1.25.2013

UX Flop: Fbook for Droid

I've always been a HUGE fan of Google but recently discovered a flaw in the Fbook app that might be the final straw...that or it's not having access to Twitter's new app Vine. Anyone else running Android 4.1.1 and notice they can't download pictures from facebook directly to their gallery? or SD card? or at all? It seems as though the book is intentionally keeping people from backing-up and possibly removing their pictures from the social network. It could also simply be an overlooked feature or a Droid SDK limitation but both are unlikely. Here's what it looks like on my phone:



iOS versions of the app allow you to download the image by pressing and holding the screen which activates a task menu. Articles/blog posts advise visiting facebook.com on your android browser but that requires re-navigating to the image. Without this simple functionality I've resorted to a  two step "hack" in order to download pictures to my gallery:
  1. Share each picture to Dropbox
  2. Export from Dropbox to gallery
I first discovered this when trying to update my foursquare profile with my facebook image but couldn't make the direct connection. I started with uploading the photo to Drive but foursquare can't access it and you can't download from Drive to the gallery...really Google? That left uploading from Drive to Dropbox (can be skipped by uploading directly to Dropbox) where you can download to the gallery. 

There ultimately is a simpler solution as Ifttt can automate both of theses processes but would download all of my pictures (not necessary) and would always update my foursquare image (certainly don't want that at this time). I know I know...#1stworldproblems but it's still a pain with a simple fix.

Note: Fbook is up to date running version 2.1

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