Facebook's official application for Windows 10 Mobile is a disaster - based on the Osmeta kit to convert across the iOS codebase, the end result is a whopping few hundreds of Megabytes and, unsurprisingly, a slow and bloated experience for the end user. At the other end of the scale is the Facebook mobile web site, which is fast and friendly. But does require all the browser trimmings to be in place, plus you can't do anything about actual content. So what's needed is a small and efficient UWP application, taking the Facebook web content and repackaging it within application form, stripping out ads and also rendering it within a dark theme, to save power on AMOLED screens. And, with a few small bugs and caveats, this is exactly what SlimSocial for Facebook is.

Today's update adds the option to enable or disable the full screen mode. It's true that this isn't a huge update and it's outrageous that I'm writing a Flow story about it, but I was just looking for an excuse to re-feature this totally free UWP application. 

SlimSocial is a star on Windows 10 Mobile. From the Store description:

Why download SlimSocial for Facebook?

• It is lightweight, less than 1MB
• It has simple, modern design: there is only what you need
• It is Open Source: the online audience this app code is on GitHub, anyone can verify the authenticity of the app and contribute to its development
• It is free and without advertising
• It is not intrusive
• Respect your privacy: this app does not require special permissions. Facebook without consensus can not access any data of your mobile phone

The full changelog (ok, it's not huge, but....) is:

• Added option to enable or disable the full screen mode
  
• Added the ability to scroll vertically in the Settings
  
• Added the ability to save photos and videos (beta)
• Added a warning message before leaving the app
• Fixed a bug in the Facebook toolbar lock function

Here's the new version in action, today, in March 2017 - it's by far the easiest and fastest way to access Facebook on mobile:

The 'Full screen mode' option in Settings enables more content by dropping the top-of-screen Windows 10 Mobile status bar. And, obviously, I've also swiped away the Windows virtual controls here, plus I've also turned on the AMOLED-friendly dark theme!

As usual when playing with Facebook itself, I'm appalled by the seemingly random way the timeline gets presented, changing from minute to minute, it seems. None of this is SlimSocial's fault, of course, and at least you haven't had to install a bloated monster app in order to find the Facebook err.... content!

As before, this is largely a web-based serving of Facebook, there's no native support for notifications, contact or calendar syncing. However, depending on your views on Facebook, these may even be a boon - do you really need pings every time someone posts on Facebook? 

You can grab SlimSocial for Facebook here in the Store. It's free, though there's an option to donate to the developer within the app itself.