Okay, this is crazy. My friend and I both have Apple iPhones. We both have Facebook accounts, and we both have the Facebook app for the iPhone. On his, however, if he shakes his phone it gets the latest data from his Live Feed, but on mine, nothing happens when I do that. Is my iPhone 3GS busted, or what??
You’ve hit on a curious design gaffe for the Apple iPhone, actually, one that constantly surprises me when I bump into it since so much of the iPhone user experience is seamless and delightful: for many apps the settings and preferences are actually disconnected from the app itself.
The problem is that while many apps have their preferences accessible from within the app, that means that the settings data file is part of the app or something like that, something that some iPhone application writers (including the development team that built the super-slick Ask Dave Taylor iPhone app [iTunes link], which you’ve already checked out, right? I hope so!) don’t seem to like, for some reason.
So while some apps like Bump, AroundMe, Starbucks, Fandango, Pandora and GPS Drive have preferences accessible within the app (typically, look for a little geared wheel icon), many other apps – including Facebook – don’t.
Instead, you need to rather unintuitively poke around in the iPhone Settings to find the Facebook setting you’re talking about, the one that lets you get Live Feed updates by shaking your phone.
So start out with the main screen, or wherever you’ve dropped your “Settings” icon:
Click, uh, tap on it, and you’l see your usual Settings options:
Nothing there yet of interest, but slide your finger to scroll down a bit and you’ll be surprised at just what shows up:
There we go! There’s where the iPhone Facebook app preferences are located, oddly enough. Tap on it and you’ll see there are two options available:
The first one is what you seek, I’m sure! Nothing’s wrong with your phone, you just have to enable “Shake to Reload”. Do that, move to any other screen or app, and next time you’re in the Facebook app, shake your phone!
Hope that’s helpful! Now, while we’re here, a few words of assistance: I have lots and lots of iPhone help, Facebook help and even an Ask Dave Taylor Facebook fan page. Why not spend a few minutes and learn more about what I can do to help you get the most out of your online time? Thanks!
I am sooooooooo fed up with the dysfunction of many aspects of Facebook on my (robot) android……
And this smart phone is d u m b!!!! I hate the m.o. for the privacy settings which enables hackers & stalkers buy only confuses me week after week f/b screwsup my boundries in my personal & private life….data gets lost or mixed up and the whole goal is for mr Mark z. Is too make money…..he couldn’t care less if he puts is in danger or creates unnecessary obstructions andfailures to respect my three disabilities ! Facebook is slowly…stealing my info …letting fake pals and con artists research my wall of information to stalk & harness my energy online to exploit those very words.I have copyrighted my nickname? As f/b cannot be trusted!!! I still cannot figure how to control who.sees y page…comments and wall& profiles!!! Shouldn’t i just to????
OK
OK
Photos I upload aren’t underscribed by ‘uploaded thru facebook for iPhone’ . Earlier it used to.. Also is der any option to edit my profile thru phone?
On my privacy settings (Facebook online) I changed it so my birthday would not show. It is working on the website, however, it is now showing my full birthday on my Iphone. I don’t want any of my birthday to show on my Iphone, can you help? Thanks
Thanks, this totally helped me stop the annoying updates! Very clearly explained, I really appreciate it.
hai dave,
this is haritha. there is a problem vth my iphone 3G facebook app. Actually it used to work very well previously… but i dont know what happened to it recently i’m not able to open facebook in iphone… its jus gettn disconnected when ever im trying to login…. i guess some has changed my settings… can u pls help me what are r the neccessary settings for facebook to fuction properly…