Facebook releases photos-only app for iPhone

Just weeks after purchasing Instagram for $1 billion, Facebook has announced it's new photos-only app -- which allows users to snap, filter and share.  Sound familiar?

The Washington Post says first impressions of the iPhone app, simply called "Facebook Camera," are largely positive.  Unlike the regular Facebook app, Facebook Camera deals exclusively with photos: your feed is made up of nothing but your friends' latest pictures, in a higher resolution than before.

Facebook Photos product manager Dirk Stoop told the Post that's the whole point: streamlining the users' experience so they can upload multiple photos at once, add filters and share easily, right from their iPhones.

Now, you may be thinking -- didn't Mark Zuckerberg just buy Instagram?  A spokesman for Facebook told TechCrunch that Facebook Camera isn't meant to be a competitor for the wildly successful app, which continues to run as an independent program on rival social networks like Twitter.

The main selling point -- uploading multiple photos at once -- is what developers are hoping will get iOS users to download the app.

So far, reviews of Facebook Camera on the App Store are hovering around 4 out of 5 stars.  It's a promising start, but users do have one notable complaint: approving location services automatically syncs the app with your Camera Roll -- not a plus if you're concerned about uploading pictures by mistake.

Would you download a separate Facebook app just to manage your photos? Let us know in the comments.