Facebook Beta gains Windows Phone 8.1 integration in latest update
Ever since the preview for Windows Phone 8.1 went out, the Facebook beta app ironically has lagged behind the official ‘stable’ public version. That means while you could use the Beta app with no issues on 8.1, you were also missing the Social Extensibility framework integration, including access to your Photos Hub, Sharing and more.
Version 8.1.4.25 just went live in the Store, and we can confirm that for 8.1 users, you can now use this instead of the public app and still get those new 8.1 features.
The version number of the beta actually makes it on par with the public one (which is also at 8.1.4.25), so you probably won’t see any benefit yet. Presumably, the beta app will get a few more updates on a more rapid release cycle compared to the public version, eventually delivering some new features and improvements.
Microsoft's Joe Belfiore recently mentioned that the Facebook app was due for a big update in June, with “improvements to performance, having full-width photos in the newsfeed, and seeing photos & comments at the same time”.
Pick up Facebook beta for Windows Phone (and now Windows Phone 8.1) here in the Store.
Thanks, Josue A. and Rum N., for the tips!
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Daniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central. He is also the head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft since 2007, when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, laptops, next-gen computing, and watches. He has been reviewing laptops since 2015 and is particularly fond of 2-in-1 convertibles, ARM processors, new form factors, and thin-and-light PCs. Before all this tech stuff, he worked on a Ph.D. in linguistics, watched people sleep (for medical purposes!), and ran the projectors at movie theaters because it was fun.