Instagram Lite, a 2MB Version That Still Lets You See the Activity Feed, Will be Relaunched in India

Facebook is now working to bring back the Instagram Lite app just months after the company shut it down worldwide. The company announced the move on December 16 and stated that it is now testing the revamped Instagram Lite app in India.

According to Facebook, it is hoping to gain valuable insights about the app before they roll it out worldwide again in the near future.

Instagram Lite relaunch

The revamped Instagram Lite app that is less than 2MB delivers a "fast, reliable and responsive" experience of the service. The Android app supports Hindi, Bangla, Kannada, Gujarati, Marathi, Malayalam, Punjabi, Telugu and Tamil, but currently lacks the core features of Instagram including Shopping, Reels and IGTV.

Facebook had discontinued the Instagram Lite app earlier this year. In July 2020, the VP of Product at Instagram, Vishal Shah, told TechCrunch in an interview that the company had identified some issues in the app and they were working on resolving those issues.

In September 2020, a new Lite app was spotted in the App Store and Play Store but Facebook did not acknowledge it.

What are Lite apps

Lite apps are very popular in markets where most users do not have high-end smartphones that can accommodate regular apps, or those who don't have fast and cheap mobile internet service.

Facebook Lite app had around 40 million monthly active users in India as of November 2020, while Messenger Lite app had 13 million users in the country and the Instagram app had 164 million users, according to mobile insight firm App Annie.

Shah made the announcement about the revamped Instagram Lite app on December 16 at the Facebook Fuel for India event, where scores of Facebook executives, including Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Ajit Mohan, outlined numerous other programs that they were working on for India, which is the world's second largest internet market.

Instagram also announced the second version of "Born on Instagram", a program that was made for content creators to understand and make ways to collaborate with one another and seek monetization opportunities.

Shah stated that the test of Instagram Lite and the next edition of Born on Instagram aims to democratize expression and creativity for millions of people in India, according to NDTV.

At the said event, Abhijit Bose, the head of WhatsApp India, said that the company was working to introduce a health insurance offering to users in India this month.

In July 2020, WhatsApp had unveiled that it was working to pilot credit, insurance and pension services in the country, the instant messaging app's biggest market by users, over the next two years.

Meanwhile, Facebook, which is massive in India, is also working with Jio Platforms, a telecom giant, to help millions of small businesses in the country to establish online presence and to be able to slowly start selling their products digitally.

The American Giant invested $5.7 billion in Jio Platforms in 2020, are collaborating to make the platform JioMart e-commerce service available through WhatsApp. Some new features will also be introduced to JioMart's WhatsApp channel in the next few weeks.

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by Sieeka Khan