Daily iPad App: Facebook

I won't lament on how it took ages for Facebook to come to the iPad, but with the program's release earlier today, users finally get an interface tailored especially to the iPad.

If you're up to speed on the ongoing changes to Facebook's web interface, then the iPad app will look familiar. As with the website, you're presented with a split screen with Facebook chat on the right and statuses on the left. Top stories appear first with recent stories beneath. However, tapping the blue box in the upper-left corner doesn't allow you to toggle a particular top story off your feed like the Facebook website does. And, it's pretty buggy for an app that's been in development for awhile. Casually scrolling through my news feed caused the app to crash several times.

Along the top, you can update your status, add a photo or check in. Above that are the familiar icons for checking friend requests, messages and notifications. The notifications appear in the chat sidebar.

Swipe from left to right and you'll see the normal rail that's runs down the left side of Facebook's page, showing favorites, groups, pages, apps and more. However, you don't see the new list feature, which I really like. Modeled on Google+'s circles, the lists allow you to filter your news feed to only show certain people. I'm disappointed that this feature isn't on the iPad and hope a future update implements it.

Only the apps that are compatible with the iPad are shown here, so if you're hoping to answer your Cityville notifications from the iPad, it's not available. You don't even see those notifications on your news feed. If you try to access an app that requires Flash, you'll get an error message stating that the application has not configured its mobile URL or it could not be verified.

Although Mashable reported that games are available in full-screen mode, when I tried out Words With Friends, it kicked me to the App Store to download the app. Same as with Lexulous, another word game. If you already have these apps installed, then the Facebook app will switch you to that particular game's app.

Browsing a photo album takes advantage of the iPad's bigger screen and easy navigation. It incorporates some, but not all, of the Photos app's gestures. You can't use multitouch to enter an album, but you can pinch a photo to exit it. You can add photos to Facebook using the iPad's camera or media already loaded on it. It supports HD video and AirPlay for streaming out to a compatible device.

Facebook for iPad doesn't break any new ground, but it does provide a proper interface for the social network that should have been on the device from day one. The free download is available now.