According to a report, Meta is shutting down Messenger Lite, a lightweight, simplified version of the messaging app. A message begins to appear asking users of the app to “use Messenger to chat.” For new users, the app has been removed from the Google Play Store, and will no longer be accessible to existing users after September 18.
“Starting August 21st, 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 representative said.
For users of less powerful Android devices, Meta — then known as Facebook — released Messenger Lite for Android in 2016. To use less storage space and processing power, the program provides only the essential functionality of Messenger.
Despite the fact that Meta released Messenger Lite for iOS, the app was discontinued in 2020.
According to mobile analytics company data.ai, the lite versions of the app have received a total of 760 million downloads worldwide, with India the most downloaded, followed by Brazil and Indonesia. In terms of lifetime downloads, the US came in eighth.
This information comes after Meta announced that Messenger will stop supporting SMS starting in a month. When users update their apps after September 28, 2023, they “will no longer be able to use Messenger to send and receive SMS messages sent through your cellular network,” Meta informed users.
By the end of this year, end-to-end encryption will be the default for Messenger, according to a statement from Meta earlier this week. Additionally, the Internet behemoth is expanding the scope of its end-to-end encryption feature test to “chats from millions more people.”