It’s been a month since Facebook Places was announced, which is still very much “US only”. So anyone outside US, even if you are an US citizen travelling abroad, cannot access and experience this location based service. Thanks to the VPN technology, anyone, yes ANYONE with an iPhone (or other smartphones), any where in the world can access Facebook Places!
Access Facebook Places From Outside US
Currently, Facebook Places is accessible via Facebook for iPhone app and touch.facebook.com. The dedicated apps with Facebook Places are expected to be released soon for Android and Blackberry. So, I will restrict this guide to iPhone for now and will update it as and when other apps are released. The idea is to use a US based VPN service on the iPhone. The best choice is Hotspot Shield which is an US based service as well as free to use. But then, there are many more Free VPN services if you like to explore. Step 1: Configure Hotspot Shield VPN on your iPhone. In order to do that follow this guide which is simple and easy to follow. Once you get the VPN activated, you will see an icon on top right of the screen as shown below.
Step 2: Open your Facebook app and click on the home button (on top left) and you will find the Facebook Places button right in the middle.
Step 3: Once you tap on it, you will see list of friends who have been using Facebook Places and their latest check-ins!
Wasn’t that easy? If you have problems with VPN while using it for the first time, you can simply try restarting the iPhone as I had to do that myself. I added a new place (here in India) and checked in as well ;) If you liked the post, please share it with your friends, retweet it, digg it or promote it anywhere you like! Hat-tip: Antonio Lupetti
