Not quite a phone, but sort of – Facebook has revealed Facebook Home, a ‘suite of apps’ that take over a user’s Android phone, allowing the social networking site to be on the home screens of smartphones, with sponsored posts coming soon.

Facebook Home will also allow users’ Facebook News Feeds to roll over their locked screen. Items in the News Feed will able to be clicked on or swiped on the phone and opened.

Mashable.com reports that when Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg took the stage at Facebook’s headquarters in Silicon Valley last night, he frequently described the new software as, “putting people in front of apps.”

The software will also have a Chat Heads function, allowing the user to chat with friends while using other apps, chat heads include both Facebook messages and texts.

Marketing believes there will be no ads or sponsored posts on Facebook Home initially, but that there are plans to introduce sponsored posts in the near future.

Home will be available as a free download from the Google Play Store starting 12 April. It will work on the HTC One X, HTC One X+, Samsung Galaxy S III and Samsung Galaxy Note II. Home will also work on the forthcoming HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4 with more devices to be included in the coming months.

There will also be the option to buy a phone with the software already installed with telecommunications giant AT&T offering the first HTC phone that exclusively uses the Home software.

Facebook Home will initially be released in the US, with other countries to have access to Home in the coming months. No date for an Australian launch has been confirmed.

Facebook have also released an ad about Home to accompany the launch: