Meta Ends Support for Messenger Lite App
Social networking giant Meta has announced its decision to discontinue support for the Messenger Lite app. According to reports, the app will no longer be available for use after September 18. While the Messenger Lite app is not listed on the Google Play Store, it can still be downloaded by users who had previously installed it.
Messenger Lite is a basic messaging app provided by Facebook, which lacks certain features found in the full-fledged Facebook Messenger app such as dark mode. The Lite version is designed to be simple and lightweight, allowing users to communicate without any extravagant design elements.
In a recent blog post, Timothy Buck, Product Manager at Messenger, revealed that Meta is expanding its testing for end-to-end encryption (E2EE) on Messenger. This move aims to enhance the security of personal messages and give users added confidence that their conversations will remain private. Meta plans to roll out default E2EE for one-to-one friends and family chats on Messenger by the end of this year.
In order to achieve scalable and reliable E2EE, the Messenger team has been learning from the WhatsApp engineering team, which has extensive experience in delivering messages at a large scale and high speed in an E2EE environment. The company has been streamlining the complexity of Messenger in an effort to provide a better user experience, especially for individuals with low connectivity.
It is worth mentioning that Meta recently introduced a feature called real-time avatar calls for Messenger. This feature allows users to participate in video calls without showing their real faces, offering a third option between having the camera on or off.
During a company-wide meeting, Ahmad Al-Dahle, Meta’s Vice President of AI, mentioned that the company plans to leverage its image generation model to enable Messenger users to create stickers based on text prompts. This feature will allow users to personalize their conversations with unique and creative stickers.
As Meta discontinues support for the Messenger Lite app, users will need to switch to alternative messaging apps or utilize the full-featured Facebook Messenger app for a more comprehensive messaging experience. The company’s focus on expanding end-to-end encryption and introducing innovative features reflects its commitment to providing secure and engaging communication platforms for its users.
