Settings in VK updated version on the phone. Important VKontakte updates for Android

The social network VKontakte announced the release of completely updated mobile and iOS devices. Literally everything has changed in them - both new functions for users and a redesigned user interface have appeared. Updated earlier this month.

New for leading mobile platforms, they have lost the side navigation menu, which opens by clicking on the hamburger menu. From now on, the so-called tabbar is used - a single panel at the bottom of the screen, which combines the key functionality of the social network. Thus, users can now switch between news, messages, notifications and search with literally one touch.

In addition, the largest VKontakte update for Android and iOS also introduces completely new recommendations and search sections. They include posts, videos, live broadcasts, stories, communities and personal pages that may be of interest to the user. These will mainly be aspiring musicians, photographers and writers. The recommendations work is based on the new “Prometheus” algorithm - with the help of it the social network plans to promote high-quality content.

The notifications section with a new design now includes all notifications and friend requests - just like in the web version of VKontakte. Also, likes have become red, and the view counter is shown on each post without the need to open a separate post.

The update will be available for installation on Google Play and the App Store within the next 24 hours. Or you can download it on Trashbox.

They received a new design, where there is no longer a side menu, a new section with a recommendations feed, and in the future the company is going to launch a platform for creating longreads within the social network. I spent a day with the new application and talked with company representatives about how everything would work now.

In the web version of the social network, the news feed already had a “Recommendations” section, but its content was not synchronized with the search tab in the application, where the new algorithm works. In addition, the content in the tab is visually grouped: photos and videos are tiled, posts with long texts take up more space and stand out.

For about half of the posts, you can immediately tell how they got into the recommendations - mainly because they were liked or commented on by friends. The other half ends up in an unknown way: the algorithm showed me in the top recommendations an unfunny (although seemingly humorous) video of an unknown girl with 43 views and one like, not even from a friend.

The feed also contains many short text entries, and sometimes there are publications of celebrities with verified profiles (for me these were Ruslan Sokolovsky and Ilya Varlamov). Overall, the recommendations leave the impression of a more convenient tool for consuming content than a news feed or video section. Due to the removal of unnecessary interface elements in this case, the content came forward and became more neat. By clicking on the card, you can go to the post itself - the entire familiar interface and a button for quick subscription will be available there.

VKontakte calls its algorithm “Prometheus” (in ancient Greek myths, it brought fire to people): when a user’s post is included in recommendations, he receives a flame-shaped tag on his page. This way you can understand where the flow of new comments and likes came from.

But it’s not just Prometheus that works in the recommendations feed, looking for something new and supporting little-known bloggers. There are two more types of selected content: the first is personal recommendations built on the user’s social graph, and the second is trends common to VKontakte.

Representatives of VKontakte said that Prometheus can search for users similar to others. If a social network knows that the artist Durand is popular among users, it will use data collected about their interests to search for bloggers similar to him.

At the same time, the company promises that it will fight plagiarists who do not produce their own content, but earn popularity by stealing it from others. The algorithm will search for the original and try to show exactly it, and we are talking about all media - text, pictures and videos, explains Sergei Paranko, who is developing the social network’s media platform: “If someone took someone else’s content and began to climb on it, then we will always check - and whether this content was uploaded by someone earlier.”

Cosmetics

At the beginning of September, the leading designer of VKontakte, Pavel Knyazev, announced an imminent redesign of mobile applications. In the current form of the application, only half of what was promised has been implemented: the likes have become red (they look much juicier and are more pleasant to press), the buttons have become rounder, many icons have been redrawn and, most importantly, the application no longer has a side menu - there are only five buttons at the bottom.

Visually, this is unusual: the side menu sections are now located under the fifth button, and music and video have been hidden there: when listening to music, you will have to return to this tab to switch tracks. The design of the audio player is still the same, and in the video section there are still no recommendations that appeared on the desktop back in 2015 - now all recommendations are only in the search tab.

The news feed is very reminiscent of a combination of Facebook and Instagram: on the one hand, there is a variety of “heavy” content, the output of which is controlled by an algorithm. On the other hand, there are stories and quick access to creating them by swiping to the right. But now VKontakte has not one, but two algorithmic feeds in adjacent tabs: news and recommendations.

It sounds difficult, especially since the mobile version does not imply full synchronization with the desktop - neither in working methods, nor in visual design. Managing Director of VKontakte Andrey Rogozov explains: the web has long faded into the background, mobile platforms are ahead, and user patterns on them are very different.

Platform for longreads

So far, VKontakte has only the old capabilities for creating posts - writing text posts, taking photos, videos and stories with masks. But by the end of 2017, the social network promises to launch a platform for creating longreads that will be “displayed correctly on all devices.”

