Facebook, last Thursday officially released the new version of its app for Android smartphones. The app, Facebook Lite, is targeted for users whose data connection provides limited bandwidth. According to Facebook, the Facebook Lite app uses much less data than the regular smartphone editions and 'works well across all network conditions'. The new app which targets users primarily from emerging markets, will only take 1 MB of storage space compared to the stardard version which requires about 25 MB of storage space. The new Facebook Lite maintaines the key features such as News Feed, sharing of updates and photos, notifications, messaging or even group conversations, but not the data-hungry video autoplay function.
Facebook said that it has started rolling out Facebook Lite in countries across Asia, and over the coming weeks, will be introducing the app in parts of Latin America, Africa and Europe.
Vijay Shankar, Product Manager for Facebook Lite, wrote in a blog post that "In many areas, networks can be slow and not able to support all the functionalities found in Facebook for Android. Facebook Lite was built for these situations, giving people a reliable Facebook experience when bandwidth is at a minimum."
