Facebook testing bottom menu design for Android and iOS apps

Facebook is reportedly testing a brand new navigation design for its Android and iOS application. The new navigation bar at the bottom of the screen seems to

Nishtha Kanal|Jul 11, 2013, 12:54:31 IST

Facebook is reportedly testing a brand new navigation design for its Android and iOS application. The new navigation bar at the bottom of the screen seems to be appearing to users who are a part of the social network’s beta testing program on Android and a handful of users on iOS.

The new bottom navigation bar seems like it will take the load off the left-hand sliding pane considerably now. The buttons on the bottom of the screen will help you navigate easily to your News Feed, Messages, Notifications and Bookmarks on the Android version of the application. On the iOS version of the app, Bookmarks will be replaced by the Friends tab. These tabs are displayed everywhere within the application as well as when you pull out the left or right-hand side menus.

Bottom menu bars might come to Facebook for Android (Image credit: Android Police)

If you thought you could get rid of the awful Legacy menu button while using Facebook on Android, think again. The Legacy button, denoted by three vertical dots is still alive and kicking, despite the test. The button brings up options like settings, log out and report a problem on Android phones. Even while these options could have been placed nicely within the pull out menu on the left, it still persists in the update.

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The menu-bar, first noticed by Android Police, seems to be a server side update, which is why most people are not seeing it yet. Here at tech2, we have one device that is signed up for beta testing for Facebook. Despite an update, the menu bar hasn’t shown up on either the Android or an iOS device.

It isn’t clear whether Facebook is testing this feature for a future release or just toying around. Facebook is known to experiment with applications by fitting them with features that are promptly pulled off. In May this year, Facebook threw up a surprise notification bar for Android devices. The bar, which disappeared soon after it was spotted, showed ongoing notifications in the pull-down drawer of the phone.

By Nishtha Kanal

Intrigued by all things social, Nishtha will invariably tweet about you. When not tweeting or writing about the next viral video, you will hear her proclaiming her love to Metallica, James Hetfield, Opeth, Akerfeldt and all bands that go 'growl'. She also obsesses about ACP Pradyuman and South Park and you will always find her moving around with a book. Her focus is on all the happening stuff in the tech domain, and she won't hesitate to take a shot at some of the oddball devices that make their way to our labs.