Is the metaverse out and Facebook back in? That’s one way to look at Tuesday’s announcement from the company formerly known as Facebook: Meta is revamping its flagship app with a number of features focused on connecting friends, along with design changes, including a renewed focus on what still works, like its popular Facebook Marketplace.
The changes come days after news of Meta considering sizable cuts to its metaverse efforts, which, before the AI boom, aimed to make virtual worlds and VR the company’s next big bet in social networking. Meanwhile, Facebook still reaches billions, even if its growth remains flat in key markets like the U.S.
As Facebook’s population ages, the app remains in heavy use among boomers and Gen Xers. That’s led Meta to try to find a footing among a younger demographic. After failed attempts to reboot Facebook as a home for college kids, the company has been making more noise recently around giving Facebook a Gen Z makeover.
But what’s been resonating with younger people is Facebook Marketplace.
The company’s online marketplace is used by more than half of its Gen Z users in the U.S., according to a 2025 eMarketer report on social media users. Last month, Meta confirmed the trend, noting that Marketplace was used by one out of four young adult daily active Facebook users in the U.S. and Canada.
Despite the traction, however, Marketplace has remained buried in the “More” menu under users’ profiles in the Facebook app.
This new update, rolling out soon, will add Marketplace to the app’s bottom navigation bar, alongside other social and creator-focused features like Reels and Friends.
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Reels and direct messaging have been the most popular features on Instagram, the company said earlier this year, which is why it began testing a redesign that centered those in the mobile experience. Now Facebook is getting similar treatment in terms of recentering friends as part of the experience.
The Profile tab will remain in the navigation bar, and users will be able to customize the experience.
Another part of the makeover will allow users to double-tap photos in their Feed to like them, similar to Instagram. These photos will be arranged in a standardized grid, and users will be able to see photos full-screen by clicking them.
Search is changing to include a more immersive grid layout to support all content types. Facebook will also test a new full-screen viewer that would let you explore photo and video results without losing your place.
In addition, Facebook says it’s making it easier to create Stories and regular posts by making tools for adding music or tagging friends more visible, and eliminating other distractions. Audience and cross-posting settings will now be more prominently displayed as well.
Commenting across Feed, Groups, and Reels is getting its own set of tweaks. Replies are getting more streamlined, badges will be more visible, and users get new pinning tools. Meta says this will make conversations easier to follow, and expanded controls will let creators and admins more easily monitor conversations. Plus, everyone will be able to anonymously flag irrelevant comments and users who disrupt the conversation.
In the Feed, users will be able to give feedback as to why they don’t like a post or Reel to better personalize their experience.
A final change sees Facebook trying to regain its reputation as a place for connecting friends. That’s something it was once known best for, before prioritizing other types of content like news and creator videos, and trying to copy or acquire every other semi–successful social app.
The company is rolling out updated user profiles, letting people add more information about their interests, hobbies, and travel. Here, users can include more information about themselves, like what TV shows they like, what music they’re streaming, favorite travel spots, and more.
These are the kinds of things people used to share more freely before they realized that Facebook was only using their data to better target ads. The company is now throwing users a bone in terms of new functionality, at least — if you share that you enjoy something like baking your own bread, or are planning a trip to a certain city, for instance, it will connect you with friends who share the interest or who can give tips.
Of course, Facebook has long had the habit of trying to juice engagement by pushing every profile update to your Feed, like if you changed your profile picture or background photo — a feature many Facebook users found annoying and even embarrassing.
With this revamp, however, users will be able to decide if those updates are shared to their Feed, a decision that could increase adoption, Facebook hopes.
The changes could impact how content is ranked in users’ Feeds, which is already a personalized experience.
The company says the new features will roll out globally over the weeks ahead. Some of the changes are mobile-only, including the new navigation, search, and comments updates, double-tap to like, as well as the Feed and Stories composer redesign.
