Today, we are going to talk about an interesting app for iPhone and iPad, called Friendly, that can be used as an alternative to the official Facebook app. So, let’s not waste any more time and get started with the app overview followed by a discussion on some of its interesting features, which according to me makes it better than the official app of Facebook.
Friendly for iPhone
Friendly was launched for iPad way back in 2010 when the official Facebook app was restricted to just iPhone. However, it has grown so much more over the time. The design of the app is much like the older version of the official Facebook app which most of us miss these days. The best thing about Friendly is that you can change the monotonous blue color of Facebook from the list of choices available in the app and personalize your experience. Another good thing about Friendly is that it is gesture supported and you can swipe in the app to navigate back. There’s a small status bar at the top that tells you about the network communication status. The right sidebar lists all your friends. You also get birthday notifications so that you don’t forget to wish. Messaging lacks Chat Head, but it provides easy access to smileys that are missing in the official app. The stickers are also available which have become quite famous in the past few months. The back to top button helps to easily navigate to new feeds with a single tap. The app also provides 360◦ rotation, so no matter which angle you are holding your phone at, it’s not going to make a difference. So that was a brief insight into Friendly’s design and navigation, now let’s have a look at some of the interesting features that made it worthy of my attention.
Add Multiple Facebook Accounts
This particular feature was the reason I stumbled upon Friendly in the first place. I was searching for an app using which I could access multiple Facebook accounts from my iPhone without signing out from any one of them. Using this app one can set multiple Facebook accounts and assign different colors to them (to differentiate). If you have added multiple accounts, the app will have all the accounts listed. And it will let you select an account from this list and sign in to it. There’s also an option to switch an account from the app settings as well, thus, making working on multiple accounts quite easier. Another important thing is that push notifications are also provided for all the configured accounts.
Added Security
Friendly also provides an additional lock on top of the iOS generic security lock to give added security. The lock can be activated from the app settings and you can activate the timeout period of 15 minutes to auto lock the app. If you have multiple accounts configured, different passcodes can be set up for each one of them.
What’s Trending and Built-in Search
When you search for something on the app, Friendly tells you what’s trending on Facebook. You can also extend your search to Google, Twitter and YouTube.
Conclusion
The free version of the app shows a banner ad, but if you like the app, you can upgrade to an ad-free version for just $1.99 — a small price to pay for the added features it provides. I have uninstalled the official Facebook app and upgraded to Friendly+. What about you? Are you ready to make the switch yet?
