Facebook unveils Messenger Lite app for slow internet markets

Facebook has launched Messenger Lite, a stand-alone version of Messenger for Android that offers core features of Messenger for markets with slower than average internet speeds.

Facebook has launched Messenger Lite, a stand-alone version of Messenger for Android that offers core features of Messenger for markets with slower than average internet speeds.

"Messenger Lite is starting to roll out to people in Kenya, Tunisia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Venezuela and will come in other countries in upcoming months," Tom Mulcahy, Engineering Manager for Messenger Lite, said in a blog post.

More than one billion people around the world use Messenger every month from a range of mobile devices on networks of various speeds and reliability.

Messenger Lite is under 10MB, includes Messenger's core experiences such as messaging, sending and receiving photos and links and receiving stickers.

It uses the same bolt logo as Messenger but with colours reversed. The bolt is blue with a white chat bubble background.

"With Messenger Lite, more people can stay in contact, regardless of network conditions or storage limitations on their Android devices," Mulcahy added.