Facebook today announced that it is rolling out video chat on Massager Lite, a lightweight version of Messenger for Android that offers core features of the app to the users of low-end devices and slower internet connections.
“Video chats are an expected and essential part of everyday communication in today’s messaging experience. Chatting face-to-face live is perfect for those moments when you want to see and hear the voices of people you care about most – whether you’re wishing someone a happy birthday, you have some great news to share, or you spontaneously want to catch up on the day,” the company said in a blog post.
Facebook had initially launched Messenger Lite in 2015 in a bid to app’s boost usage in developing countries where majority of the people have less capable phones and don’t have access to fast internet connections.
Lite, which takes up only 10MB storage on the phone, already offers all core features of the main app including text messaging, photos, links and stickers and audio calls.
The newest feature is video chat – which you can activate by tapping video icon in the upper right corner of the screen during an existing or new conversation or audio call.
“Video chats are an expected and essential part of everyday communication in today’s messaging experience,” Facebook notes.
Video chat is incredibly popular among the users of the standard Messenger app.
Messages Lite already offers all core features of the main app including text messaging, photos, links and stickers and audio calls.
According to Facebook, around 17 billion video chats took place on the app in 2017, nearly double to that recorded in 2016.
“Chatting face-to-face live is perfect for those moments when you want to see and hear the voices of people you care about most – whether you’re wishing someone a happy birthday, you have some great news to share, or you spontaneously want to catch up on the day,” the company said.
Messenger Lite is available in more than hundred countries today with over 100 million installs on Google Play Store, most of which came from India, Brazil, and Indonesia.
The standard Messenger app has around 700 million installs on the platform.
Interestingly, India and Indonesia are also two strongest markets for the main Messenger app. United States and Brazil come up at third and fourth respectively in Messenger installs via Play Store since the launch of Messenger Lite.
The Android users in US account for only 2% of Messenger Lite installs.