Facebook Messenger Lite Launches in North America

Facebook is empowering the world to send pictures of Pusheen the cat to one another.

The immensely popular Facebook Messenger app has rolled out a Lite version in Canada, the U.S., the U.K and Ireland. Messenger Lite was already available in Kenya, Tunisia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Venezuela.

Messenger Lite is a slimmed down and slightly-gutted version of the original Messenger app used to connect and chat with your Facebook friends. It is aimed towards users with slower internet speeds and those with very basic Android smartphones. The Lite app is under 10 megabytes so it can easily fit on most phones that run into storage issues.

A lot of functionality remains the same, including the ability to message friends, send stickers, view and delete group members, send and receive photos and links and even make voice calls. The Lite app is meant to help those without the infrastructure or functionality to still stay connected with friends and be a part of the conversation.

“With Messenger Lite, more people can stay in contact, regardless of network conditions or storage limitations on their Android devices,” writes Tom Mulcahy, the engineering manager for Messenger Lite. “[The app] was built to give people a great Messenger experience, no matter what technology they use or have access to.”

Last month Facebook reported that over 1.3 billion people use Messenger every single month, accounting for just over 17 per cent of the world’s population. 400 million people call or video chat with the app every month.