Official Facebook App Available For Windows 8.1 Users

This morning, after Windows 8 users upgraded to the new-look Windows 8.1 update, an official Facebook app was waiting in the revamped Windows Store.

The Windows 8.1 Facebook app is extremely functional, having a three-pane design with your settings, groups, and viewing options on the left, your main news feed front-and-center, and a list of your Friends and their chat availability on the right. The exact look varies slightly depending on the menu you’re on, but the options pane remains consistent on the left side.

Writing something new or uploading a picture coaxes a Charm-style pane to slide in from the right side of the screen, where you’re free to spill your heart’s innermost secrets.

While the look of the app definitely screams “Facebook,” it also oozes Microsoft’s unique modern UI style, with sharp edges and tiles galore. Pinning the app to the side of the screen ditches the side panes to focus on your news feed, with the “three horizontal lines” options button familiar to users of other Facebook mobile apps appearing in the topmost tray. Again, however, the exact look can vary depending on the Snap ratio you use.

Facebook for Windows 8.1 lacks one crucial Microsoft feature however, the Share Charm integration. If you see an interesting tidbit in the modern version of Internet Explorer 11, or any other modern app, you can’t open the Charms bar and seamlessly share it to Facebook. That’s a major disappointment, seeing as how sharing links is such a major part of the Facebook experience.

All in all, however, the Facebook app for Windows 8.1 is a great first showing for the must-have social network, and it fills one of the most gaping holes in the Windows Store’s app selection. Microsoft still has a long way to go before the Windows Store can go toe-to-toe with Android or iOS, but it’s definitely headed in the right direction.

Than you PC World for providing us with this information.

Images courtesy of PC World.