Earlier if you had to share some large files with your facebook friends, then you would have to upload the file on some cloud storage service like Google Drive, Spideroak etc., and then share the link with your friends. But now you can share files of upto one gigabytes in size directly with your facebook friends. There is a new app called Pipe that allows you to share large files with your facebook friends. It is very easy to use as everything is done right from inside the facebook website.
Here is how you can use the Pipe app in facebook to share large files:
- First of all sign-in to your facebook account in your web browser. The Firefox browser is giving some security error for the Pipe app, so you should use either Google Chrome, Opera or Internet Explorer.
- Visit the Pipe app page in facebook at https://apps.facebook.com/pipeapp/. It would ask for accessing your public profile, friend’s list and chat status. You should go ahead and confirm by clicking on the Okay button.
- Once you have confirmed, the Pipe app would open up. It shows a huge pipe picture in the middle and on the top there are two buttons – one to share the file with friends and the other to view the files in your locker (if you are offline and your friend shares a file with you through the Pipe app, then are put inside this locker).
- To share a file with your friend click on the Friends button. It would open a list of all your friends, from which you can select one or more friends that you want to share the file with. Once you have selected the friends, click on the pipe in the picture and select the file that you want to share. It would upload the file and send a chat message to your friend(s) about the file.
- However, if your facebook friends are offline then they cannot accept the chat message. In this case the file is put inside their Pipe locker and they are sent a notification about the file. There is an option for how long the file should be kept inside the locker. You cannot keep the file inside the locker for more than 5 days.
- That’s it. If your friends are online, then they will see the message about the file sharing instantly, but if they are offline they would see the notification about the file next time they sign-in to facebook.
Although the Pipe app is great for quickly using in facebook and sharing files with them, yet it lacks many features found in the popular cloud storage services. For example, the maximum file size limit is 1 GB which is smaller compared to 10 GB limit in Google Drive. The storage of files in Pipe locker is limited to 5 days after which they would be deleted, while in cloud services the storage duration is unlimited. So if you want flexibility, the popular cloud storage services are better than the Pipe app. Still Pipe can be used to quickly share some files over facebook.