Facebook is unveiling an application for iPad, bringing a version of the world’s most popular social-networking service tailored to Apple’s best- selling tablet computer for the first time.

The new iPad app will let users chat with friends from the device and play games on Facebook in full-screen mode, the company said yesterday. Users have been clamoring for an iPad- friendly version of Facebook since the device went on sale in April 2010.

“Many of you have been asking about Facebook for iPad,” Leon Dubinsky, a Facebook mobile engineer, said in a blog posting. “Today, it’s finally here.

Facebook, which has more than 800 million users, is bolstering its efforts in mobile technology, aiming to take advantage of the shift to smartphones and apps. The company is introducing the Facebook app as part of a push to encourage software developers to work with its platform on a range of mobile devices.