Native iPad app discovered in Facebook for iPhone

TechCrunch has discovered that the Facebook for iPhone app contains hidden iPad code and has published a series of screenshots to prove it. Author MG Siegler acknowledges 9to5Mac’s similar discoveries stemming from code hooks in Apple’s software (thanks, guys!), noting that the iPad app is already there in the current version of Facebook for iOS app, ready to be put to use whenever Facebook sees fit:

Hidden in the code of Facebook’s iPhone app is the code for something else. Something everyone has been waiting over a year for. The iPad app. Yes, it’s real, and it’s spectacular (well, very good, at the very least). And yes, it really is right there within the code. Even better, it’s executable. (Update: a lot of pictures here.)

Much of the code is written with HTML5, Siegler observes, but nonentheless the experience of running the app on a 9.7-inch iPad feels as native as it can get. Using the left-hand menu and pop-overs you can access Facebook’s many option at any time while being focused on the news from your friends. Turning the tablet upside down invokes Facebook’s chat and the photo viewer feels like Apple’s native Photos app. You can enable the iPad view on your jailbroken tablet by following a step-by-step guide by iClarified. Those that don’t want to jailbreak can still enable the iPad view using this simple tutorial. A couple more screenies and a clip demonstrating how to get the iPad app right below the fold.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYsjjAss5XQ]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpqABQjJB40]