The tests are being enabled server-side.
What you need to know
- Facebook is testing a new UI for its Android app.
- The redesign moves the tabs bar to the bottom of the app, as a way of improving one-handed usage.
- Server-side updates are triggering the change, so you might not see it on your device.
In a world where phone screens are not only becoming larger but also longer, many companies have had to take another look at the design of their apps. Playing digital (I'm talking about your fingers here) gymnastics with your phone as you seek to pull out that menu or tap on that button is quite the annoyance, and Facebook, it seems, is finally starting to give a damn.
As reports, the company has been rolling out limited tests of a redesign to its Android app that moves the top navigation bar (this contains the Feed, Groups, Friends, and other tabs) to the bottom. It's a move that's already been implemented by many other apps, so it's nice to see Facebook finally catching on.
And while some members of the Android Central team were able to confirm the change on their own devices, it seems the update is being triggered server-side, as the company soon disabled the new UI, and their phones went back to the old design later in the day.
Clearly, this is still very much an experimental feature, though hopefully, Facebook is able to collect all the data it needs soon so that it can finally make the change official and give our hands a bit of a rest.