Facebook plus the iPhone. The two have become hubs of much of our daily activity, especially when it comes to our social lives. When we combine Facebook and the iPhone, we get a powerful and convenient way in which to access a good portion of our content, events and correspondence.
While Facebook has its own iPhone app, there is a growing number of developers creating iPhone apps to work with Facebook. This is in large part a result of Facebook making its platform more accessible to iPhone developers via Facebook Connect.
The good thing about these mobile applications is that they sometimes do a better job than the Facebook app alone. Some Facebook-supported iPhone apps even sync data across your Facebook account and iPhone content, such as the contacts in your phone book.
Contact sync iPhone apps
Myphone+ For Facebook is a useful app that syncs your Facebook and iPhone contacts. User photos and basic info such as email addresses and birthdays are automatically updated in your iPhone contact list. The $2.99 app includes its own dialer with a full keypad, essentially turning your iPhone into a Facebook “device” that makes calls.
Sync Facebook and your iPhone contacts with the feX For Facebook app. The $1.99 price is worth it if most of your contacts overlap, with a separate view for birthday lists and the ability to import Facebook contacts you do not already have in your phone. Support for other address books, such as Google, makes this a worthwhile app.
iPhone apps for events and gifting
Luckycal uses Facebook as a starting point for helping you keep up with friends’ birthdays and events. Simply integrated, the free iPhone app is GPS-enabled, so you can see which Facebook events are nearby. Search by day or week for birthdays and events, which are all viewable on an interactive map.
Now that you know your friends’ birthdays, send them a gift. The Facebook & Twitter iGift4u iPhone app will cost you 99 cents, but it offers access to hundreds of free gifts and media options that you can send to friends. Post items on their Facebook wall for birthdays, holidays and other occasions.
iPhone apps for media sharing
Facebook’s iPhone app requires some creativity when it comes to video upload, so Videoup For Facebook’s iPhone app may be more useful to you. For 99 cents, you can upload videos to Facebook, complete with captions. Limited to iPhone 3GS users, the app is rather niche, but good for those looking for a fast and simple video-upload tool.
Need to access your Facebook photos on your phone to show friends? The 99-cent Facebook Photo Slideshow does it all. Pulling albums from Facebook, the app creates slideshows on your iPhone. The familiar app works similarly to your iTunes library, and offers custom options such as transition effects.
iPhone apps for Facebook status and chat
If you find yourself repeating status updates, Facebook Quick Status may be a good iPhone app to try out. For 99 cents, the app lets you list favorite and recent status updates for easy access next time you would rather skip typing a new Facebook status. While you cannot set up auto-posting with this app, it does make updating an easier task.
Want to add sound to your status updates? The FaceMic iPhone app incorporates multimedia into the simple Facebook feature. Record a quick message, create some introductory text and it will be posted to your wall. For 99 cents, you can save a short list of your recordings for future use, or to access anytime directly from the app.
The iPhone app eBuddy is a staple in IM chat tools, so its recent integration of Facebook chat keeps eBuddy in a leadership position. From your iPhone, you can chat with your friends across multiple chat clients, removing the need to download multiple chat apps on your mobile device. The app is free and works very well on the iPhone interface.
At $9.99, the Beejive IM iPhone app is pricy but has several features, including buddy list management and file-sharing. Access friends across multiple chat clients, stay alerted with Beejive IM push notifications and save chat logs with email options. For social users in need of a comprehensive chat app, Beejive IM covers the major bases.
