New Facebook Update Brings Support For iPhone 5, iOS 6
by Brent Dirks
September 20, 2012
Just a little less than a day after iOS 6 was released and right before the launch of the iPhone 5 tomorrow, one of the most popular iOS apps, Facebook, has been updated with support for the new OS and handset.
Along with the newly supported items, version 5.0.1 contains the usual round of bug fixes.
Today’s update was the first since Facebook unveiled a completely redesigned app in late August.
Instead of using HTML 5, Facebook built the app from the ground up using Apple’s iOS SDK. The interface remained vastly the same, but there were obvious improvement to the app’s speed. Opening the app was much faster and the news feeds and notifications load almost automatically.
Browsing photos also took a big step forward in the update. Users can tap on any photo to open it up right away. When you’re done, simply pull down to return to the news feed.
And users generally seemed to be happy with the changes. Just a few weeks after the update hit the App Store, user ratings jumped from a positively poor 1.5 stars to a pretty good 4 stars.
The new version of Facebook is a universal app designed for the iPhone/iPod touch and iPad. It can be downloaded free in the App Store now.
