Notify and the Other Nine Apps That Prove Facebook Rules Your Phone
It's not always possible to open your phone, which is why a quick glance at notifications on your lock screen is the simplest solution, and now Facebook (FB) - Get Report wants to dominate that screen with its new iOS app Notify.
Notify is delivers notifications to your lock screen from 70 different publishers, from The Weather Channel to Vogue. Users can select multiple stations to create their own mix of information pushed to their lock screen from there users can decide whether they want to keep reading or if that quick glance is enough.
"To my mind, this app says two very interesting things about Facebook and its intentions," wrote Jan Dawson, chief analyst for Jackdaw Research, in a post on Techpinions. "First, its ambitions to build what Bob O'Donnell has called a Meta OS; and second, its move beyond just content shared by friends."
A Meta OS is something, such as Facebook's collection of apps, that lives beyond a phone's built-in operating system to drive the phone and create the user's end goal. Dawson said this "Meta OS" is something Facebook has slowly been building to establish its dominance on users' phones, writing "I was particularly struck at how this app's sole purpose is to recreate the notifications function on my phone, but within a Facebook-controlled app."
He said the two operating systems users know, Apple's iOS and Google's Android, have been integrating third-party apps into their own channels, and in order to be competitive, Facebook has to challenge that.
Mobile is increasingly important to Facebook, which recently reported it had 1.39 billion mobile monthly active users as of the end of the third quarter. More than three quarters of its advertising revenue comes from mobile devices, a figure that is expected to grow in the future.
In just its first day, Notify is already climbing the charts and is currently ranked 159 in Apple's App Store. While Notify's success is still undecided, here are nine other Facebook apps you should know about:
Messenger
App Store rank: 2
In August 2014, Facebook made users download a separate app to use its popular messaging feature. At the time, users were skeptical, but the company insisted it would create a more focused experience. Well Facebook's bet paid off and Messenger is now its most popular app.
There are more than 700 million monthly active users on the Messenger app, according to the company's third quarter earnings report. The app is also used to send 9.5 billion photos each month, according to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
App Store rank: 4
While it wasn't originally created under the Facebook umbrella, Instagram was bought for $1 billion by the social media giant just 18 months after it launched. And since then Facebook has help propel Instagram into one of its most popular apps. The app has more than 400 million monthly active users and has more than 80 million photos posted on it each day, according to the Zuckerberg's statement on the company's third-quarter earnings call.
Instagram is just starting to generate revenue for Facebook, having recently opened up advertising on the platform. Earlier this week, marketing company Kenshoo teamed up with Instagram to be one of the initial partners of the Instagram Partner Program, which lets companies run advertising campaigns and a number of different tasks on Instagram.
App Store rank: 5
The big blue app is not only Facebook's first app, but it's also its trademark.
The app lets users post photos, statuses and scroll their news feeds. In the company's most recent earnings call, Zuckerberg said more than 1.55 billion people user the service every month, including 1.39 billion on mobile, with over 1 billion on Android.
WhatsApp Messenger
App Store rank: 21
In order to expand its dominance in messaging on both mobile and the web, Facebook bought WhatsApp Messenger for $19 billion in cash and stock in 2014.
At the time WhatsApp had approximately 450 million users, but now the service has 900 million monthly active users, according to Facebook's most recent earnings report.
Layout from Instagram
App Store rank: 23
Launched in March under the Instagram platform, Layout from Instagram allows users to remix up to nine photos into custom layouts. Users can pull photos from their camera roll or use the built-in Photo Booth to take spur-of-the-moment shots. Overall, the app is designed to enhance the Instagram experience.
Moments
App Store rank: 86
The app is described as "an easy way to get all the photos of yourself trapped on your friends' phones." Moments groups your photos based on who's in them and when they were taken, and then you can push out the photos to the people in them. But it's not just one person creating the moment, friends can also add their photos to a particular moment to recreate the full memory.
Facebook Groups
App store rank: Not available
One of the company's newer apps, Facebook Groups is steadily growing in popularity. Zuckerberg said in the company's earnings call more than 925 million use Groups each month.
Slingshot
App store rank: Not available
Facebook launched Slingshot in May 2014. The app allows user to filter, draw and caption fullscreen photos and record looping videos and "sling" them to their followers. Shots stay for 24 hours or until they are swiped away, making the app a combination of Snapchat, Vine and Instagram.
Paper
App store rank: Not available
Facebook launched Paper in January 2014, with one caveat-- it's only on iOS. The app offers the same experience of the Facebook app with more emphasis on photos and the ability to message directly to friends, without having to use Facebook Messenger.
Users can also create customizable sections with their favorite news topics or interests, such as Pop Life or Lifestyle.
This article is commentary by an independent contributor. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in the stocks mentioned.