Facebook Home is now available on Google Play, but only for specific Android devices. The HTC One X, HTC One X+, Samsung Galaxy S III, and Samsung Galaxy Note II are supported. AT&T has also begun preorders for the HTC First, the first (get it?) smartphone to come with Facebook Home preinstalled.

When you install Facebook Home, your device will be turned into a hub for interacting with Facebook anywhere in the OS. Status updates and photos appear on the lockscreen, and “Chat Heads” pop up on the side of the screen whenever a friend sends you a new message.

Facebook Home is essentially a suite of low-level apps. To get the full experience, you’ll also need to get Facebook Messenger from Google Play.

Here are the marquee features of Facebook Home:

Cover Feed

As soon as you turn on your phone, you see posts from your News Feed, so you always know what your friends are up to. Swipe through to see more, double tap to like a post, and comment right from cover feed.

Chat Heads and Messenger

Install Messenger to send and receive texts and Facebook messages from the same spot. Jump in and out of conversations while you do other things, like watch videos and browse the web. Reply right from chat heads, or move them around if you’re not ready to respond.

Notifications

Notifications from Facebook appear right on your home screen and stick around until you need them. Open a notification with a tap or clear them away to see your cover feed

App Launcher

Launch your favorite apps and post to Facebook from the same spot. You choose what’s on your app launcher—press and hold an app then drag it where you want it.

If you find that Facebook Home isn’t for you after playing around with it, you can uninstall the “Facebook Home” app easily enough in settings. Facebook will be updating Home with new features and improvements via Google Play.

• SourceGoogle Play