Facebook launched Messenger Lite app for Android for emerging markets such as Kenya, Tunisia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Venezuela back in October last year. Now Facebook has announced that it is expanding the app to 132 more countries including Germany, Colombia, Italy, Vietnam, Algeria, Morocco, Nigeria, Peru, Turkey, Japan, Taiwan and the Netherlands.
Sadly it is not available in some countries like Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China, Cuba, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, Philippines, Sudan, UK, US and North Korea. It is not clear why the company has decided not to release the app in emerging markets like Brazil, India, Sudan and more. India was one of the first countries to get Facebook Lite in June, soon after initial roll out.
Facebook Messenger Lite is similar to Facebook Lite that uses less data and is designed to work in areas with slower internet connections. This is best for people with older Android phones that doesn’t have a lot of memory, or has limited processing power.
The Messenger Lite app helps users quickly and easily send text, photos and links. It is under 10MB, so it’s fast to install and quick to start up. It includes Messenger’s core experiences such as messaging, sending and receiving photos and links, and receiving stickers. Messenger Lite uses the same bolt logo as Messenger, but with colors reversed. The bolt is blue with a white chat bubble background.
Facebook Messenger Lite for Android is available for download from Google Play. Even though it not available in India and some countries officially yet, you can grab the APK here and sideload it manually.