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So I just got my wife the Asus Transformer and for some reason there is no Facebook app available in the Market... She can use the web site, but chat is not available there as far as I can see. Any good solutions for this problem? :)

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i'd check to make sure you have the latest version of the market; usually apps display according to version compatibility, so if you have an older market version, it may not think your device can run the app. Updating the market would help in this case. – jlehenbauer Aug 25 '11 at 17:52

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The Facebook app (at least as of July) simply doesn't support the Transformer. It's pretty bad on a tablet anyway, and I don't even use it on my Xoom. However, some solutions you could try include:

  • Try to download Facebook from a different app store (Amazon, SlideMe, etc). You may also be able to use Market Enabler, though I'm not sure if it will bypass device restrictions. There is a question that discusses this already.
  • You could try the about:debug trick to switch your useragent to "Desktop". That is discussed here. This works on my Xoom and allows me to view the chat bar.
  • You can install Opera Mobile and then go into the Settings and select the "Desktop" user agent (Press the "O" button, then Settings->Advanced->User Agent). This also works on my Xoom. Other browsers also allow you to switch the User Agent string, so these may also work (Dolphin, for example).
  • You can use a third-party IM client like Trillian, which supports Facebook accounts. Facebook chat is, I believe, XMPP under the covers, so other chat clients will probably also work.

If you want a tablet-oriented Facebook app, I recommend Friend Me, though it does not currently support Facebook chat. Friendcaster also has a beta version for tablets that you can try out.

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Excellent answer! I did get a hold of an older version of the Facebook app; works, but looks unholy... ;) The browser can identify itself as Desktop/Tablet/Mobile already. By using desktop my wife gets the Chat window in Facebook... Just too bad that all other sites also get the desktop version and not their tablet version then... – noocyte Aug 26 '11 at 6:01

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