Meta is shutting down Messenger Lite for Android in September

  • Meta is retiring Messenger Lite, a simpler version of Messenger aimed at phones with lower-end specs.
  • The app was introduced in 2016 for Android users and had been downloaded about 760 million times globally, with India being the top user.
  • Although there was an iOS version, it was closed in 2020. - In other news, Messenger will stop supporting SMS next month, and Meta aims to add end-to-end encryption to Messenger chats by year’s end.
petrescatraian,

@ijeff That's too bad. If only they added dark mode and reply support this could've been my go-to app for Facebook messenger. These were the only two things missing for me - I don't care about the rest.

sounddrill,

Lite and go apps are trash, they use a web wrapper but complain when you use a browser since it performs better than their lite app

wegettosss,

I tried using lite version but there were so many features missing that I had to give up. Also, my biggest privacy dream currently is to witch from messenger to signal. Not possible tho

ijeff,
@ijeff@lemdro.id avatar

I’ve actually just started using Beeper instead of Messenger. It’s not perfect, but it’s pretty neat having it all hooked into Matrix.

catlover,

ah goddamn. i don’t want to use the messenger app its so full of useless stuff. i always used the bare minimum of facebook, used to chat on mbasic.facebook.com, but they removed it as well. wish i could just not use it, i only ise the chat features, but too many ppl in my life just use it and would be a pain to convince them to use something else.

randomperson,

I convinced people who I mostly chat with to switch long time ago. I don’t really chat with the rest and they can contact me over SMS if they (or I) want anyway.

lustrum,

This might be my final straw for getting rid completely. I’m not installing the normal messenger app

throws_lemy,
@throws_lemy@lemmy.nz avatar

It doesn’t affect me, cause I don’t have fakebook account

ijeff,
@ijeff@lemdro.id avatar

But do you have a Facebook account?

throws_lemy,
@throws_lemy@lemmy.nz avatar

Nope, I don’t

Odiousmachine,

Very interesting. Thanks for your contribution.

Herbstzeitlose,
theangriestbird,

Question: do the “Lite” apps like Messenger Lite and Facebook Lite track less data than their regular counterparts? I use Facebook Lite under this assumption, but I’m realizing that I based this on no real evidence.

ijeff,
@ijeff@lemdro.id avatar

I believe it’s the same between the two. You can check under the Data Safety section on the Play Store page though.

Hunter2,

Pretty sure the “lite” version were just decluttered versions with features missing and better optimization (usually aimed at developing countries). They likely track as much (well, probably not as much because there’s no point in tracking stuff that the app doesn’t support).

I’ve actually noticed they started decluttering the messenger app. Rooms are gone and they’ve also removed the chat suggestion bubbles at the top. So when you launch the app you only see the conversations you have active.

Artemis,

The lite version has 4 fewer trackers and 20-ish fewer requested permissions…still pretty crazy. Check them out on Exodus

ijeff,
@ijeff@lemdro.id avatar

Great resource. I forgot about this, thanks!

theangriestbird,

Absolute best answer. Thank you!

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