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‘Instagram Lite’ in testing on Android w/ photo feed, stories, weighs in at under 1MB

Over the past couple of years, many popular apps have debuted “lite” alternatives with smaller sizes and reduced performance requirements. Now, Instagram is debuting one of those as well.

Instagram Lite debuted on Google Play this week for Android devices and it delivers the same experience users have come to love, but at a fraction of the storage size. The standard Instagram starts out as a 32MB download from the Play Store, but this new Lite version is just 573KB. Needless to say, that’s pretty impressive.

Just like the regular app, users of Instagram Lite can log in to their accounts, post photos, view their feeds, and even watch and make stories. The app also offers access to the “Explore” tab. Unfortunately, videos and direct messages aren’t supported yet, and newer features such as IGTV are nowhere to be found either.

Instagram confirmed to TechCrunch that testing for this new app kicked off in Mexico this week, and over time the company intends to expand the app to new countries. It will also add support for videos and direct messages later on.

9to5Google’s Take

We all store a lot of apps on our smartphones, but on low-end devices with minimal storage, keeping the ones you care about can be tough. Instagram Lite remedies this issue and makes Instagram more accessible to people in developing countries that may not have the luxury of top-tier phones.


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