How to enable Facebook’s free mode on your Safaricom powered smartphone

Often time to time I’ve been caught-up in a situation that would demand access to one of the world’s biggest social network – Facebook, to check on the latest feeds from friends and also just so I could get a grasp of what is happening across the world. Occasionally I would have access to the internet either using WiFi or mobile broadband, but there’s actually a simpler and cost-effective way you could access the limited edition of Facebook free of charge using a Safaricom line.

Facebook free mode on Safaricom network

Safaricom enabled the free mode feature on its network to allow its customers without data bundles have access to Facebook though in a limited state. The idea behind it is actually amazing and makes more sense to both Safaricom and Facebook. Safaricom subscribers are able to view feeds, invite friends, accept friend requests, respond to or comment on friend’s statuses without having to first purchase data bundles. It’s a feature that could come in handy especially when you run out of data bundles and are in a location or situation that doesn’t allow you to purchase credit though in desperate need to do any of the above available features.

What does the limited Facebook mode mean?

There’s of course a big difference of what you’ll be getting with the Safaricom’s free Facebook mode compared to when to have data bundles;

• No pictures in your feeds – as expected, images are the biggest data consumers on Facebook, the free mode doesn’t give users access to the posted images. If you enable the free mode, you’ll be presented with feeds that has only text with blank images. This of course can easily be changed once you disable the free mode and instead use data bundles.
• Cannot follow links – now this is a bummer, especially if there’s an important link you’d love to read the story in full. Imagine seeing a link posted by a media company of certain breaking news with just a brief on Facebook and the rest of story located on the company’s website? It sucks right? You can’t open the link to read further, but that’s what you get on free mode.
• There are no videos on the free mode – you won’t be able to play videos in your feed

How to enable Safaricom’s free Facebook mode on your smartphone

• First, you need to have a working Facebook account logged in on your handset, this feature works for devices that have used data to access the Facebook app before.
• This feature is only available on the facebook’s app, you’ll not be able to replicate the same via browser
• Even though you might not have data (bundles) on your phone, head over to your phone’s settings and enable mobile data – this feature is not available on WiFi.
• Open the Facebook app, press on the three lines on the right-end of the menu bar that opens up settings. If you don’t see the free mode option, click on “see more”, followed by “Safaricom Data Usage”, then enable “free mode”, you should now be in facebook free mode
• You’ll see a purple bar at the top indicating you’re in free mode – enjoy

The free Facebook mode feature is a joint innovation by the two technology giants to allow customers without data bundles have access to their feeds without spending more.