Many Facebook users prefer to view their News Feed in chronological order, seeing posts from their friends and Pages in the order they were posted. However, in recent years Facebook has moved away from a purely chronological feed and towards an algorithmic feed that surfaces posts it thinks you are most likely to engage with. This can make it harder to view posts strictly in chronological order.
The good news is that Facebook still allows you to view your feed in chronological order on both iPhone and Android devices, it just takes a few extra steps to access this view. Here are the steps to view your Facebook feed chronologically on mobile:
View Chronological Feed on iPhone
1. Open the Facebook app on your iPhone.
2. Tap the three horizontal line menu icon in the bottom right corner.
3. Scroll down and tap “Settings & Privacy”.
4. Tap “Settings”.
5. Tap “News Feed Preferences”.
6. Tap “Prioritize who to see first”.
7. Tap “Recent posts”.
This will switch your feed to a purely chronological view, showing posts from your friends, family, Groups and Pages in the exact order they were posted, with the newest posts at top. You can switch back to the algorithmic Top Posts feed at any time by following these steps and tapping “Top posts” instead.
View Chronological Feed on Android
Viewing your Facebook feed chronologically on Android works much the same way:
1. Open the Facebook app on your Android phone.
2. Tap the three line menu button in the top right corner.
3. Tap “Settings & Privacy”.
4. Tap “Settings”.
5. Tap “News Feed Preferences”.
6. Tap “Prioritize who to see first”.
7. Tap “Recent posts”.
This will switch your News Feed to a chronological view on Android as well. Follow the same steps but choose “Top posts” to revert to the default ranked feed.
Customize Your Chronological Feed
When viewing your Facebook feed chronologically, you have a couple options to further customize what you see:
- Filter by Friends or Pages – Tap “All Friends” under News Feed Preferences to only show posts from your friends in chronological order, or tap “Pages” to only see posts from Pages you follow.
- Star Important Friends – You can “star” your closest friends and family under News Feed Preferences so their posts are always prioritized in your chronological feed.
Keep in mind that the algorithmic feed was designed to show you the posts Facebook thinks you care about most. So switching to a purely chronological view means you may miss some more relevant or interesting posts.
Chronological vs. Algorithmic Feed
The chronological and algorithmic feeds each have their pros and cons:
Chronological Feed Pros
- See posts exactly in the order they were shared.
- Nothing is filtered out or ranked.
- Easier to keep track of real-time conversations.
Chronological Feed Cons
- Can be overwhelmed by frequent posters.
- Might miss more relevant posts.
- Harder to discover new content.
Algorithmic Feed Pros
- Surfaces the posts Facebook thinks you want to see most.
- Filters out irrelevant content.
- Helps discover new people, Groups, and Pages.
Algorithmic Feed Cons
- Order can seem arbitrary or illogical.
- Important posts can get buried.
- Friends’ posts ranked lower.
There are good reasons for both options. The chronological feed shows strictly the latest posts from friends and Pages. But the algorithmic feed is designed to highlight the most relevant content and help you discover new things you may like.
The best option depends on your preferences and Facebook usage style. For example, frequent posters who use Facebook to actively follow friends’ live updates may prefer chronological. While more passive scrollers who want to discover new memes or articles may prefer algorithmic.
Luckily Facebook gives you the ability to switch between the two on mobile, so you can choose the option that works best for you at any time.
Other Ways to Sort Your Feed
In addition to switching between algorithmic and chronological feeds, Facebook offers a few other ways to view and sort posts on mobile:
- Most Recent – View posts strictly reverse chronologically.
- Friends – Only view posts from friends.
- Groups – Focus your feed on Group updates.
- Pages – See posts just from Pages you follow.
You can access these alternate feeds by tapping “News Feed Preferences” and making a selection under “Prioritize who to see first”.
Create Feed Shortcuts
To make it even easier to access chronological or sorted feeds, Facebook allows you to create custom News Feed shortcuts on your mobile homepage:
On iPhone:
1. From your News Feed, tap the three line menu.
2. Tap “Create Shortcut”.
3. Select the feed you want to shortcut.
This adds a shortcut icon to the top of your screen for quick 1-tap access to that feed view.
On Android:
1. Tap the three line menu.
2. Tap “Create shortcut”.
3. Select the feed shortcut you want.
With shortcuts set up you can easily toggle between your chronological, top posts, friends only, or other custom feeds.
Conclusion
While Facebook’s algorithmic News Feed is now the default view, you can still access a purely chronological feed on both iPhone and Android. Simply adjust your News Feed Preferences to sort by “Recent posts” rather than “Top posts”.
The chronological feed shows all posts from friends, Groups, and Pages in exact reverse chronological order. This lets you view all updates in real-time order as they were posted.
However, the algorithmic feed was designed to show you the most relevant content rather than strictly the latest. Both have their benefits depending on your browsing preferences.
Hopefully this guide has helped explain how to switch to a chronological feed, as well as the pros and cons of both algorithmic and chronological sorting on Facebook mobile. With the ability to toggle between the two, you can choose the option that best fits your needs at any time.