Will Facebook ever update their apps for W10M?

[snikito]

Any chance Windows Central can get any inside info from Facebook about dropping support or not for W10M? It's the 8th month with no update for their apps while they continue support for WhatsApp and Instagram, and in the meantime they have made their PC apps scale and work to mobile sizes, but not universal.

What's going on at Facebook and why aren't they confirming or not W10M support? It's getting ridiculous.

 

[Rainar Angelo]

They did update the Messenger app on the PC Store but not a single hoot has been given about the ones on phone. Disgusting really. I'm not sure about the beta versions of the app though.

 

[bortovic]

this question should be addressed in the Facebook help forum. but anyway, here u could also get some answers.
in my opinion windows 10 mobile is not a very popular mobile platform according to some companies and they underdeveloped their apps for it. i have also played angry birds epic in windows phone 8 and Rovio made its game with less features for it in comparison with the android version. so... while i would also like to have the Facebook app updated, i dont think that it Facebook company will give it the attention that it deserves.

 

[Sedp23]

From what it looks like they won't and with the reboot of the os I'm beginning the believe that the PC version of their apps will run on the reboot of mobile...

 

[kaktus1389]

Any chance Windows Central can get any inside info from Facebook about dropping support or not for W10M? It's the 8th month with no update for their apps while they continue support for WhatsApp and Instagram, and in the meantime they have made their PC apps scale and work to mobile sizes, but not universal.

What's going on at Facebook and why aren't they confirming or not W10M support? It's getting ridiculous.

Perhaps that's because there are not that many people using it. I know, I find it frustrating myself too but they'll develop for platforms that they benefit from the most.

 

[DavidTheGiant]

I think they focused on PC first to make the app truly universal as we can see it now scales well on desktop. So that they only have two apps to maintain on Windows 10 instead of four apps which is 2 for PC and 2 for mobile..

 

[snikito]

That's a nice theory but it has been 8 months. If they intended to do that they would have done it by now.

EDIT: To all of you commenting that the user base is low and things like that: If the app was universal then they would not have that problem. Also: If Facebook doesn't have a large user base on W10M then what would the Instagram user base be? They update their Instagram app though. So this makes no sense to me.

 

[tgp]

EDIT: To all of you commenting that the user base is low and things like that: If the app was universal then they would not have that problem.

As far as we know, app usage is low on desktop. That may change with Windows 10 S, but so far that's what we have. Therefore, there is little incentive to make an app for the desktop. Although there are half a billion potential users, there are a relative handful of likely users (mobile). Facebook in the browser on the desktop offers an experience that I'm not sure can be improved much with an app.

Also: If Facebook doesn't have a large user base on W10M then what would the Instagram user base be? They update their Instagram app though. So this makes no sense to me.

Although Facebook owns Instagram, they are likely operating mostly as separate companies. Look at Microsoft and Skype for an example. No, it doesn't make sense, but it might explain the reason.

 

[snikito]

But they have a desktop app and it's awesome. The question is, why not make it universal? I believe WC as journalists can get some more info out of FB.

 

[Sedp23]

But they have a desktop app and it's awesome. The question is, why not make it universal? I believe WC as journalists can get some more info out of FB.

Probably because they are scrapping the mobile os and the current PC apps will be on the new reboot of mobile

 

[snikito]

An app development cannot depend on speculation.

 

[Sedp23]

An app development cannot depend on speculation.

Windows 10 mobile is just hanging on by speculation right now

 

[Graham Asare]

Maybe after fall.

 

[Drael646464]

Most likely windows on arm will compel them to write a UWP, as it will sort of refresh UWP in general.

They might also write one, if MSFT kills Silverlight.

 

[Drael646464]

Probably because they are scrapping the mobile os and the current PC apps will be on the new reboot of mobile

UWP is native on ARM devices. It will be superior for any UX on those chipsets, regardless of if it can run win32 under emulation. Even if the mythical UMPC ever actually manifested, a UWP would still be better.

 

[Drael646464]

Any chance Windows Central can get any inside info from Facebook about dropping support or not for W10M? It's the 8th month with no update for their apps while they continue support for WhatsApp and Instagram, and in the meantime they have made their PC apps scale and work to mobile sizes, but not universal.

What's going on at Facebook and why aren't they confirming or not W10M support? It's getting ridiculous.

I don't see why they'd make their apps scale if they weren't converting to UWP. Can anyone answer that - why would they make them scale down to small sizes if it weren't a conversion?

Scaling to different sizes is UWP 101.

My theory is they have just one guy on it, lol. Converting a centennial to a UWP means changing a lot of the API calls. It could be done quite quickly with a big team, but if its a low priority job, it could take a long time.

I think if this was the case, it would also explain why there is no work on the old mobile app.

It's often quite invisible the change. A good example is the "GO" series of games. Originally on windows, they were released both as Silverlight (xap), and as win32 games (via steam etc). Now, you'll see they are all entirely UWP (appx).

That happened somewhat recently, around the release of Deus EX GO. But it was never announced, the plan to convert them was never announced, and none of it is particularly visable to the user - they just see a single download option for PC and mobile, and that's it. But if you look, you will see there are .exes, .xaps AND .appx's for the first two games.

So if this is facebooks plan, they'll probably never tell us.

 

[Drael646464]

I just tried it, on desktop. Didn't used to, but now it does, totally scale to mobile sizes. The messenger app just changed a few months ago to scale to mobile sizes.

Something seems to be going on here, even if its at a snails pace...

 

[snikito]

Well

a) Facebook DOES NOT scale to mobile sizes. It does scale to mobile FRIENDLY sizes but not mobile sizes, still too large for a phone screen. Messenger completely scales to mobile sizes.
b) Facebook apps are not Centennial, they are UWP but they are not universal.
c) The scaling fix was important regardless of mobile. If you triend to scale it to an ultra wide size the app would broke and the buttons would go crazy. Scaling fixes those incidents too and that's why they made it work that way.
d) Even if it was 1 guy, he/she should be able to have delivered the universal app to the beta app by now.

 

[Drael646464]

Well

a) Facebook DOES NOT scale to mobile sizes. It does scale to mobile FRIENDLY sizes but not mobile sizes, still too large for a phone screen. Messenger completely scales to mobile sizes.
b) Facebook apps are not Centennial, they are UWP but they are not universal.
c) The scaling fix was important regardless of mobile. If you triend to scale it to an ultra wide size the app would broke and the buttons would go crazy. Scaling fixes those incidents too and that's why they made it work that way.
d) Even if it was 1 guy, he/she should be able to have delivered the universal app to the beta app by now.

1 part 2, paragraph c) So why is it important the app can scale to a mobile friendly size? Rather than just fix scaling for wide screens?

Appendix 5X) Do you code, and do you know whats involved?

 

[snikito]

It's important to scale to mobile friendly size because it's also used by tablets and it's also improtant in order to have many apps open at the same time. You wouldn't want Facebook to work only in full screen so that you can have messenger and/or other apps open simultaneously.