Facebook Launches Moments App to Make Private Photo Sharing Easier

Facebook on Monday unveiled a new feature that allows smartphone users to privately share photos of friends, by sifting through images with facial recognition technology.

The standalone app, called Moments, allows users to share photos with friends who are in them, and to get images of themselves.

"It's hard to get the photos your friends have taken of you, and everyone always insists on taking that same group shot with multiple phones to ensure they get a copy," product manager Will Ruben said in a blog post.

"When you go to a wedding, for example, there are many people taking great photos throughout the day. You all want a quick way to share your photos with the friends who are in them, and get photos that you're in back. The same is true for smaller events too, like a kayak trip or a night out."

The new application allows users to create groups that sync photos to friends

"You can then privately sync those photos quickly and easily with specific friends, and they can choose to sync their photos with you as well," Ruben said.

"Now, you and your friends have all the photos you took together.

Moments uses facial recognition technology to group photos based on the friends who are in them, similar to the "tagging" used by the Facebook social network.

The new app was launched Monday for users of Apple and Android handsets in the United States, and will be rolled out to other countries over time.