Facebook Chat comes to Messaging via patch 97
The recent update to the Facebook app brought many desired featured a was a huge step forward from before. One thing notably missing was the lack of Facebook Chat.
Sure, it may not be on the usual list of Facebook app features that most platforms seem to follow, but for the webOS, something like Facebook Chat just seems to fit the mold, especially with synergy in the Messaging app.
Up until now, the only way to get Facebook Chat was via the messaging plugin, which may be a bit too much so someone only wanting Facebook Chat.
Well now, Facebook chat can be added with a single small patch! Robvanvliet in the forums discovered the neat little method of getting this to work and I released it in patch form.
Basically, apply the patch the go into the Messaging app. In there, add a new account with the username in the format
This patch works by altering the hosts file on your device to make your device think "chat.facebook.com" is "talk.google.com". Thanks to Facebook's chat service now using jabber (the same that GTalk uses) just adding a GTalk account in the Messaging app gets full Facebook Chat working! Oh, and don't worry, regular GTalk accounts will still work fine; there doesn't seem to be any negative side effects of the patch.
Between the Facebook app and this Facebook Chat patch, webOS certainly has developed into possibly the most full-featured Facebook mobile OS out there! While I'm not a Facebook fanatic myself, it certainly wouldn't surprise me if this attracts some new webOS users. Good new all 'round.
97 Comments
w00t! You'd think Palm would have done this already.
Long live homebrew!
Is there ANYTHING Jason can't do? Robvanvliet just had to prove the concept worked, and Jason's like, "yeah, I can write a patch for that in my sleep." And so it shall be done.
Is this in Preware yet?
I don't see it in preware yet. It has been submitted, should be in there at some point. In the meantime just download patch from the link in the article and install it with webos quick install. Working like a charm for me.
1st of all, thanks robvanvilet and Jason Robitaile!
I tried to download patch from forms, and it says file extension not supported? Should I use WebOS QI?
EDIT: also tried email attachment link from forums, and it says it doesn't know how to open this file?
Yes use WEBOSQI, and it will work fine. I got this running on my pre.
There is a chat option on lite.facebook.com/. It's definitely not the easiest to work with, but it works.....
I tried to brag about this to my Blackberry-using brother-in-law.
He has fb chat standard on his Tour.
I had this on my Windows Mobile phone last year too but that doesn't make it any less brag worthy or diminish the good news. Every little thing we get on WebOS strengthens its ability to compete. If you're a baseball fan and your team signs a star pitcher and you brag to your friend whose team already has an ace pitcher, do you feel any less excited about it or your team's ability to compete?
never IM'd on my pre. But cool, good tweak.
Hey thats great do you think we will be getting MSN working on the pre anytime soon? Surely theres a patch for that?
Oh nice, going to try this out.
Nice! Is there one for MSN Messenger yet?
I would doubt that Microsoft uses anything that is standard, so probably not. This works on the fact that Google and Facebook chat are compatible.
There is a freeware app for it on Windows Mobile though. I don't know the address off the top of my head but if you want it, message me direct and I'll get it for you. http://natemylott.mp has my contact info.
have it on the pre from jabber. Works very well. Just wish the names would show up instead of a5239($g55 or whatever it is
have it on the pre from jabber. Works very well. Just wish the names would show up instead of a5239($g55 or whatever it is
Too bad I don't want to add my 600+ Friends I don't even talk to in the contact app.
With such a simple change, it's a wonder why Palm doesn't officially include this in 1.4
Hey Jason,
What the possibility of you and/or your fellow webos tech gurus figuring out how to make our facebook contacts automatically group themselves into one webos contact entry. You know, so we won't have to fill up our contacts with people we never intend to call.
Problems with Patch.
1. Adds everyone to your contact app. (not good) (OneDeep)
2. Does not stay signed in when messaging App is closed, I do not like to keep it open in the card view.
3. No notifications
It's a start but now I really need to be able to ORGANIZE my contacts into groups so I can make a other and just throw all of the people from Facebook to the bottom of my contacts.
While #2 and #3 are valid concerns, I do not see the point of your first point. I rarely, if ever, open the contact app and never see the list of contacts. I ported over facebook contacts via Synergy when I first got the phone but since I never open the Contacs app (I use Universal Search or put contact in the launcher for easier access), I don't see those 'unwanted contacts' cluttering up the list.
Perhaps I use the phone differently than most, but I don't think it's a big deal if you know how to quickly get to the information you need within webOS.
Many reason people would want groups
1. Even if you don't go into contacts very often, Sometimes I have no clue who I'm looking for until I see there name and think, maybe i should invite them to the party or whatever reason. I would have no need to go through all my Facebook, Work, businesses, All i need is my favorites/Friends list which would be at the top and would be able to find who I'm looking for a lot faster.
