Facebook Testing Feature That Allows Users To Detect Free Wi-Fi

Facebook has already started testing a feature that will help its users spot places where they can enjoy access to a free Wi-Fi connection. As a matter of fact, this new feature is actually being rolled out in a few countries around the world, especially among iOS powered devices that have the social media giant’s app installed.

Want to check if you already have this feature? Simply browse through your menu options and look for Enable Find Wi-Fi. From there, it is just a matter of activating the functionality, and it will be able to recognize which places in the vicinity have free, public Wi-Fi. Moreover, not only will it detect where the Wi-Fi signal is from, but also display the name of the business establishment providing the free connection, plus information on how long it will take for the user to get to that place and which exact Wi-Fi network to connect to. According to Facebook, it might be a wise idea to give the Facebook app permission to access one’s location history. This way, the app can start cataloguing a list of places that you can visit and revisit if you are looking for a free Wi-Fi connection. 

So why exactly is Facebook doing this? The biggest social media platform in the planet has not officially given its reasons for doing so, but it might have something to do with optimizing user engagement. After all, where there is free Wi-Fi, users are likely to be Facebooking. Social media activities aside, a Wi-Fi discovery feature can be very useful, especially in developing countries where mobile users can not always afford to avail of a data plan. Furthermore, the functionality could also be useful for those traveling to other countries, and did not want to worry about paying exorbitant data roaming fees. 

Interestingly, this is not the first time Facebook has experimented with a Wi-Fi discovery tool. Some may remember that a couple of years back, the social media giant signed a partnership deal with Cisco in initiating a pilot program wherein free web access is made available when checking into a business establishment using Facebook. The purpose of this program of course was to encourage businesses to set up Facebook pages. The latest Wi-Fi discovery feature could be a natural next step to that pilot program. As for Facebook users, they have gained something that will help them stay connected wherever they may roam.