The Facebook Live craze may be a thing of the past, but Meta is still working to make the platform suitable for film. The company announced a new video player for unified display of Reels, longer content and live videos on the Facebook app.
One of the biggest changes is that all videos on Facebook will now run full screen, even landscape videos. Movies will automatically play vertically, but you can now flip your phone over to watch most content horizontally across the entire device.
Like many videos on TikTok, Facebook will now offer a slider at the bottom of the screen to let you quickly browse videos. The update also brings some of the same features found in streaming apps like Netflix, such as the option to jump forward or backward 10 seconds. Meta claims you’ll now get “more relevant video recommendations” of all lengths that appear in the video tag and feed. The company will also increase the number of Reels displayed on Facebook.
The video player is now available for Android and iOS users in the United States and Canada, with the new controls rolling out in the coming weeks. The entire update should roll out globally in the coming months.
