Instagram Lite has been quietly launched as the app popped up on Google’s Play Store. However, it seems it isn’t available in some countries yet. Instagram is targeting developing countries and individuals who want to save a lot of data.
The app will be available in the App Store for all countries in the coming days. According to Instagram, “the Instagram Lite app is lightweight, allowing you to save space on your phone. The Instagram Lite has just 573 kilobytes which means is 60 times smaller than the size of the normal Instagram app which is just 32MB.
With the new app, you can post photos and add filters as usual. Post videos or photos to stories and also watch them while browsing the explore page. It does almost everything the normal Instagram app does, however, you can’t send or receive direct messages yet nor share videos. But that’s subject to change with time, according to the company.
Instagram Lite is perfect for many users that are using a phone with 16GB storage space or less. With every app having a “Lite” version, we all knew Instagram would follow suit. Even Google created Android Go for devices with 1GB RAM and below. The app also consumes less data than the normal Instagram app.
The app is still in a Beta mode and it’s currently being tested in Mexico. This is coming just days after Instagram released the IGTV app for video content. Just like the IGTV, we don’t know for sure if there would be ads on Instagram Lite, as that might make the app not as smooth as expected.
Instagram is growing, with almost 100 million users joining the platform every four to five months. The platform currently has 1 billion active users monthly, that’s almost 20% of the world population right there. So certainly a lot of people will download the Lite version of the app.
With Instagram being in direct competition with Snapchat. We can’t wait for Snapchat to release its light version as well, even though we think Snapchat is giving Instagram unnecessary space to dominate them as they focus on the developing world. Nonetheless, Snapchat has always neglected the international markets and focuses on U.S. teens, leaving the door open for Instagram and WhatsApp.
