After Spanish President Pedro Sánchez’s announcement A month ago Facebook was preparing its own app store, it was just a matter of time before it launched. And it did so a few hours ago. The App Center, which was born with NO apps both for the web and for mobile. Although they have initially launched it only in United StatesWe have tested it and it seems to work perfectly with mobile phones in Spain.
What is App Center and how does it work?
The first thing to say is that actually, App Center is not a store. It's more of a showcase where a appears selection of the best applications for both web and mobile. Facebook takes advantage its social power to display and organize them by category and relevance. According to the company itself, uses signals like user ratings and engagement to decide which apps are included and which ones get more visibility; the poorly rated ones or that do not meet quality guidelines are not listed.
Thus, we can see a classification by the punctuation that users have given to each one, for their novelty, for its Number of users and, what is more recent, by the number of Facebook friends who have it installedAs we said, the App Center is just a showcase to highlight them. When we find one, it comes with detailed sheets With descriptions and screenshots, a button appears on the right to send them to your mobile. Clicking on it opens Google Play or the App Store, which is where we actually downloaded it from.
If we have clicked on the button from the computer, a Facebook update will appear on the mobile with a message such as «You can now use Runkeeper on the mobile phone. What are you waiting for?". Click and install it. That expression phone It's not very Spanish and shows that App Center has been launched for the United States, including its Hispanic market. There's also an option to view the app history that you've installed that they've called Timeline Apps when it should be Timeline Apps. It's a rush. But they announce that The deployment will be global in a progressive manner.
Mobile availability and delivery to the phone
In parallel, App Center also is available on the Android and iOS mobile versions of Facebook. In fact, at the same time as the store, they launched a new version of their app. But we haven't been able to find the App Center on mobile. So we'll have to wait for the Spanish version. In any case, Facebook's move will simplify our work. app searchWe'll leave Facebook's motivations for launching this App Center for another day.
Recommendations, examples and discovery
App Center proposes a personalized discovery: Each user sees recommendations based on their interests, activity, and what their friends are using. It also offers lists of best rated, with higher sales, trends y your friends' apps. Among the notable examples that Facebook itself has cited are: Draw Something, Pinterest, Spotify, Battle Pirates, Viddy o Bubble Witch Saga, in addition to well-known hits like Angry Birds or integration with InstagramThe goal is that, without leaving Facebook, you can research an app before installing it and see how it fits with your network.
For developers: pages, quality, and insights
The company asks developers to create a detail page per application, with texts, screenshots and compatibility specifications, optimized for the web search. These tokens are the basis of the showcase and must meet a quality threshold to be included. In addition, Facebook offers Insights to measure installations, ratings and engagement, allowing you to see which users do not complete the installation or how metrics evolve. Apps integrate with Facebook Login as an authentication system and, if they require installation, App Center redirect to the corresponding store (App Store or Google Play).
Payments, monetization and inclusion policy
In addition to in-app purchases, Facebook opens the door to paid apps and with a single tariff, giving developers the option to charge for their software. The social network applies a commission on payments and prioritizes the presence of apps well designed that people enjoy. Those that accumulate bad reviews or fail to comply with the guidelines will not be listedWith this strategy, Facebook is not seeking to compete directly with Apple or Google, but facilitate the use of apps that use Facebook and make them more visible to an audience that already exceeds the hundreds of millions of people.
Access, deployment and where to find it
The service is available at website and within Facebook apps for iOS and Android. In the desktop version it is accessed from the Side panel o looking for the name of the application. If you browse from the computer, you can send apps to your mobile with one click and complete the installation in the corresponding store. Facebook indicates that the international launch It is being rolled out in phases, so visibility and language may vary by region.
App Center is positioned as a centralized point to discover apps and games with social integration, offering useful recommendations for users and best distribution tools and monetization for developers. A curated showcase that reduces noise, highlights quality, and connects the web-mobile ecosystem with the power of the social network.
Official note From Facebook
Access web to the App Center.