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Facebook: Shake your phone to report bugs

Facebook: Shake your phone to report bugs
Patrick Devaney

Patrick Devaney

  • Updated:

Facebook is unveiling a unique way to report bugs on the mobile app. Is it an inquiry? Is it a help bot? Is it a voice command? Nope, Facebook wants you to shake your phone.

Facebook mobile

When should I shake, shake, shake… shake, shake, shake… shake my phone?

The idea here is that Facebook wants to make it as easy as possible for users to report when the app isn’t working properly.

For example, you can shake your phone to report whenever a video won’t load or your news feed gets stuck. Facebook also hopes you will use it to ask for help if you can’t figure out how to do something.

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How does it work?

The new action is simple enough. Whenever something doesn’t work or you want to ask for help, all you have to do is give your phone a little shake.

Remember, it’s a phone, not a Shake Weight.

There’s no need to risk throwing or dropping your phone. A gentle, little shake will suffice. When Facebook recognizes your shake, it will open up a pop-up menu where you can file your report.

This new way to report bugs on Facebook is brand-new for Android users, but it has been available on Facebook for iOS for a short while already. Until now, however, iPhone users have had to opt-in and activate the feature themselves. This will soon change.

How do I turn it on and off?

Your phone does not automatically have it enabled. To turn it on, follow these simple steps.

  1. Open your Facebook app
  2. Click the menu in the lower right-hand corner (it’s the three horizontal lines)
  3. Scroll down to “Help & Support”
  4. From there, click on “Report a Problem”
  5. A new window will pop up. Click on the gear in the upper right-hand corner of the window
  6. Turn the option to “Shake to Report” on or off
  7. You’re all set!

Wrapping up

With the general roll-out of the shake to report feature, Facebook will make it the default setting on all smartphones, Android and iOS. The feature is rolling out now to a small number of users globally, but Facebook expects the feature to arrive for everybody within two weeks.

Shaking Facebook on a mobile phone
Just shake your phone to report a bug or ask for help

Once it lands, you’ll be able to shake your phone whenever something isn’t right. Although shake to report is becoming the default action and will be activated on all phones within the next couple of weeks, you’ll still be able to report a bug the old-fashioned way. To do so, all you have to do is go to the Facebook Help & Support menu and report your bug there.

For the rest of us, we will be taking the advice of Metro Station. 

This new feature may sound intriguing to some, but we wouldn’t be surprised to hear about users accidentally flinging their phones at others. If you have a friend who doesn’t know their own strength, you might want to invest in safety goggles.

Patrick Devaney

Patrick Devaney

Patrick Devaney is a news reporter for Softonic, keeping readers up to date on everything affecting their favorite apps and programs. His beat includes social media apps and sites like Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Twitter, YouTube, and Snapchat. Patrick also covers antivirus and security issues, web browsers, the full Google suite of apps and programs, and operating systems like Windows, iOS, and Android.

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