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Facebook for Android (pictures)

The official Facebook app isn't perfect, but it's still the best way to access the social network from your Android device.

Sarah Mitroff
Sarah Mitroff is a Managing Editor for CNET, overseeing our health, fitness and wellness section. Throughout her career, she's written about mobile tech, consumer tech, business and startups for Wired, MacWorld, PCWorld, and VentureBeat.
Sarah Mitroff
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1 of 9 Josh Miller/CNET

The best way to view Facebook on your Android

Facebook's mobile app gets better every year, with a streamlined design, plenty of social features, and helpful tools for sharing photos, links and more from your phone.

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News Feed

Facebook for Android recently got a major face-lift, with a new design and a few new features.

Some things haven't changed though. You still can like and comment on posts, share a status, upload a photo, or check in, all from the main News Feed.

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People tab

You can see your entire friend list and get recommendations on who you might want to add as a friend from the People tab.

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Message inbox

Facebook said that it will soon remove your messages from the main Facebook mobile app, and instead force you to use Facebook Messenger. For now, though, you can still chat with friends from the app.

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More tab

Here you'll find your profile tucked away, as well as apps, groups, settings, and the new Nearby Friends feature.

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Nearby Friends

Nearby Friends is a brand-new feature in the newest version of Facebook's Android app. Using GPS, it shows the approximate location of your friends, grouped by city. It's similar to Apple's Find My Friends feature, which uses your phone's contacts and GPS to plot your friends' and family's locations on a map.

Once you set it up, you'll see a list of other friends using Nearby Friends and their approximate locations. It'll say what city they're in and a general location, such as a neighborhood, if available. You'll see how far away, in miles, they are from you, and how long ago, in minutes, they were in that area.

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Friends on the map

You can share your precise location with your friends, and then your profile picture will appear on a map only they can see.

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Chat menu

Tap the tiny icon in the top right of the screen to reveal a chat menu, which lists which of your friends are online right now. You can also get to your Nearby Friends list from here. Unfortunately, you can no longer send private messages in the app.

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Profile

Like in earlier versions of the app, you can view your full profile and edit your cover photo.

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