We know the Facebook iPhone app is about to have a feature packed upgrade, which you can read all about here, but unfortunately the update won’t include the best feature of OS 3.0 – push notifications. Joe Hewitt, developer of the Facebook app, says push notifications will be included in a later update, but for now we’re stuck receiving those annoying email updates.
But luckily there is a way you can get notifications pushed straight to your iPhone right now as text alerts using Textfree Unlimited or Textfree Lite.
We wrote earlier about how Textfree Unlimited can be used as a great alternative to the $5-$20 a month you pay AT&T for the privilege of receiving messages that cost AT&T virtually nothing to send. Now the app has gotten even more useful.
To do this, first install either Textfree Unlimited or Textfree Lite. Open the app and sign up for an account. This is your unique username@textfree.us account name which also functions as an email address.
Now, go to your Facebook.com settings:
Find the box labeled “New Email:” and type in your unique username@textfree.us account name. Click “Add New Email.” You should receive an Push Notification from Textfree instantly.
Open up Textfree and look for the validation link. Unfortunately, mine wasn’t recognized as a URL automatically so I had to retype it manually into my browser rather than just being able to click on it. The URL follows the words “To confirm your contact email, follow the link below:”
As soon as you go to that URL your Textfree account will be validated as a place for Facebook to send notifications.
The final step is to go back to that same area in your Facebook settings and select the username@textfree.us account name and click “Change Contact Email.”
Enjoy and let us know how it works for you.
Thanks to Andre Dean Smith for the tip.
UPDATE: International users can also benefit from this trick by using Textfree To The U.S., the worldwide version of Textfree.
wow. this is a great idea. thank you so much!
OMG !!! thanks for this !!!
Okay this actually works. Thanks for the tip, now I can go only go to facebook when something actually happens. It’s kinda sad actually, takes all the mystery out of it.
well, textfree unlimited or textfree lite are not available at the european appstore it seems. is there another solution for europeans?
A US only solution…!
Also works with Twitter DMs and New Follower alerts. Thank you App Advice and Andre!
I use Prowl and Snarl to get push updates from twitter and email. All of my facebook notifications come through email so they go straight to my iphone as push with Prowl. It’s very reliable and works great. It does take some time to setup but it’s not too bad if you are decent with computers.
Am I missing something? In Facebook I can currently get all of my friends status updates via SMS text by subscribing to their feeds. The textfree solution only appears to give you alerts when your friends post to your wall, reply to your posts or send you a message within Facebook. Except for the fact that the alerts appear as a popup, this is no different than you what you get via your existing email account registered with Facebook.
for JB iPhones: You cud rename the textfree app into “Facebook” change the icon to Facebook icon and hide the app. With this, u’ll get nicely Push alert with Facebook text on it