2. Group emails and group texts, (this would be good if you could (tag) a contact so they would show up into 2 different categories.
Groups you could easily add
Friends (Number 1's, + add Tags to keep them in other cats
Family (this could be a subcategories of Friends,
Work (with subs of just company emails)
businesses (local Pizza Stores and stuff that you use)
Facebook (the people you really never talk to)
Twitter
Email groups (could have more then one of these) Subcategory
This would look similar to the Email client with the arrow's down to open up.
Excellent points. Also, the Facebook chat doesn't add them to your contacts, adding Facebook to your contacts adds all of them. So if you synced up with Facebook, they're all already there anyway.
It's true though, we do need contact groups. I've had that on just about every other phone I've ever had since the beginning of cell phones, and it's definitely convenient. But you're right, it's not a big deal. I seldom use the Contacts app either.
Number 3 isn't even true. I am not sure about number 2 but I definitely get notifications with mine.
Alright, That was quick review of the patch,
After a reset and installing it again, Number 2 and 3 are all good now and works great,
I now have more things to add
1. Different sound for each chat, google,facebook,text,Aim
2. Groups with in Contacts to Organize all these contacts that were added.
So far I give this patch a 8 out of 10, If these 2 things are added then this will make it 10/10
Synergy definitely needs to be rethought WRT chat contacts and such. Perhaps groups would be one such solution.
I'd also like the chat application to show me which accounts are actually online or not (and allow control of each, ala beejive). Mine is always stuck on "Signing in" with the spinner (although some contacts pop up), and I never know which account is the culprit.
have it on the pre from jabber. Works very well. Just wish the names would show up instead of a5239($g55 or whatever it is
Contact grouping would be sweet. Something like "tags" would be nice so a contact could belong to multiple groups.
Mr. Spacely - Tags: Work, SpacelySpaceSprockets, StatusReports, ReleaseNotes, Human, Grumpy
Uniblab - Tags: Work, Robot, Evil
Mr. Cogswell - Tags: Work, CogswellCogs, Competition, Human, Evil
JaneJetson - Tags: Family, Excuses, RunningLate, Human, Good
Rosie - Tags: Family, Robot, Good
OK, I've thought about this too much...
I'm still holding out hope that Palm will come out with something official soon. After all, they seem to be paying a decent amount of attention to their Facebook app, and it is something many people use on the main site (I think so at least).
dang.
people are really into Facebook.
I like to go into my Fb and look at what's new with people but some people are really into it more than I thought.
so if you want to message someone, how come you wouldn't text them?
if these are people that you want to be able to "chat" with, then why does it matter if they are in your contacts?
also, if you use the contacts app correctly on webOS, it shouldn't matter how many people get imported, type in the person you're looking for and their info comes up.
For the same reason I don't text my mom. I just has a chat with her on google chat, she is using her computer right now, that has issues receiving text messages (not being a cell phone and all).
Still a majority of Facebook users are on their computer, not mobile phone.
There's a Facebook Chat app in the catalog that works perfect and does not download all of your hundreds of friends into your contacts either. I found it well worth my money.
facebook chat no longer works. the dev has said fb did something different with the back end interface or something like that. it hasnt work for quite a while and was buggy at that. i much prefer this because it brings synergy in. you fb chat and then text and its all in same convo. this is what our phone is supossed to do.
I'll be downloading this plug-in when its available through PreWare. I checked a few minutes ago and didnt see it. I don't spend that much time in facebook so I haven't used their chat feature much but I use gTalk quite often.
There isn't as much lag in response with IM as with texting so in some instances, it is a better tool. I imagine I'll use the Facebook more since I do know many more people who use Facebook than use Gmail & GTalk, which I alread use frequently.
Also, detroitwilly, keep in mind that our Verizon friends have a limit to the number of texts they can send this is a great help to save them some messages.
As for you people with 300+ FB friends, I suggest unfriending some people. Rethink the way you are using facebook. It is a great tool but I wouldn't have a friend of FB that I wouldn't want in my phone. Why do I care what someone is doing if I don't like them well enough to keep their contact info in my phone?
+1
But, other people use it for many other reasons than just a contact list.
looks like this patch does break functionality - I can't seem to sign on to the gtalk account I got with my "Google Apps for your domain" anymore. Facebook works great, though.
Typos in the 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th paragraphs. The one in the 1st paragraph is the worst, imo.
I'm a graphic designer. I can't help it. Typos jump out at me.
About the patch, I'll check it out when it hits Preware, but it sounds like you can't tell who's online from the chat app.
You actually can tell who's online and when they're in a "busy" state or, as in Facebook Chat, when they've been idle.
That's funny... because constantly correcting someone else's' spelling "jumps out at me."
I installed the patch (at first trying to add the account kept getting an error that my username or PW were wrong) but after 10 min or so it worked just fine...
