Facebook recently announced that it has launched a 'lite' version of Instagram in 170 countries that will enable people with poor internet to access the photo and video sharing social networking service.
This new app for Android is designed to provide people living in rural and remote communities with a high-quality Instagram experience using minimal data. The app, which is rolling out in more than 170 countries, arrived not a moment too soon.
To keep those features on the smaller app, the team took a page from Facebook Lite, by offloading into the cloud much of the code from the app running on the phone. The team then focused on what people valued most, namely video and messaging, which remote dwellers use more actively than their urban counterparts. Both posed a tightrope walk for engineers. While the team wanted to preserve the beauty and craft of Instagram’s design, they also had to remain mindful of how the app would perform in a setting with poor connectivity and slower networks.
With the launch, people in more than 170 countries will be able to download Instagram Lite in the Google Play Store to have a high-quality Instagram experience, no matter what network or device they’re on. Facebook plans to roll out the app globally soon.
Tzach Hadar, Director of Product Management at Facebook Tel Aviv
Our teams build these lightweight versions of our apps for people with low connectivity or limited data plans because our basic premise is to leave no one behind. We wanted the Instagram experience to remain fast, high-quality and reliable, irrespective of the device, platform and network people are on.