Paranko explained that the platform for longreads is essentially an editor for long posts with various attachments, which will allow you to publish complex formats within the social network. Previously, VKontakte publics used wiki markup for this, but it will most likely become a thing of the past - it will not be disabled, but it will not be developed. According to the description, the platform will resemble what already exists with Medium, Facebook and Telegram.

Medium has a catalog of interesting articles, Facebook has a tool for richer text layout, and Telegram has a primitive editor for publishing any large materials with support for fast loading via Instant View. VKontakte says it will support the AMP initiative (this standard is used by Google and Twitter) for faster loading of its materials, including those embedded on external sites.

According to the company’s idea, for the user, reading external materials and those published through the platform should be no different - and the “smart” feed will rank such posts higher than regular links, since the content will load faster for the user. According to VKontakte statistics, within a year of the “smart” feed’s operation, 85% of users switched to it.

How correct the display will be on all devices is still a question. A few years ago, as part of a similar initiative for media, large cards appeared on VKontakte for links to media materials and other external sites - however, the social network application for iPad still does not know how to display them correctly.

Built-in messenger

Back in August 2014, representatives of VKontakte, during a special event, announced plans to release a separate messenger for messaging. These plans were repeated many times by media sources until the end of 2016, until the question “When will VKontakte release a messenger” finally became a meme.

Informally, representatives of the social network have long recognized that the need for a separate messenger has disappeared. Now this is enshrined in the company’s official press releases: it began to separately count the audience of the “built-in VKontakte messenger” - according to the latest data, this is 82 million people per month. 97 million people use the social network every day.

It’s very easy to update VK on your Android phone. In this case, the procedure is mandatory, because outdated versions may function poorly over time.

You need to update the program on your phone in order to take advantage of all the new functions, because developers are constantly adjusting the site, creating something new and improved for more convenient use.

A new version

The new version of the program, which everyone can download to their phone absolutely free, boasts a rewritten code, in addition, the design is completely updated. You can note that the section headings are now blue.

And this is not all the “new things” of the site. At the top of the “news” section, you can use the “Search” and “Recommendations” tabs. You can use the “comments” tab in the “Responses” section. Previously, all this could only be done by swiping the screen on the right side.

User profiles have also expanded; they display all the same information as on the web version. The changes also affected the music listening mode; the audio player now contains song lyrics and album covers.

Update

It is extremely easy to download updates on Android. How to update VK on an Android phone:

To do this, you need to go to the standard application for all Android smartphones - Google Play. This store of programs and applications is the most convenient place to download updates.
On the top left you need to click on the menu and select the “My Applications” tab.
Next you will see which applications are installed on the phone, and at the very top those that require updating will be indicated.
We look for the VK application among them and click “update”.
The application will display a notification that it will have access to identification data; you need to click the “accept” button.
After this, the update will begin downloading.
The program is updated automatically at this stage.

If you use regular Internet traffic, the application may notify you that the downloaded file is too large. This is necessary so that the user knows that there may be a delay or overpayment for traffic. It is best to update VK while Wi-Fi is connected, this will save money on traffic.

It is possible that there is little space left on your phone. In this case, the application will also display a notification that the update could not be downloaded.
Then you will need to clear space on your phone in order for the update to install. You can delete games, music or photos. Unnecessary files are deleted from the phone’s internal memory, because all applications are installed only here, and not on the SD card.

But even if there is not enough space, try to free it up, because updates are responsible for the correct operation of the application. The purpose of new versions is not only to come up with innovations, but also to correct errors in old versions. After the application has installed the update, the program can be used again.

An updated application for iOS and Android, a platform for creating longreads and recommendations with Prometheus.

To bookmarks

On September 26, VKontakte announced a large-scale update of its mobile applications. They received a new design, where there is no longer a side menu, a new section with a recommendations feed, and in the future the company is going to launch a platform for creating longreads within the social network. TJ spent a day with the new application and talked with company representatives about how everything will work now.

Cosmetics

At the beginning of September, the leading designer of VKontakte, Pavel Knyazev, quickly redesigned mobile applications. In the current form of the application, only half of what was promised has been implemented: the likes have become red (they look much juicier and are more pleasant to press), the buttons have become rounder, many icons have been redrawn and, most importantly, the application no longer has a side menu - there are only five buttons at the bottom.

Visually, this is unusual: the side menu sections are now located under the fifth button, and music and video have been hidden there: when listening to music, you will have to return to this tab to switch tracks. The design of the audio player is still the same, and in the video section there are still no recommendations, which were on the desktop back in 2015 - now all recommendations are only in the search tab.