Then I logged into my wifes FB account to try it out and the first attempt it just showed up on my Pre as u54392858@chat.facebook.com but after a few min it then showed up as her name...
Every time i tried to respond from my pre it said that she was not online (send anyway?) so I did and as far as I can tell it hasn't showed up on her FB yet...
So I am not restarting my Pre in hopes that it will help the few "bugs" get worked out and it will work great!
This also puts my FB ppl into my messaging app in the categories that they are in FB or groups or whatever you call them!
Its stuff like this that make me love Palm Pre sooo much...
btw this is the best thing that happen to mobile phone since text messaging..
thank you
PRE Rock!
Its stuff like this that make me love Palm Pre sooo much...
btw this is the best thing that happen to mobile phone since text messaging..
thank you
PRE Rock!
Its stuff like this that make me love Palm Pre sooo much...
btw this is the best thing that happen to mobile phone since text messaging..
thank you
PRE Rock!
Its stuff like this that make me love Palm Pre sooo much...
btw this is the best thing that happen to mobile phone since text messaging..
thank you
PRE Rock!
Its stuff like this that make me love Palm Pre sooo much...
btw this is the best thing that happen to mobile phone since text messaging..
thank you
PRE Rock!
It's the repeated postings that make me love the Pre so much...
:-)
It worked ok for the first 5 minutes. Then everything seemed to slow and phantom taps happened all over the device. I restarted Luna, twice. Now no contacts at all appear in the Messaging app and in the contacts app all the circles (green/grey) have disappeared from all contacts. Whether they have a facebook account or were just Google Talk/AIM contacts. I'm gonna uninstall the patch and hope my Messaging contacts come back.
Why cant this have its own button? Like Yahoo, Aim, and Googletalk..
it works
Works Great, am very please. It took ages to log in for some reason. But after around the 20th try it logged in and I now have facebook chat.
for sum reason I can receive messages from chat but can't send them. What's the problem?
for sum reason I can receive messages from chat but can't send them. What's the problem? But if I do send them it drags so much ass and doesn't show up ass being sent in the messaging app. Does anyone else have this problem
had no problem at all. make sure you have your username set up for fb. then log on and log off. open msg and set up acct. should work from there. also, if you have sms tone per contact, set a ringtone and it works for the individual. only thing is you may have to link some contacts that already exist in your phone :p
I was having the same problem: kept rejecting the username and pword. Then I did as you said, logged out and in on the Facebook site and now it works. It was a new FB username that I just set up for this. I always meant to but never had till now. http://facebook.com/natemylott btw.
Jason Robitaille, once again you have proven that you are my hero. :)
Why doesn't PALM just hire you to actually put half this crap in webos, Palm should have a thing in the preferences to add any of the patches. Then Legally they would be allowed to put all this in a commercial
I love the concept, but I feel like it needs some ironing out...
First, it left it for well over an hour to download all the contacts/sign in, and it managed to show me 21 of the 89 people online. Granted, I have about 800 "friends", but still.
Second, even if I signed out, it would send my messages (I was chatting on my computer at the same time) to my phone, but I couldn't respond, which just annoyed.
If anyone finds solutions to either of these, lemmie know.
myn keeps saying signing in, but doesnt do anything =(.. i can see my offline contacts though.. any ideas?
OK this is pretty cool. I had no idea FB chat was jabber. Now I have it running in iChat on my Mac too. Thanks !!
hey-- any idea how to do it on iChat? Same process?
Let's get this correct. The major thanks should go to robvanvliet, the originator of the idea. Jason, (and I'm sure that he would agree) just packaged his idea up for the masses.
It works great for me. The only question I have is there anyway to sign out without removing the account?
tap on where it says available on the top of the app. you can put yourself as available, busy or sign off. you dont have to sign out. very simple to change
HEADS UP: If you have a lot of friends, it takes a lonnng time to sign in the first time.
It appears to make a local cache of your "buddy list." I have about 250 FB friends and it took a solid 2 - 3 minutes. If you have more, expect it to take even longer, but be patient that first time.
Fortunately it seems to sign in much quicker after that.
It would be great if you could make a patch for a different ringtone for each account so i know if the message is coming from facebook, google, or just text message,
enjoying my FB chat 24/7 now, People think i'm on my computer at all times. HAHA, anyway to make it say that i'm on a MOBILE phone or even the PALM PRE? that would be great as well
works perfect! Best thing ever!
This is pretty cool. BUT I decided I didn't want it on my phone because there's no way for me to distinguish between Gtalk and Facebook Chat since they're all under Buddies.
Now...how do I get rid of it? I've tried removing the account but it's been going on for 20 minutes and it's still there. Help!
agreed.
