Meta pulls the plug on Messenger Lite app for Android

Delhi : The lightweight, streamlined Messenger Lite software for Android is being discontinued by Meta. Users of the app are currently getting a notice telling them to "use Messenger to keep chatting." For new users, the app has already been taken down from the Google Play Store, and it won't be accessible to current users after September 18 either.

A Meta representative informed TechCrunch in an email that as of August 21 users of the Android software Messenger Lite will be referred to Messenger or FB Lite in order to send and receive messages on Messenger.

In order to save storage space and processing power, Meta (then known as Facebook) released Messenger Lite for Android in 2016 for customers with less powerful Android smartphones. Messenger Lite offers only the fundamental functionality of the instant messaging software.

Despite the fact that Meta published Messenger Lite for iOS, the business has stopped making it in 2020. The Lite versions of the program have received a total of almost 760 million downloads worldwide, with India having the most downloads per country, followed by Brazil and Indonesia.

Recently, Meta revealed that Messenger will stop supporting SMS starting in one month. Users have been informed that "when you update your app after September 28, 2023, you will no longer be able to use Messenger to send and receive SMS messages sent by your cellular network."

By the end of this year, default end-to-end encryption on Messenger would be made available, Meta had stated earlier this week.