Facebook is one of the most used apps, but can you get further than the news overview? A little more hidden, Facebook is rich in possibilities, we will highlight the most important ones for you.
You can easily use Facebook by simply swiping through the flow of messages. Maybe you respond to something and label a post as ‘I like’. But you have many more options than you may know. To highlight the more hidden Facebook options, we have listed the coolest below.
1. Make a GIF of your profile picture
You don’t often see them on Facebook, but it is possible to set your profile picture as an animated gif. Go to your profile, tap your photo and choose Create New Profile Video. This allows you to upload a short video of yourself that will then be played repeatedly. That looks like your photo has come to life.
2. Turn off video autoplay
There are good reasons for not having videos in the news overview play automatically, for example if it costs you a lot of data. Via the settings you can determine that autoplay should be turned off. Within the app, go to ‘More’ (bottom right) and choose ‘Settings> Account Settings> Videos and Photos’. Here you can adjust the settings for videos and pictures, for example that automatic playback only happens when you are connected to WiFi.
3. Track your activities on Facebook
Maybe you hand out likes so carelessly that you don’t even remember what you’ve been up to on the social network lately. Fortunately, there is a way to see that again. Via your profile, click on ‘Activity log’. There you will find exactly what you have been doing on Facebook recently. From songs you have listened to via a linked Spotify account, to messages you like and comments you have posted.
4. Determine what you want to see in News overview
Are there pages or people you really don’t want to miss? Then you go to ‘More’ and choose ‘Settings’. Go to ‘Preferences news overview’ and tap ‘Specify who you want to see messages from first’. There you tick your favorites, which from now on always appear at the top of your news overview.
5. Manage your notifications
What do you want and don’t want to receive notifications about? You can adjust this by going to ‘Settings’ via ‘More’. There you choose ‘Account settings> Notifications’. Here you can, for example, disable receiving notifications for birthdays. You determine here what may require your attention.
6. Unfollow friends
Do you have friends who post a lot on Facebook or just don’t want to see posts from certain people? Then you can unfriend them, but maybe it’s about family or someone else who can’t actually block you. There’s a function for that: mute. You are still friends, but you will no longer see messages from them. You turn that on by going to the person’s profile page and then tapping the More button below the profile picture. Here you choose ‘Don’t follow anymore’.
Create a shared photo album
Went away for a weekend with friends and want to bundle all the photos in one album? That is very easy. You simply create an album and then choose ‘Edit’ in the top right of the screen. In the next window you can choose to allow ‘Contributors’. They can then place photos in the album to make a collection together.
8. Save message for later
If you come across a message or video that you don’t have time for at the moment, you can choose to watch it again later. To do this, tap the down arrow at the top right of the post and choose ‘Save’. In the ‘More’ window, in the ‘Friends’ and ‘Events’ box, you will also find the heading with the name ‘Saved’. There you will find the articles that you have saved for later.
9. Turn off game invitations
There are still people who send others invitations to games via Facebook. If you no longer want to receive it, go to ‘More> Settings> Account settings> Notifications’. At the very bottom of the list you will find ‘Notifications from apps’. Here you tick off (or on) all games.
10. Enable two-step verification
For security reasons, every user should enable two-step verification on Facebook (and other services). This ensures that it is almost impossible for potential hackers to break into your account. You can set this via ‘More> Settings> Account settings> Security’. Here you choose ‘Login approvals’ and then tap ‘Start setup’. A code will then be sent to your phone number with a confirmation code. This allows you to log in securely from now on. It is an extra step, but you are a lot better protected with it. Codes for logging in can be found via the ‘Security settings’ under ‘Codes for login approvals’. There are 10 codes there that you must use if, for example, you want to register on another device. You can then add that device to secure devices, so you don’t have to do this every time. When your codes are running low, you simply request new ones.
11. Who controls your Facebook after you die?
Have you ever thought about what to do with your Facebook after your death? Many people do not think about it and their profile simply remains online, while no one can reach it to delete annoying messages or embarrassing photos, for example. But Facebook gives you the option to set up a counselor in the unlikely event that something should happen.
Via ‘More> Settings> Account settings> Security’ you can choose ‘Contact person for accounts with memorial status’. From there you can designate a contact person who is given the authority to make changes to your profile, or even delete him. The contact will be notified via a message.
Read more about Facebook
- Facebook scandals: an overview of the biggest controversies (7-4)
- Remove or deactivate Facebook: this is how you do it (7-4)
- This way you check whether you are part of the major Facebook data breach (6-4)
- Facebook is working on a wristband for operating smart glasses (19-3)
- These iPhone apps are the most harmful to your privacy (17-3)