Facebook launched a new Android app called Facebook Lite, which uses less data and works well in all network conditions.
“More than a billion people around the world access Facebook from a range of mobile devices on varying networks. In many areas, networks can be slow and not able to support all the functionality found in Facebook for Android. Facebook Lite was built for these situations, giving people a reliable Facebook experience when bandwidth is at a minimum,” according to Facebook in a statement.
Facebook Lite is less than 1MB
According to the social network giant, Facebook Lite is less than 1MB. Users will be able to install and load the app quickly. It includes Facebook’s core services including News Feed, status updates, photos, notifications and others.
Facebook said the app is now available for users in countries across Asia. The social network giant will roll out Facebook Lite in parts of Latin America, Africa, and Europe over the next few weeks.
In an interview with Reuters, Vijay Shankar, product manager of Facebook Lite noted that countries in those regions are still using 2G networks, which are slower and less powerful than the 4G networks in the United States and other developed countries.
“We want to offer people a choice so if there are limitations, they can still get the full Facebook experience,” said Shankar.
Facebook Lite is part the social network giant’s expansion initiative
Facebook Lite is part of the social network giant’s initiative to expand in emerging countries. Earlier this year, Facebook in partnership with Reliance Communications introduced internet.org, a platform intended to provide Internet access to 4.5 billion of people who are not yet online.
Last month, the social network giant opened internet.org to developers to create content accessible on the web and mobile devices. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently explained that creating free basic services that are simple and use less data is sustainable. He also emphasized that it costs tens of billions of dollars to run the platform every year, and it was impossible to offer the entire internet for free.
