Facebook Paper for iOS adds birthdays, photo comments and more

Facebook Paper
The update brings new publication-specific article covers

Those using Facebook Paper on their iPhones are getting a drastically different Facebook experience from everyone else. Today, that experience just got better.

Facebook Paper update 1.1 recently hit the App Store, bringing about what Facebook called in a Paper blog post are its most requested features.

The update adds birthday and events notifications to Paper, and users with the latest version can scroll past their notifications to see this info.

In addition, Facebook Paper users can now leave their own photos as comments on friends' posts.

More Paper improvements

Facebook Paper's support for Facebook groups has improved as well, with unread counts so users can see which of their groups have new posts.

The update also includes improvements to accessibility support, new indications for unread stories, and reliability and speed improvements overall.

Finally, Facebook commissioned designer Sharon Hwang to design new covers for articles from Bloomberg News, Mashable, FT, kottke, Fox News, Popular Science, The Hollywood Reporter, Vanity Fair and Hacker News.

Work ahead

Ten weeks after Facebook Paper's launch, the social network says users read an average of 80 stories every day across five or six different sections, the most popular being Facebook, Headlines, Tech, Ideas, LOL and Pop Life.

Facebook says more niche sections like Pride are popular as well.

"Ten weeks have passed since we launched Paper and we want to thank you for being part of our community," the Facebook Paper team wrote. "Our vision is to make Paper the best way to experience stories from friends and the world on Facebook.

"We know we have work ahead of us - and that's why we appreciate your feedback and support."

Michael Rougeau

Michael Rougeau is a former freelance news writer for TechRadar. Studying at Goldsmiths, University of London, and Northeastern University, Michael has bylines at Kotaku, 1UP, G4, Complex Magazine, Digital Trends, GamesRadar, GameSpot, IFC, Animal New York, @Gamer, Inside the Magic, Comic Book Resources, Zap2It, TabTimes, GameZone, Cheat Code Central, Gameshark, Gameranx, The Industry, Debonair Mag, Kombo, and others.


Micheal also spent time as the Games Editor for Playboy.com, and was the managing editor at GameSpot before becoming an Animal Care Manager for Wags and Walks.