I have discovered a quick and easy way to get Facebook Notifications on your iPhone without having to wait for version 3.1 of the Facebook App to deliver the feature natively (which is still might not do either). While this system doesn’t automatically drop you into the Facebook App, it will send you push notifications to your iPhone.
You will need a couple of things for this to work:
- An Apple computer of some description running a version of Leopard (which can be left on…)
- Growl Notifications
- The Mac Facebook app
- Prowl on your iPhone
The first step is to get Growl on your Mac. Most Mac’s have this installed already as it is used as the default notification system for nearly all independent (from Apple that is) applications (for a list of apps that use Growl, go here). There is a bit of a problem with Snow Leopard and Growl, but hopefully that will be fixed up shortly, and having said that, I am using Snow Leopard and this all still works (although your milage may vary…).
The second step is to get the excellent Facebook app for your MacBook or Mac. This has been developed by Facebook engineers and allows you to use a single keystroke to update your status and it also provides notifications to your screen via Growl. There are tremendous benefits to using this app even if you are not going to use iPhone Push Notifications later on.
The next thing you need to do is download Prowl (link open iTunes) from the app store for USD 2.99. This iPhone app allows you to forward on any Growl notifications to your iPhone. This applies just as well to any notification that is generated, and is quite handy. Once this is installed we need to set things up…
Open up the Growl section in your System Preferences. Head to display options, then select Prowl. You will need to fill in your username and password to continue. Also, I have set up the notifications to only head to Prowl after my computer has been idle for more than 20 minutes (you don’t want Push Notifications while you are actually at your machine…).
One you close the window, all should be set.
Similar Posts:
- The Big Bang Theory: Mystic Warlords of Ka’a Available on Facebook
- I AM THE GAME!
- Rumours of a Plants vs Zombies Boardgame
- Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition Announced (DnD5e)
- iPhone Game Review: Undercroft
