On April 12th, the Facebook Home launcher will be available at the Google Play Store for the HTC One and the HTC One X. It also will support the Samsung Galaxy S III, the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the Samsung GALAXY Note II. And of course, Facebook Home comes pre-installed on the HTC First. According to Facebook, the number of devices that will support Facebook Home will expand each month thanks to a series of monthly updates.
Notifications on the HTC First
Right now, the main difference between the version of Facebook Home available from the Google Play Store and the one pre-loaded on the HTC First deals with notifications. On the Google Play Store version, only SMS messages and those from Facebook Messenger or Facebook Notifications appear on your Cover Feed, stacked up. You can swipe to remove them or tap them to open. Your other notifications will still be available from the usual Android notifications drawer, but you will have to change the settings to access it. By default, the Android notifications drawer is hidden on Facebook Home. On the HTC First, all of your notifications will appear on Cover Feed and there are plans for an update that will allow the Google Play Store version to handle all notifications like the new handset does.
One other thing we want to point out is that once you install the Facebook Home launcher, you no longer have a separate lockscreen. That means that the latest post from your contacts list becomes your next Cover Feed picture and the photo and accompanying comments remain on the screen even if it is locked. If you use a PIN or pattern lock, by default they are removed. Going into settings can return them. Just keep in mind that if something that you are used to on Android isn't working, check settings to see if it was removed by default. Because Facebook Home uses a simplified 4 x 4 grid for icons, you will not be able to use widgets although a button titled "More" brings you back to your Android launcher temporarily.
Alan, an ardent smartphone enthusiast and a veteran writer at PhoneArena since 2009, has witnessed and chronicled the transformative years of mobile technology. Owning iconic phones from the original iPhone to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, he has seen smartphones evolve into a global phenomenon. Beyond smartphones, Alan has covered the emergence of tablets, smartwatches, and smart speakers.
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