed an on-demand Facebook application allowing users to rent episodes from the show “Top Gear” for 48 hours.

ShopIgniter, Involver Partner – The two companies are entered into a partnership to help online retail businesses with a management content system.