Despite support for just a small handful of Android smartphones, Facebook Home has already surpassed half a million downloads in just nine days. The new launcher first became available to download through Google Play on April 12, and it appears those with supported devices are keen to try it out.

That figure may not sound all that impressive when you consider that Facebook has over a billion users. It’s also nowhere near the 5 million downloads in six days that Instagram enjoying when Facebook brought that to Android. But remember that Facebook Home supports just five devices at this point, one of which — the HTC First — comes with the software pre-installed.

So that’s 500,000 downloads on just four devices.

The milestone was confirmed by Facebook Home’s ‘installs’ graph on Google Play, but the ratings section just above it suggests that not everyone who downloaded the launcher has been enjoying it. In fact, Facebook Home has an average rating of just 2.2 stars after more than 11,000 reviews, and over half of those give it just one star.

Many users have complained that it takes too long to access common features — such as the camera app, and that the novelty quickly wears off. Many have also said that Facebook Home is great for Facebook “addicts,” but not for more casual users.

Facebook Home is currently available on the HTC First, HTC One X, HTC One X+, Samsung Galaxy S III, and the Galaxy Note II. However, you can install a patched version on unsupported handsets if you’d like to try it out on another device — just follow our simple guide.

If you’ve already tried Facebook Home, what do you think of it?

• SourceGoogle Play
• ViaTechCrunch