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Facebook Kills Off Slimmed Down 'Facebook Lite' App Due to Low Adoption

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Facebook Lite, the social network's slimmed down app for low speed connections and low-spec phones, is being deactivated, reports MacMagazine.

Facebook Lite was designed to work on poor internet connections like 2G networks or in rural areas with a bad signal, mainly by not downloading high resolution images or autoplaying videos, and the app could be used on older phones at the expense of excluding some features.

The streamlined app appeared alongside a Lite version of Messenger in 2018, first launching in Turkey, before rolling out to more regions and territories.

However, users in Brazil who opened the Lite variant of the app on Tuesday were met with the following message (translation).
Facebook Lite for iOS will be disabled.

You can use the original Facebook app to keep in touch with friends and family.
Click to expand...
facebook-lite.jpeg
Image credit: Twitter user @DalvaVeronica​

MacMagazine confirmed that the Facebook Lite app is no longer on the App Store, unlike Messenger Lite, which is still available.

"Due to the limited adoption and improvements we are making to improve the experience for people in our apps, we will no longer support Facebook Lite for iOS," said a Facebook spokesperson.

Facebook has long been regarded by some users as a unnecessarily bloated app. The full-fat Facebook app for iPhone 11 is a not-insubstantial 244.7MB, whereas Facebook Lite was a relatively paltry 8.7MB in comparison.

Article Link: Facebook Kills Off Slimmed Down 'Facebook Lite' App Due to Low Adoption
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2020/08/12/facebook-kills-off-facebook-lite-app/
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That's a shame. It was available in Australia. A lot of people have low-spec phones in Androidland. The regular app really is demanding.

iPhones though? Runs just fine back to about a 5.
 
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When this first came out I created a Turkish app store ID and downloaded it. I only wanted to use it for sending messages, but the app couldn't do that and required the usual Messages app (which I didn't have installed).

Now, I use Facebook in Safari with "request desktop version" set which allows Messages to be read/sent. The FB apps are stupidly huge and update too frequently (with no useful release notes).
 
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The installer is 250 MB but the app will quickly grow to 1GB+, it is a bloated mess but it is even worst in Documents & Data collection. Sometimes I have had to uninstall it to get back some storage.

I use it for my business, I don’t like it personally but it has a good reach. Opening through Safari instead of the native app is a storage saver, however they get very annoying randomly asking you to download the app.

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SBlue1 said:
Facebook app has 250 MBs??? Of code?? What the hell?
Click to expand...

Packing all sort of trackers baby... Well, most apps have grown this big lately. I also think this is the size of all the versions for different devices, your actual installer is smaller.
 
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Try downloading a 300mb installer over 2G... I have a 2g feature phone and the opera browser loads facebook ok which I guess is the workaround for these people. Not as convinient as an app however.
 
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Remember the days were Facebook came preintegrated or kinda preinstalled (along with twitter too!) on iOS 6 or 7?
Can’t remember properly and definitely was not fully aware nor couldn’t wrap around the potential consequences.
That wouldn’t budge today neither with us nor the antitrust gang.
 
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ian87w said:
Facebook just realized the lite version is not sucking as much user data as they wanted.

I encouraged people to not even install the Facebook app. Just bookmark the website and put it on your home screen if you really must have a Facebook icon on your phone.
Click to expand...

A standard behaviour is when you visit any site, let alone create an account with the site (and give away sensitive data such your phon number, physical address - if those are required, your "private" messages that are only private to you), they log every information about your browser and machine, geo-location, ISP etc. There's virtually no difference between you letting an enemy in by using its services in the form of an installed application or on-line. In the latter case, unless you make heavy use of VPN, anonymizers or Tor-like technology but this is a non-standard behaviour.
 
GeoStructural said:
Opening through Safari instead of the native app is a storage saver, however they get very annoying randomly asking you to download the app.
Click to expand...
Any website asking me to download the app is annoying. Even if I did, why would they want me to visit them less? I'm less likely to use an app buried on page 6 than a bookmark next to my other bookmarks.
 
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Hell, had I known this existed and it was available in the US, I probably would have used it too.

I hate bloated apps, and FB is a prime example of that.

Facebook peaked at the Blackberry version of the app.
 
At least it actually had dark mode... I installed TestFlight just so I could put this on my US phone to use dark mode...
 
I deleted the Facebook app when they took out messaging and tried to force me to have a second app—Messenger. The Safari version of Facebook works fine for my needs and if I need to message someone I just use a “Desktop” browser pretender app or a Mac to check Facebook.
 
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maverick28 said:
A standard behaviour is when you visit any site, let alone create an account with the site (and give away sensitive data such your phon number, physical address - if those are required, your "private" messages that are only private to you), they log every information about your browser and machine, geo-location, ISP etc. There's virtually no difference between you letting an enemy in by using its services in the form of an installed application or on-line. In the latter case, unless you make heavy use of VPN, anonymizers or Tor-like technology but this is a non-standard behaviour.
Click to expand...
There are more things a native app can have access to, like constant uploading of your contacts, access to your photos, access to more exact location, etc.

Of course, best course of action is to not use Facebook at all. However, that might not be possible for many. Thus simply accessing the site via a browser already limits a lot of things that Facebook can access on your phone.
 
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