Slow internet speed is still a common problem for smartphone users in several countries of the world. Facebook acknowledged this issue and took this as an opportunity to create an app that solves this issue.
Meet Facebook Lite, a slimmed down version of the regular Facebeook app, optimised for those who suffer from slow mobile network and for Android phones around the world.
There’s not much difference between Facebook Lite and the regular Facebook app in terms of functionality, except that there are several features that were taken off. For example, users will not be able to watch videos that are shared from their Facebook friends.
Even though it is a slimmed down version of the regular app, several of the important functions from the regular app are still available such as photos, notifications, News Feed, search bar, and more.
As the name suggests, the file size of this app is relatively small, which is less than one megabyte. The download and installation process should be quick, even for users who has slow internet speed.
Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, posted the announcement of the app on his Facebook page and had this to say:
We built Facebook Lite to be faster, more reliable and very data efficient even when internet bandwidth is at a minimum. The app is less than 1 MB in size and takes just a few seconds to download.
We’re starting to roll out Facebook Lite across Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe, and it will be available in the Play store. We’re going to keep working to serve the entire world, and we’ll keep building tools for people in every community until we’re all connected.
According to reports from Statista.com, Facebook currently has around 1.44 billion monthly active users in the first quarter of 2015. This number will surely rise now that the website is now available for those without fast internet connections.
