Los Angeles — In an effort to accommodate developers into its realm, social networking outfit Facebook has just updated its iOS SDK to version 3.1, which includes support for iOS 6 integration and more native UI controls that developers can plug into their apps, a move to reinforce the world’s largest social network as the backbone of socially-enhanced mobile apps.
More importantly, the purpose behind the upgrade is to further promote Facebook as the foundation for an app’s social structure. Hence, most of the updates are focused on user interface controls, including where a user’s profile picture and other Facebook objects are displayed as well as native login/logout functionality. This will enable developers to utilize these new features more easily when building Facebook connected apps.
In fact, this upgrade, according to Facebook is its most significant ever, means developers can create apps that functions more as a built-in part of the operating system rather than as an afterthought. Facebook said this will drive installs and encourage users to spend more time on apps.
“This integration unfolds new opportunities for mobile app developers as you can easily build the foundation for a social app, Facebook log-in and sharing functionality, into your product,” Platform Product Manager Eddie O’Neil wrote in a blog post.
As a matter of fact, this Facebook integration in iOS 6 is compatible with the Facebook SDK for iOS. If you are an iOS developer who is just getting started with Facebook, or if you are building with Facebook but have not started using our SDK, here is what you need to know.
However, these new ready-to-use interface components include a native log-in, friend picker, places picker, and profile pictures. Developers can just drop these elements into their apps for a faster build. There is also support for the new iPhone 5 screen size and resolutions.
Additionally, an Android developer kit upgrade of similar proportions is on its way. Although no release date has been set, the Android upgrade is “definitely something we are working on and it is coming out soon,” a Facebook spokesperson said.
Among other things, this version is also bundled with the new FBSession API, which manages, stores, and refreshes user tokens. Developers can choose to override default behaviors in order to build advanced features.
Amazingly, these freshly released components allow developers to begin from a template rather than building each from scratch. For instance, the friend-picker tool gives users a familiar UI to invite their friends to use an app. It will even allow developers to filter friends by device and app auth status, so that users do not send invites to friends who do not use iOS devices or who have already added the app.
Eventually, this update is devised on much of what was announced in July with the 3.0 beta version, but now that iOS 6 is available for all users, development will ramp up.
At the monetizing front, Facebook continues to work on mobile ads, the social media giant has included ad analytics in beta form tracking the potential effectiveness of ads as well as information about how people use the app. More information is available from the Facebook Developer site here.
Developers can download SDK 3.1 right here.