• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, April 17, 2013

Facebook Home may not be coming to iOS, but some features of the software overlay for Android phones are expected to find their way into Facebook’s iPhone app. Unveiled last week, Home inserts a Facebook-focused interface on Android phone screens in place of the familiar grid of third-party apps.

Given the closed nature of iOS, it was unlikely that Facebook would be able to extend the software to the Apple operating system as it did on the open source-based Android platform. But in an interview with the The Wall Street Journal, COO Sheryl Sandberg said some aspects of Home would be added to the latest version of its app for iOS.

Separately, Facebook CTO Mike Schroepfer said Tuesday that the updated Facebook app heading to the App Store this week would include the Chat Heads feature, which allows users to chat with friends without pausing or leaving other apps. They appear as small face icons that float over the screen and offer brief message previews before being clicked on.

With Facebook Home just released for a limited number of Android phones on April 12, it remains to be seen how Android users themselves will embrace the new Facebook phone takeover. Just getting some of the signal features of Home, like Chat Heads, could prove a more welcome change to many mobile users than getting the whole launcher.