At first glance, the new Friend Bubbles feature looks pretty simple. It highlights Reels that your friends have seen and reacted to. But sometimes the functions that seem the simplest require the most in-depth technical work.

In this episode of the Meta Tech Podcast: Pascal Hartig chats with Subasree and Joseph, two software developers from the Facebook Reels team, about what it took to bring Friend Bubbles to life. They discuss the development of the machine learning model behind the feature, the different behaviors between iOS and Android users, and the surprising discovery that ultimately made the entire feature work.

If you’ve ever underestimated a « simple » feature, this is for you.

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Le Meta Tech Podcast is a podcast from Meta where we highlight the work of Meta engineers at all levels – from low-level frameworks to end-user features.

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