Facebook iPhone app gets big update, iPad version still MIA

Facebook's iPhone app has been updated to version 3.5, and it's a pretty big update. The most notable change is to the Update Status area, which now allows you to tag friends, change sharing options, and add media/locations from the same screen. It streamlines the process of status updates quite a bit. The in-app browser also allows you to share links on Facebook much more easily than before.

Still missing in action is the long-awaited iPad version. In fact, reports from around the web indicate that the iPad assets have been completely expunged from this version of Facebook's app, meaning that jailbreakers will no longer be able to enable them on their iPads. Hopefully the iPad version will see its official release soon.

The list of changes and improvements in Facebook for iPhone 3.5 is below. Note that while Facebook claims to have fixed bugs related to photos, in my case there's a new one: I have two entries for "Photos" in the grid view now.

Made it easier to share with who you want

• Added the ability to tag friends and places in posts
• Added the ability to share external links from a web view
• Added new design for Profile and Group Walls
• Improved the sharing tool to add privacy controls on posts and match your settings on the web site

Improvements and bug fixes:

• Improved Notifications speed
• Fixed a number of Chat bugs
• Made it easier to select filters in News Feed
• Fixed a bug with the Notifications bar disappearing
• Fixed a number of Photos bugs
• Improved performance and stability overall