Facebook has nearly 1,2 billion people using their Messenger at least once a month. I am sure like most people you may feel frustrated from time to time with its bloated features and sluggish user experience. You will be pleased to know that Facebook has released
a new Messenger Lite version on Android only, there are currently no plans to introduce an iOS version.
Facebook first launched Lite almost one year ago, intending it for users in developing countries. Marketed for places where they have low-bandwidth internet connections
which would collapse under the weight of the full-fledged Messenger platform.
Recently in October, Lite launched for those who live in the developed markets US, UK, Canada, and Ireland.
There are a few things to note when downloading Messenger Lite, one it’s not available for iPhone only for Android users, second, it doesn’t support Secret Conversations (end-to-end encrypted chat) you can’t play games within the ecosystem.
Apart from that, there are good reasons for using Lite and why it might be right for you.
When you open up Lite, you get three straightforward tabs: Home, which shows your existing chats. the obvious Contacts and Profile, you can adjust your notification settings, look at your message requests, switch accounts, report any issues, and that’s pretty much it. Seriously, that’s it!
You won’t get distracted with the tappable options for features like your camera, images, voice dictation, emoji, GIFs and stickers or call or video chat. Some of those choices are still available in Lite, but not nearly enough to cause paralysis. You can still send
a sticker, but it doesn’t animate.
You can still snap a photo or dictate or call. But Lite does not contain the intricate, endless tunnel system that Messenger uses to squeeze all of its features into one bitty app. You can’t get lost in Lite. You can though, send and receive messages quickly and efficiently, which seems just about perfect for an app called Messenger.
As user experience goes, there are fewer distractions in and around messages which mostly exists to keep you staring at Messages rather than necessarily improving your life and mind. You only have so many engaged minutes to give in one lifetime. Not only does Lite save you time because there’s less to mess about with.
It also spares you precious seconds and frustration by not caving under pressure of its own weight, as its fuller-featured counterpart most certainly can and does. Other benefits are Lite only takes up less than 10MB on your phone and nearly 10 times less space than Messenger.
An important side benefit of stripping down so many features is that you use far fewer data, and it won’t strain your battery as much. If you switch to Lite, you can still get in touch with anyone who has a Facebook account, make free calls over Wi-Fi, and give the ubiquitous thumbs up to your Facebook friends
