That was quick. Mere hours after Facebook Home arrived on Google Play, the launcher has been modified to remove the device-specific limitation. This means you can use the latest Facebook service on any Android device.
The brilliant hackers at XDA Developers have done it again. This particular hack was performed by XDA Senior Member theos0o; who provides details and download links here.
If you plan to do this, please be warned that you are taking the risk and could potentially break something, which would be entirely your fault. If you’re okay with that, the instructions are as follows:
- Uninstall original Facebook, Facebook Messenger and Facebook Home if you already have them. If Facebook is pre-installed on your device, you may need root access to remove it.
- Download the modified Facebook Home and optionally Facebook Messenger. Extract the .rar file.
- Install the official Facebook app (com.facebook.katana), then the Facebook Home launcher (com.facebook.home), and then the Facebook Messenger app (com.facebook.orca).
- Enable Facebook Home under the Facebook app settings. Reboot your device.
- If you face any issues, reboot into recovery and wipe the Dalvik cache.
Right now, Facebook Home officially only works on the following devices: HTC One X, One X+, Samsung Galaxy S III, Galaxy Note II, and the HTC First (the first device to come pre-loaded with Home). Facebook says that the HTC One and the Samsung Galaxy S4 will have the service in the future, but has not announced other devices yet.
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This hack required a bit of modding of the APK files, but that’s it. Both rooted and unrooted phones can take advantage of the port.
XDA users have been reporting the modified version works just fine (there have been almost 300 replies in the thread so far). That being said, you of course shouldn’t expect performance to be optimized for your particular device if it’s not one of those listed above.
If you prefer having official support, it’s unclear how long you’ll have to wait as Facebook has not offered a timeframe for adding more devices. Then again, you might not be missing out on much right now as Home isn’t getting quite the welcome Facebook probably hoped for.
See also – Hours in, Facebook Home suffering from poor Google Play reviews as 48% of users award it 1 star and Facebook Home arrives on Google Play, but only for US users on select devices
Top Image Credit: Piotr Bizior
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