Launched on Android in 2016, Messenger Lite, the lite version of Meta’s instant messaging service, will close its doors. Since August 21, its users have been invited to migrate to the classic version of the service to continue chatting with their loved ones and contacts.
Meta has announced the imminent closure of Messenger Lite, the lite version of its instant messaging application. Launched in 2016 on Android, the latter will be definitively closed on September 18. In the meantime, Meta has already withdrawn Messenger Lite from the Google Play Store and since August 21 has been broadcasting a message inviting its users to migrate to the “classic” version of Messenger, or to use Facebook Lite, to continue to exchange messages with their loved ones and contacts.
” From August 21, people using the Messenger Lite app for Android will be directed to Messenger or FB Lite to send and receive messages on Messenger “, thus indicated Meta to TechCrunchin a press release.
Messenger Lite: a version designed to spare low-performance smartphones
As a reminder, Messenger Lite was launched, first on Android, as a lighter alternative to Messenger for low-performance smartphones. The application was designed to take up as little storage space as possible and to use very little CPU resources. A godsend for some users, even if, over time, the application had become cluttered with features that had the effect of “weighing down”, such as support for GIFs or the possibility of making video calls.
As pointed outTechCrunchMessenger Lite had also been launched on iOS… but had not met with the expected success, leading Meta to withdraw the application from the App Store in 2020.
The data from data.ai finally allows us to have a good idea of the popularity of Messenger Lite across the globe. According to this analysis company, specialized in the mobile sector, the Lite version of Messenger has been downloaded around 760 million times worldwide since its launch. We also learn that India represents the largest share of these downloads, followed by Brazil and Indonesia.
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