Meta is shutting down Messenger Lite, the “light” version of Messenger, the company confirmed. The app has been removed from the Google Play Store and will no longer be available after September 18. Current users of the app are now seeing a message advising them to use Messenger to continue chatting.
"Starting 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," a Meta spokesperson said.
Meta, formerly known as Facebook, introduced Messenger Lite for Android in 2016 for users with less powerful Android devices. The app offers only the basic Messenger features to save less storage space and processing power.
Although Meta released Messenger Lite for iOS, the company shut it down in 2020.
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According to mobile analytics firm data.ai, Lite versions of the app have had an estimated 760 million downloads worldwide, with India accounting for the most, followed by Brazil and Indonesia. The United States ranked No. 8 based on lifetime downloads.
Additionally, Meta recently announced that Messenger is ending SMS next month. The company notified users that they will no longer be able to use Messenger to send and receive SMS messages sent over their mobile network if they update the app after September 28, 2023.
This week, Meta said it plans to enable end-to-end encryption on Messenger by the end of this year. The tech giant is expanding testing of its end-to-end encryption capabilities to “millions more people’s conversations.”
Source: techcrunch.com
