Why You Can Trust CNET Facebook Camera (iOS) review: Facebook Camera (iOS)
The Facebook Camera app is a great stand-alone for uploading images and viewing photo feeds from Facebook. New features make uploading even better, but we still wonder why they aren't offered in the official Facebook app.
The Facebook Camera app for iPhone offers many of the features people love about Instagram, and adds new ones that Facebook users will definitely appreciate. In the latest update to version 1.1, the app has new photo-uploading options and support for more notifications.
Facebook Camera (iOS)
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
As soon as you launch the app, you can see the camera icon in the upper left for taking a picture (which I'll get to in a moment), but you can also see thumbnails of your latest shots. Below that is your Facebook feed, with great big images posted by your friends and options to Like the photo, or comment on the post in the lower left. The layout is excellent for viewing photos, and I think it's easy for Facebook fans to embrace this app. My only question is, why not change the official Facebook app to show your feed in the same way and add the photo features there?
Anyway, back at the top, you have the option to snap a fresh picture or you can swipe downward to access photos in your photo library. One thing you'll notice here is that you have the option with the Facebook Camera app to batch upload photos by touching all the images you want to use. A green check mark will show up on each image, and the post button in the lower right will show how many images you have selected. From there you can touch the post button to bring up options for the location of the shots, tag as many friends you'd like, then touch post in the upper left to send them to your Facebook feed. You also can hit the gear icon to choose who can see the photos.
As many of you Facebook fans probably already know, all of these features are sorely lacking in the regular Facebook app.
Snapping pictures is just as intuitive. Simply tap the camera icon in the upper left to open the camera. After you snap a picture, you can use the tools at the bottom for cropping and adding effects. The crop tool brings up a grid, and you can touch and drag each corner to frame your subject. You also can use the rotate button at the bottom to make sure your photos post with the right orientation. The Facebook Camera app offers 14 effects to choose from, and you can swipe through and touch any to preview what the effect will look like on your photo. With the effect selected, you can hit the post button to add the location, tag your friends, and add a headline like I explained above.
In a recent update, Facebook Camera has expanded on a few features that will be welcome additions for fans of the app. You can now upload photos to specific folders (no more of the Mobile uploads catch-all) and receive notifications when someone has tagged, commented on, or liked one of your photos. When one of your photos gets liked, names and photos will now show for the people who liked it. The app has also improved the way it displays captions, now letting you read longer captions when you switch the photo to full screen.
With a great-looking layout to view photos in your feed, handy editing tools and effects, the option to upload photos to a specific folder, and the ability to tag and show the location of your images, the Facebook Camera app is an excellent download. Still, while I highly recommend this free app, I have to wonder why the company didn't just add the features of the latest version of the Facebook app.