Facebook rolling out iOS Photo Sync

Facebook is rolling out a Photo Sync feature for iOS users to upload photos directly from the phone’s album to a private album on Facebook. This feature that was previously available only to Android phones called ‘Instant Upload’ is now being made available slowly to iOS users.

The social networking giant seems to have found a way to incorporate the sync feature on iPhones and iPads a couple of months after the feature was made available to Android users. Having more photos shared on the site is what Facebook thrives on, and this feature works on making it an easier process for users.

Sync photos to Facebook

The highlight of this feature is the fact that photographs are kept private once they are uploaded, and it’s up to the user to then decide which photos he would like to share on his public stream. Users can also choose when and how the photos are uploaded, by choosing between Wi-Fi and cellular, Wi-Fi only or can also turn off sync all together.

Facebook has mentioned on its support site that when photos are being uploaded over a cellular network, the images will be uploaded in a smaller size, of about 100KB. Over a Wi-Fi connection, though, a larger version of the images will be uploaded. The feature will not put up photos to the site if the handset’s battery is low. 

The Photo Sync feature is available to users whose handsets are running iOS 6. Also, the feature is available for a limited number of users as of now. To check if your phone is one of the lucky ones to have the sync feature, launch the Facebook app and click on the ‘Photos’ feature on the left hand navigation pane. If you’re part of the beta group, you will see the option to enable Photo Sync once you scroll down to the bottom.

This feature can also be accessed then on the browser once you’re on the Photos tab. The ‘Synced from Phone’ option will be visible on the right hand side, top corner. This feature could come in more than handy if you’re out on a vacation or at a party, clicking multiple photos. The images will quietly sync themselves with your Facebook account and you can, at your leisure review and decide on the best ones to share with your friends.

To sweeten the deal, Facebook is offering complimentary space of 2GB to all the users with this feature, to sync pictures with the site. Apple’s own Photo Stream and Dropbox are other options to seamlessly sync images straight from the handset. Dropbox, though, will not face any kind of competition from the Photo Sync feature as it looks at backing up images rather than sharing them. 

The photo sync app could turn out to be a threat to Google+ Instant Uploads when rolled out completely. Of course, the feature is still being tested with Facebook inviting feedbacks and bug reviews to make it better; it could be pretty possible that the feature is completely scrapped.