Facebook's New iPhone App Feature Turns the Clock Back to 2007 - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Facebook's New iPhone App Feature Turns the Clock Back to 2007

In the mid-to-late 2000s, Facebook was all about staying connected with friends and family. However, as the social media platform added new features and grew over time, that core experience began to get drowned out.

Facebook Feature
That changes starting now, according to Meta, which today introduced a new feature that will "bring back the joy" of classic Facebook.

Specifically, Meta has redesigned the Friends tab on Facebook to focus on the "magic of friends." The page now shows content from only your Facebook friends, with no recommended content or other distractions. The tab will show your friends' posts, reels, birthdays, and more, and it will continue to show your friend requests too.

Facebook Friends Tab
Until now, the Friends tab only showed your friends requests and people you may know.

The updated Friends tab is rolling out starting today in the U.S. and Canada, so you might not see it right away. The redesigned page appears to be a server-side change, with no update required, but installing the latest version of the app doesn't hurt. To access the tab, tap on your profile picture in the bottom-right corner, and select Friends.

You can pin the Friends tab, so that it is easily accessible from the bottom navigation bar. To do so, tap on your profile picture in the bottom-right corner, and then select Settings & Privacy → Settings → Tab bar → Customize the bar.

Meta promises to introduce other classic Facebook features throughout the year.

Popular Stories

meta logo new%402x

EU: Facebook and Instagram's Infinite Scroll May Break Digital Rules

Friday July 10, 2026 5:37 am PDT by
Meta has been warned by the European Commission that its endlessly scrolling Facebook and Instagram feeds may violate the EU's new Digital Services Act rules. In preliminary findings published on Friday, the Commission said that its investigation into features such as infinite scroll, autoplay, push notifications, and highly personalized recommender systems, found that Meta "did not...
meta adventurer smart glasses

Meta Launches Its Own $299 Smart Glasses Ahead of Apple's Debut

Tuesday June 23, 2026 7:11 am PDT by
Meta today unveiled its first smart glasses sold under its own brand rather than Ray-Ban or Oakley, undercutting its existing lineup on price as it works to expand its lead in the category before Apple enters the market. The new Adventurer and Fury models are priced at $299, $80 less than the second-generation Ray-Ban Meta Wayfarer that launched last year. A third model, the Starfire, was...
meta ai

Meta's New AI Image Tool Can Use Your Public Instagram Photos by Default

Wednesday July 8, 2026 1:52 pm PDT by
Meta is rolling out a new feature that lets people use public Instagram posts and reels to generate AI content, and it's turned on by default. If you have an Instagram account that's not set to private, there is a setting allowing anyone to generate content on Meta AI using your images and videos. The option was added to support Meta's new image generation model, Muse Image. Muse Image is...

Top Rated Comments

iMac The Knife Avatar
17 months ago
If they really want to "bring back the joy", they should go back in time before Facebook ever existed.
Score: 65 Votes (Like | Disagree)
17 months ago

So Facebook was showing both friends’ content and unrelated content that had nothing to do with the user’s friends? And the friends section wasn’t even displaying the friends’ content? What is even the point of having Facebook then ??
The timeline was/is a cacophony of suggested posts from marketplace, groups, pages, videos, celebs, famous people, ads, and occasionally a post from someone you're friends with. It's literally an internet trash pile.
Score: 40 Votes (Like | Disagree)
17 months ago
Avoiding Facebook since 2007. Facebook and Meta products are a big nope. One of the worst companies on the web.
Score: 32 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Edgecrusherr Avatar
17 months ago
I dropped Facebook and X. I don’t want them earning a single cent off me, for them to just then turn around and do terrible things with their money. Now I have to work on phasing out Amazon, Google, and probably not buying new from Apple any time soon.
Score: 28 Votes (Like | Disagree)
russell_314 Avatar
17 months ago
How about just a chronological feed in your timeline? I like the format of Facebook but as long as it’s associated with Zuckerberg, it’s a no for me. I’ll stick with X.
Score: 27 Votes (Like | Disagree)
17 months ago
Guessing they're seeing a decline in users.
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)