Meta announced plans to retire Messenger Lite, formerly known as Facebook Messenger Lite starting August 21, 2023.
The company that was once known as Facebook introduced Messenger Lite as a resource-friendly alternative for less powerful mobile devices. While feature limited in comparison to the main Messenger application, Messenger Lite allowed users to read and write chat messages on less powerful devices and slow Internet connections.
Facebook tried to limit access to Messenger Lite to select regions. Google Play would refuse the installation of the app if the request came from a region that was not on the list of officially supported regions. Users could download the APK file and install Messenger Lite this way, however, and the app worked in that case, even in unsupported regions.
The retirement of Messenger Lite has the following consequences for users:
- New users -- can't install Messenger Lite anymore from Google Play, as it is already removed from the official Android store for applications. Existing users may still download and install it on their devices, but this will end on September 18, 2023.
- Existing users -- will be directed to Messenger or Facebook Lite starting August 21, 2023.
Meta confirmed the shutdown of Messenger Lite in an email to TechCrunch: "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 company spokesperson told TechCrunch.
Meta displayed information about the upcoming end of the Messenger Lite app to users using in-app notifications. The company shut down the iOS version of Messenger Lite in 2020 already. The retirement of the Android version marks the end of Messenger Lite.
Meta continues support for Facebook Lite, a lite version of the Facebook app for mobiles. Messenger Lite users may use it to continue communicating with Facebook users.
The lite version of Messenger has accumulated more than 700 million downloads since its introduction in 2016.
Messenger, the non-lite communication app, will stop supporting SMS in September 2023. Meta announced the change recently, which will go into effect on September 28, 2023.
Now You: do you use Messenger Lite or other messaging apps on your devices?
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