We’ve been eagerly waiting for Facebook to launch their iPad app, which we’ve heard will be released shortly.
If you can’t wait any longer then you can play around with the Facebook for iPad app as Marvin – a smart Computer Engineering undergraduate has figured out a way to hack the iPhone version to get it to work on the iPad.
Update:
It looks like Facebook is preventing users from using the hacked Facebook for iPad app.
MG Seigler of TechCrunch who played around with the hacked version of the app had this to say:
The app also makes great use of the pop-overs (overlay menus) found in other iPad apps. When you flip the iPad horizontally, the list of your online friends appears and you can chat with them as you do other things on Facebook. The photo-viewer aspect looks great — similar to the iPad’s own native Photos app. Places exists with a nice big map to show you all your friends around you. Etc.
TechCrunch also got a confirmation from one of their source that this is indeed the app Facebook is planning to launch shortly.
Here are some screenshots of the Facebook for iPad app:
If you like the look of the native iPad app and can’t wait for the official release then you can follow the steps mentioned below to checkout the yet-to-be-launched native Facebook app on your iPad (courtesy Flo’s Weblog):
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download iPhone Explorer from this link
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connect your iPad to your computer
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install the iPhone version of the Facebook app on your iPad
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fire up the downloaded iPhone Explorer; your connected iPad should be listed there
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inside iPhone Explorer open the Facebook folder under “Apps”
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navigate to the subfolder called “Facebook.app” and open it
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copy the file “info.plist” to your desktop and open it (you may want to use TextWrangler or Xcode, both available for free on the Mac AppStore)
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change the value of “UIDeviceFamily” to “2”
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copy “info.plist” back to your iPad via iPhone Explorer (replace the old version)
You should now be able to access the hidden Facebook iPad app.
Update:
It looks like Facebook is preventing users from using the hacked Facebook for iPad app as a number of readers have reported that they’re not able to login and folks at Flo’s Weblog have also confirmed it:
Seems like facebook has closed the door. Those who get the iPad version to work cannot log in. Same for me. Too bad…
Update 2:
FaceForward – Hack Enables Hidden Facebook For iPad App
As always, let us know how it goes in the comments.
[Twitter (Marvin) via TechCrunch]