I still will keep it, because I like people on facebook being able to text me.
but is there a way to work the patch so it the Google chat icon has an option to change its name for each account? for instance Gchat1 and Gchat2? Or in this case Gchat and Fbook chat. or somethin
mine won't log in. I set my username and add a google talk and put my username@chat.facebook.com and it says username or pw is incorrect. Wat am I doing wrong?
mine won't log in. I set my username and add a google talk and put my username@chat.facebook.com and it says username or pw is incorrect. Wat am I doing wrong?
changed my username and it worked lol
mine logged in and functions just fine but I can't seem to switch between online busy and offline. :(
Am I the only person that is having problems with the photo app with this installed? I can take pictures but cannot view them.
Also what about the Doc View app?
this works great!!! I get notifications at the bottom of my screen with sound
Is there any way to make a patch that would Change the googlechat icon to a facebook chat icon.? I don't use google and never will, This would be great,
Thanks
I have around 1300 contacts. its said that it had been signing in for 20 minutes now.. do i just keep waiting? Also i tried to send one of the contacts a message that was online according to facebook while it was still signing in for me and it said they were off line, so i am assuming i have to wait?
awesome patch. works great so far. been chattin it up with a few friends this morn without a prob. we will see how it goes over the next couple of days......
i was needing so help with getting the patch installed agean on my pre. when ever i try to installing org.webosinternals.messagingpatch_2.3.0_armv7 i get the message from the attached picture if anyone knows what i might be able to do to fix the problem id be every thankful
[IMG]http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k168/sk8nerd81/Screen%20Shots/Palmerreor.png[/IMG]
Ive downloaded the file onto my phone & it says its not supported ... so i got it emailed to me & it can find anything to open the attachment with ...
Ive seen people say they are opening it with WOSQI ... I dont know what WOSQI is or how to open things with it :/ could somebody help or give me some pointers?
it keeps telling me I have the wrong username and password. I made the facebook acount but it still doesn't work.
I have the same problem. Says wrong username and password. Does this patch still work for anyone?
Made sure my FB alias was set. Still no love :( Running this on a Palm Pixi though.. is that what is killing me? Everything seemed to go in pretty smoothly and no errors that I see.
Got it! Just had to follow the 20 some page thread on this in the dev forum. Have to edit the patch to change IP from ending in a 4 to a 5. Works like a champ on my palm pixi now!
I've used this patch trouble-free for months and it worked great. But early this week, for some reason, my messaging app would no longer sign in to FB (Google Talk still works). I removed the account from the messaging app, and tried to add it again. Unfortunately, I keep getting the following error message when adding the new account: "Could not connect to the server. Try Again."
I've uninstalled and reinstalled the Facebook Chat Spoof patch several times, rebooting the Pre each time, and still no luck. I changed my password for FB and that hasn't helped either. Like I said, it was working just fine, until one day it just would not log in. In fact, for a few days, it would be able to log in only sporadically, but then not at all.
I have not installed any other patches or added anything to the phone software-wise prior to this issue. The Pre is in the same state it had been for months. Yes I have a FB username (had to create one to get the patch to work in the first place). Yes I logged on to FB and changed my password, and yes I am trying the new password on the phone. Again, I'm getting a "Count not connect to server" message, not a "Invalid username or password" message.
Thoughts? I'd love to get this fixed, as this was one of the most useful patches out there. I really only use FB as a chat-client anyway, and the ability to use it like Google Chat on my Pre is definitely preferable to signing-in to the website all the time.
Any help is appreciated.
Found this...probably is my answer (for now)...
http://forums.precentral.net/webos-patches/253301-facebook-chat-spoof-no...
Wasn't able to find it until sometime after I posed the question. Yes, I did try to find something before my original post...just hadn't found it :)
I have the same problem as scottm87. I get a Could not connect to server, try again error message.
i dont give a crap about facebook i just want yahoo messenger!!!
same as scottm87 & mtkohl.....says could not connect to server. try again. please help!
do u think u can do the exact same thing with the windows live msn??
I've installed the patch, but its still saying "could not connect to server!!!!!!
any suggestions???
HELP PLEASE
guys please do something i need the chat give me some help
Same Problem i am getting the "canot connect to server" is this app still valid?? i would really like this app my husband is deployed to afgan and this is how we talk most of the time please get back to me...thanks
Same Problem i am getting the "canot connect to server" is this app still valid?? i would really like this app my husband is deployed to afgan and this is how we talk most of the time please get back to me...thanks
Just installed this yesterday, and I don't know if this feature was the leak, but somehow my fb password was stolen Today, and someone from Texas just tried to log into my account. Luckily FB Froze my account to verify if it was legitimate for me to be in California and Texas simultaneously. Anyway, enjoyed having this feature for 1 day, but I can live without it rather than being vulnerable to someone hacking my facebook =_-
Please can you port this patch to webos 2.1??? I've installed webOS 2.1 yesterday on my palm pre and I miss ist very much!
thanks
i cant get it to work can some one tell me what to do after you install the patch?