Facebook is the largest social network in the world with billions of monthly active users. You might not be aware, but there are many alternative Facebook apps that can provide a better experience without draining your phone’s resources. Below you will find a crop of Facebook alternatives you should definitely try out.
What Are Alternative Apps for Facebook?
Facebook alternative apps are apps by third party developers that allow you to access your Facebook feed, just like the official Facebook app. Most of these alternative apps are just a wrapper for the browser version of the Facebook site, however the apps on our list often allow users to log in to multiple social media accounts, including Twitter or Instagram, to allow a more seamless social experience. And that’s just one of the many benefits they offer.
Should You Install an Alternative Facebook App?
The short answer is yes. Everyone can benefit from installing an alternative app for Facebook, but especially those who are using older devices that aren’t equipped with a lot of storage and RAM. The Facebook and Messengers apps are notorious for being resource hogs, but that’s not the case for these alternative apps for mobile devices.
Moreover, there are added benefits to switching to one of these apps: they won’t drain your battery as much as the official apps, are less intrusive when it comes to ads and can sometimes pack additional features too. You may find that some of these alternatives aren’t as smooth as the official versions. Yet, the benefits of making the switch are palpable, especially for users sporting older devices.
1. Friendly Social Browser
Available for Android and iOS.
Not only does Friendly provide a great Facebook experience, it also adds Facebook Messenger support so that you can chat with your friends and view their status updates in the same place!
The app also allows you to do things like customize your newsfeed by hiding statuses and posts which contain certain keywords or prioritize updates from a close friend. In addition, you can use it to log in with various social media accounts, including Instagram, Twitter, Reddit, TikTok and more.
2. Simple Social Browser
Available for Android.
Simple Social Browser is a wrapper for Facebook, which means it’s basically a web version of Facebook in a contained browser view. The app offers a nice balance between giving you full functionality and not eating up your phone’s resources.
It also combines the original Facebook app with the Messenger app and claims to use no more than 10MB of RAM in the background. The app comes with an excellent UI and includes tons of features, like the ability to watch live videos, cast to TV and download content.
3. Hermit
Hermit is a very interesting app which offers a “lite” version of bloated apps such as Facebook by wrapping the mobile versions of the websites in the Android webkit. It provides users with a night and reading mode and won’t clutter your home page by adding all the lite apps you’ve created.
You can browse the lite apps directly from the app. Hermit will also work its magic by blocking ads and pop-ups. The Facebook lite app brings most of the features you’d expect, but you won’t be able to check your messages. For that you will need a separate app or one that combines the two features, such as the next one on our list.
4. NoSeen
NoSeen is a dark-themed Facebook client with a focus on privacy. On top of offering a clean Facebook experience, NoSeen allows you to check your messages as well.
You can also set an app security lock, set custom fonts, and view stories anonymously. Another feature many people may find appealing is that NoSeen lets you read messages anonymously without notifying the other parties when you’ve seen/read messages.
5. Folio
Available for Android
Folio is a wrapper app for Facebook, which comes with several interesting add-ons. For example, it allows you to customize how frequently you want the app to check for updates and set quiet hours when you do not want to be disturbed, such as when you’re at work or seeing a movie at the theater.
You can hide friend suggestions and create a four-digit passcode for the app that will prevent unauthorized access. Other options include blocking sponsored content, photo and video download and a dark/night mode.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Can I uninstall the Facebook app after installing one of these alternatives?
Sure. Given that the goal with these alternative Facebook apps is to help you save more space on your device, it’s actually recommended that you do so. Simply log in with your credentials in your third-party app of choice, and you should be good to go without the official Facebook app hogging your resources.
2. What do I do if I can’t use certain features?
Some features you might be accustomed to using in the official Facebook app might not be available in these alternative apps for Facebook. If you can’t find what you’re looking for in an app, check to see if an update is available for it. It might include what you need. Alternatively, you can try installing a different app from the list.
3. Why can’t I view my messages in some of these apps?
Facebook doesn’t take too kindly to these sort of wrapper apps that have sprung up over the years. Earlier in 2021, the tech giant took steps which caused the removal of a popular alternative Facebook app, Swipe, from the Play Store. Luckily, Facebook doesn’t seem to be going after all these apps – at least not yet. This is why there are still options to try.
However, with some of these wrapper apps (such as Folio), the option to view your messages no longer works. Depending on your needs, you may decide against downloading Folio and instead install an app like NoSeen, which allows you to send messages to friends and browse Facebook.
Wrapping Up
All these third-party Facebook apps allow you to replace the resource-hungry official apps with lightweight ones for a better overall experience. If you’re an avid Facebook user, then perhaps you may be interested in also learning a few tricks, such as how to bulk delete messages from Facebook. It also may be useful to know how to download your Facebook chat history for safekeeping.
Alexandra is passionate about mobile tech and can be often found fiddling with a smartphone from some obscure company. She kick-started her career in tech journalism in 2013, after working a few years as a middle-school teacher. Constantly driven by curiosity, Alexandra likes to know how things work and to share that knowledge with everyone.
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