Facebook App on Android is horrible

Facebook Application

Okay I know many of you probably use the Facebook app religiously and cannot think of way to live without it. However, the Facebook app on Android is horrible. There are other ways you can connect to Facebook which are a lot better and save a lot of resources on your phone.  

As you all know it is hard not to get on Facebook anymore as everyone and their mother is on Facebook. So your phone may have come with the Facebook application pre-installed. Everyone is compelled to use the Facebook app for this very reason. If this is the case simply don’t log into your account with the application to prevent it from running.

Many people seem to have issues with the Facebook app or it may run a little slow at times. This seems to be pretty common among Android users however they put up with it because they think this the only way to connect to Facebook.

Not only does it freeze up at times it also uses a large amount of memory on your phone. On a few devices you might see an error message with your system saying you are low on memory. Clearing the cache on the Facebook application takes care of that problem in many cases.

When an app uses up a lot of memory on your phone it makes it slow and it also drains your battery a quicker. I have found this to be a big problem with the Facebook App and why I would not recommend people use it.

Enough about the negative now things you can do to log into Facebook without the Facebook app.

I would recommend downloading Dolphin Browser and APW widgets. Dolphin Browser is free of charge and APW widgets might cost you a few bucks however worth every penny. APW widget gives you some great widgets that will blow away the widget provided by the Facebook App. More on that further down.

Dolphin Browser Facebook

When you download the Dolphin Browser just go to Facebook.com. By default it will load into mobile view. Provide your username and password and you will login. At the top there is an image of the Facebook Application. To the left you will see Dolphin Browser on the Facebook site. As you can see there are next to now differences. The only think is the letters are a little smaller.

What we have found is that on Dolphin Browser Facebook seems to load a lot faster even if you have a slower connection. What’s great, soon as you close Dolphin Browser it will completely shut down the app itself. If you go to setting on your phone and select running apps you will notice the Facebook Application will continue to run even when you shut Facebook down. Thus draining your battery and making your phone slower.

Facebook Widget

If you use the Facebook Widget be prepared to be blown away. To the right  screen shot of the Facebook widget. You have the ability to post to you profile and see recent updates from your friends. The problem is that you have to select the arrows left or right to see the next person update. The size of the widget is very small and when you select the persons update it will take you directly to their wall. In most cases we just want to comment on their post.

Now for APW Widgets as you can see by the screen shot below it is very different. You will see all of your friend’s recent updates in order from top to bottom. You can also scroll this widget to see more and more updates.

At the top you will notice a button that looks like piece of paper with a pencil. Select that button to share a status update. If you notice to the left of the Status Update button there are two other buttons. With those buttons you can jump over to see your status updates or got back to the friend feed.

APW Widget

When you select a friends post it opens up the post so you can quickly comment on that post without having to get on their wall and selecting the post again to make a comment. It is very simple and handy to use.

At the bottom there is a setting button and a refresh button. Under the setting you can select the time gap you want the widget to update. Selecting one hour intervals helps it from running as much. If you have a stopping point and want to see the latest updates simply select the refresh button and it will manually update all of your friends post.

Alright so there you have it a better way to use Facebook on your Android Device. If you have any comments or better ways of using Facebook on Android please provide some information below.

Thank you for reading and good luck.