Skip to main content

New Facebook iPad app emphasizes games and trending videos

facebook ipad app games trending videos
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Facebook is pretty sure that if you’re using its iPad app, you’re probably playing a mobile game or two. The social network just revamped its iPad app to include a handy sidebar with all your favorite games and suggestions of other games or trending videos to check out later. Facebook hopes to capitalize on its users’ growing interest in mobile games and trending content to encourage more third-party apps to consider integration into the social network.

In a blog post announcing the iPad update, Facebook said that 70 percent of iPad app users played Facebook-connected games within the past 90 days. As such, the company wants to make it easier for users to see notifications from their favorite games and discover new ones based on recommendations from Facebook. The social network will suggest games to users based on their gaming history, the games their friends play, and what’s already popular among the Facebook population at large. All this information and more will automatically pop into a sidebar located on the right of the iPad app when you’re holding the tablet in landscape mode.

Not only does Facebook hope to get more people using games on its iPad app, it also clearly wants mobile game developers to get involved in the social network. If the new ploy works, Facebook could get a whole lot of money from mobile game advertisements, too.

The update also added two more sections to the sidebar, including trending news and topics, as well as trending videos. Each topic comes with a short description of why it’s so popular and as you click on each topic, you’ll see links to a major news story on the topic, your friends’ reactions, and other articles. The trending videos section links you up with wherever the video is from – usually YouTube – and that’s it.

So far, the update is available for select users of the Facebook iPad app in the United States. The social network plans to send its experimental update to more users in the U.S. and other countries soon.

Editors' Recommendations

Malarie Gokey
Former Digital Trends Contributor
As DT's Mobile Editor, Malarie runs the Mobile and Wearables sections, which cover smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, and…
How to sync your iPhone with your iPad for seamless use
iPhone 11 Pro and iPad 2020

Long gone are the days when you had to pull out a USB to Lightning cable to load up your favorite music, photos, or even your calendar from your Mac or PC onto your iPhone or iPad. Now, you can keep everything in the cloud, and it will seamlessly sync between all your devices whenever you have a Wi-Fi or cellular data connection.

Read more
How to control notification badges on your iPhone and iPad
Someone holding the iPhone 15 Pro Max outside.

Your iPhone makes it easy to know when you've received a notification, letting you enable pop-up messages, audible chimes, and notification badges so you can keep tabs on all your apps. And while most of these features are great, many users will quickly find notification badges to be intrusive and stress-inducing.

Read more
Apple may announce new iPads next month. Here’s everything we expect
The yellow iPad (2022) lying face-down on a green bush.

When it comes to Apple, we expect a new product refresh annually at this point, including for the iPad. However, that didn't happen in 2023. In fact, 2023 was the first year that Apple didn't release a new iPad model at all, which means we haven’t had new iPad releases since 2022.

It’s unclear why we didn’t see any new iPads last year. However, that should also be an indicator that we can expect some big changes for the next generation of iPad models, which are rumored to come out this year. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has even said that we could see new iPads as early as March.

Read more