14 DAY TRIAL // Facebook introduced Messenger Lite last fall, as a lightweight version of Messenger that would allow users to easily communicate with their friends and family, without having to worry about hardware restrictions.
Facebook’s Messenger Lite application was available only in a handful of countries at launch and now Facebook has announced that it’s bringing the application to users in 132 more countries, including Germany, Colombia, Italy, Vietnam, Algeria, Morocco, Nigeria, Peru, Turkey, Japan, and the Netherlands.
Basically, people from all over the world will be able to download and install the Messenger Lite app on their Android-running smartphones, while availability will surely expand soon to more countries. At launch, Messenger Lite was focused solely on emerging countries, but it seems that Facebook has changed the strategy and is now bringing the app to more users.
Currently, more than 1.2 billion people from all over the world use Messenger and a large part of them will be able to switch to the lightweight version.
Messenger Lite has a reduced size and lots of features
Messenger Lite for Android was introduced in October last year as a lower size version of the main Messenger application. It has a download size of just 1.75MB and comes with tools for sending text, photos and links to friends who use Messenger, Messenger Lite or Facebook Lite.
The app also uses less data, saves space and works on all 2G networks. Facebook’s focus was to provide users in emerging countries with a Messenger version that would work on older smartphones, including those that run Android Gingerbread.
Facebook also has a Lite version of its main application, which is available in a number of markets. Reactions were recently brought to Facebook Lite, so that all users can react to posts and express their feelings.
Recently, Facebook launched an update to its main Messenger app, bringing AI and bot support, including M suggestions, chat extensions and more developer options for games.