Facebook has announced details of a new family of apps for Android phones.
Focused around the home page of Android devices, the Home software is described as a “wrapper” for the operating system.
Notifications, messages and photos will appear on the phone’s main screen rather than on Facebook’s downloadable app.
Mark Zuckerberg explained that the Home app will provide “a new category of experiences” based around the homescreen.
It will be available to download from April 12, and will first launch on HTC First through AT&T America.
Initially, it will be made available for the Samsung Galaxy S3 and HT One X, with the HTC One and S4 models to follow later.
Zuckerberg dismissed recent rumours that Facebook was going to release its own smartphone, saying: “We’re not building a phone and we’re not building an operating system, but we’re building much more than an app.”
Home will allow users to view automatic updates on the homescreen and lockscreen. Likes can be achieved by double-taps, while a new service called Chat Heads combines SMS and Facebook messaging.
The messaging service is described as “a way you can talk to your friends no matter what application you’re in” and “the most fun and delightful messaging experience yet”.
“We spend our lives sharing and connecting,” said Zuckerberg. “What would it feel like if our phones were designed around people, not apps?”
Facebook Home will be available via the Play Store, but will not yet launch on tablets.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lep_DSmSRwE?feature=player_detailpage%5D
