Skip to main content

Facebook knows what you did last summer, introduces flashback feature to remind you

facebooks on this day feature lets users block unwanted memories onthisday
Do you remember what you were doing this time last year? Facebook does, and it wants to remind you with its newest feature. Dubbed “On This Day,” it will take you back in time to see what you posted in the past.

On This Day will begin its roll out today and make its way into your Facebook feed by the end of the week. It will be available online, an icon on the bookmark bar, using the search bar, or via stories in your news feed. Mobile users on iOS and Android will have the ability to opt in to notifications from On This Day. Desktop users can also subscribe to daily notifications that will show them something they shared on Facebook years ago.

What will you see? Simple – daily blasts from the past. If you shared a photo of yourself and some friends two years ago today, Facebook will bring it back up so you can feel a bit of nostalgia for that moment. You’ll also see status updates, posts from friends, and posts that you’ve been tagged in.

Of course, there’s always the chance that Facebook will accidentally trigger some memories you’d rather stayed forgotten. If that happens, don’t despair, it’s easy to delete or edit the post, giving you the ability to retroactively touch up your life.

But this is Facebook, where it’s appropriate to share the best things in life, and you’ll be able to share those On This Day special moments with your friends. It presents a great way to relive the best parts of your past and look back on forgotten times and forgotten friends. Facebook is all about connecting, so what better way to get people to connect than by getting them back in touch with their friends and family via flashback?

AJ Dellinger
AJ Dellinger is a freelance reporter from Madison, Wisconsin with an affinity for all things tech. He has been published by…
Facebook Messenger app adds calling, following WhatsApp’s lead
Facebook Messenger app with calling

Meta, Facebook's parent company, is rolling out the Calls tab to the Facebook Messenger app on Android and iOS. The move takes a page out of WhatsApp's playbook, making audio and video calls with friends and family a lot easier for Messenger users.

Not every Messenger user will see the Calls tab in the app immediately. But the lucky users who do will find it located between the Chats and People tabs on the lower bar on the app's screen.

Read more
Twitter Circle is coming soon. Here’s what you need to know
A Twitter icon on a blue background on a smartphone's screen, all on a white background.

Instead of just live tweeting their thoughts to everyone all at once, more Twitter users are now able to set some tweets to only be visible to specific people.

While Twitter announced that it began testing its Twitter Circle feature earlier this month, it appears that the social media platform has now expanded its test to more users. This past weekend, Android Police reported that the feature is now live for more users and shared a series of screenshots showing how Twitter Circle will appear. Twitter Circle is still not available for everyone, however, despite the expanded rollout.

Read more
What is Wi-Fi Direct? Here’s everything you need to know
carnegie mellon help speech project female smartphone generic getty

There's a wireless connection that's used by all kinds of people and all sorts of devices, and yet hardly anyone talks about it: It's called Wi-Fi Direct, and it's been enabling versatile, peer-to-peer wireless connections for over 10 years.

What is Wi-Fi Direct? What can it do? Here's what you need to know.
Wi-Fi Direct defined

Read more