Facebook Home version 1.1 adds lots of new features

Facebook Home, the custom Android skin/launcher/lockscreen hybrid just received an update to version 1.1. It adds a few new features, though, are there really any users who are around to notice these updates? Surely someone is still using it, so we’ll go through what’s new.

Facebook Home, the social network’s lock screen replacement for Android, was just redesigned to make it look a bit more familiar. What was once a chromeless “Cover Feed” of Facebook statuses and photos now looks like a conventional lock screen, bearing a clock, the date, and the weather. In order to unlock your phone, you no longer need to tap on your circular Facebook avatar and swipe to the side — now, you just need to swipe up at any time. The company is ostensibly adding the features users have asked for, like the ability to change your lock screen wallpaper, but in the process it has stripped Home of the distinctiveness it once had.