Facebook reveals extended iOS support
Games, credits and viral social channels now available as native apps offered olive branch
Facebook has implemented a feature in the native iOS Facebook app which allows users to purchase, use and bookmark third-party apps from the platform and purchase Facebook Credits.
Perhaps more importantly, the move now allows app developers to use the viral channels of browser-based Facebook to spread their games, posting requests and using the news feed.
The changes are part of the long running 'Project Spartan', which partly incorporates a move towards HTML 5. Today's changes, however, are aimed squarely at improving the experience of iOS users.
The changes are detailed in a post on the Facebook developer blog, which focuses heavily on the advantages offered to developers.
Key amongst those are the ability to link and launch native apps via Facebook bookmarks and to post requests and other items to the news feed. Players will be redirected to the App Store to purchase and non-installed native apps when they attempt to launch them.
The extension of Facebook's Credits system to mobile means that HTML5 developers will either have to use it exclusively or not at all, but native apps will still use Apple's own payment system.