Messenger Lite for Android to be Discontinued by Meta in September

Meta has confirmed the discontinuation of Messenger Lite, the slimmed-down version of its messaging platform. Users are now receiving notifications within the app, urging them to ‘transition to Messenger for uninterrupted chats.’

Starting September 18, the app will no longer be accessible to existing users, and new users can no longer find it on the Google Play Store.

Back in 2016, under its previous name, Facebook, Meta introduced Messenger Lite for Android. This lightweight version was tailored for individuals with less powerful Android devices, offering only essential Messenger features to conserve storage space and processing capabilities. However, the iOS version of Messenger Lite was shelved in 2020.

Data from mobile analytics firm data.ai reveals that the global combined downloads for the Lite app variants are estimated to have reached around 760 million. Impressively, India held the largest share of these downloads, closely followed by Brazil and Indonesia. Surprisingly, the United States ranked eighth in terms of lifetime downloads.

This development coincides with Meta’s recent announcement about Messenger’s upcoming removal of SMS support, effective next month. Users were duly informed that after updating their app post September 28, 2023, Messenger would no longer accommodate SMS messages from cellular networks.

Adding to their recent endeavors, Meta has outlined plans to implement default end-to-end encryption for Messenger by the close of this year. Notably, this tech giant is also extending its trials of end-to-end encryption features to encompass ‘millions more conversations.