Monday, May 13, 2013
Download Facebook Home on Your Android Device Ahead of Official Release
A pre-release version of Facebook Home has leaked ahead of the planned 12th April Play Store release date (also the release date for the HTC First Facebook phone).
The build itself (pulled from a pre-release HTC First ROM) seems to be rather buggy and incomplete (I cant get Chat Heads working for example), but its interesting to have a play with to see what Facebook has in store for us later this week.
In order to use the leak, you need an Android device with a maximum resolution of 1280x768 and the ability to completely uninstall your existing Facebook app. This is important, as the leaked APKs are re-signed and cant just be installed over the top of an existing installation. This will automatically exclude some devices which have Facebook installed in the base ROM. If youre on a Nexus device youre good! Even if you do have Facebook in ROM, provided you are rooted there are workarounds - ill detail these in the comments. If you have any problems installing post below and ill help if I can.
The leak itself is 3 APKs - the main Facebook app (katana), the now-integrated-with-your-SMS Messenger app (orca) and the Home / Launcher shell app (home). Simply install all 3 and youre set - bear in mind you do so at your own risk!
In the settings you can find some interesting options such as whether to hide the notification bar by default or not (if it is hidden, sweeping down from the top of the screen reveals it). Let us know your thoughts!
[Edit: Its just been pointed out to me that the original leak was signed with test keys, which could present a security risk. With that in mind ive re-signed the APKs with my own private key for peace of mind and updated the download links.]
