Facebook Lite is coming to the US
Facebook is about to launch the lighter version of its app in the US.
Facebook is about to launch the lighter version of its app in the US. The company had first introduced the app some years ago, meant for developing countries and slow data connections. According to Facebook, the app is meant to run on 2G networks and the company has been offering it in countries like India for a while now. The information was first reported by Reuters.
"We've seen that even in some developed markets people can have lower connectivity, so we want to make sure everyone has the option to use this app if they want," the company said. Facebook Lite was first launched in Nepal, Bangladesh, South Africa, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Vietnam and Zimbabwe. That was in 2015 and the company has since expanded the app’s availability to 100 countries in all. The US, of course, wasn’t a target market for the app, but it’s also coming here now.
It may be recalled that in February this year, the social media networking giant's "lite" version of the site received the social network's Safety Check feature. "In many areas around the world, networks can be slow and unreliable. This can be even more challenging after a crisis, when communication is critical," the company had elaborated.
Similarly, Facebook Lite got the "Reactions feature" back in July last year, letting users react to posts with emojis like Love, Haha, Sad, Wow, and Angry. According to the Menio Park, California-based company, the app takes only 252 Kb of storage space on your phone and is a stripped down version of the main app. It will be coming to faster data markets like UK, Canada, US, Australia, France, Germany, New Zealand and Ireland now. It starts rolling out from Friday onwards.