Instagram has released a ‘Lite’ version of its application, and it’s now available in the Play Store. Instagram has been available on Android for a long time now, and now, much like its parent company (Facebook), Instagram has decided to release a new version of the application for less powerful handsets. This application has been developed and released mainly for users in emerging markets, which is why the app is not available to everyone, at least not officially through the Play Store, you can still sideload it, of course.
Instagram’s main application is quite large, it weighs around 32MB, well, this ‘Lite’ version weighs only 573KB. Do keep in mind that Instagram did not release an official announcement for this app (at the time of writing this article), the app only appeared on the Play Store, though it’s possible that Instagram will offer us an official press release later today. Instagram’s spokesperson did, however, tell TechCrunch that the company has only started testing this app in Mexico this week, so it’s possible that its availability is limited to Mexico for the time being, the spokesperson was rather unclear on that. This version of the app lets you view both photos and stories on Instagram, while it also allows you to use the Explore tab, but you can’t share videos through it. Direct messaging is also not included in this application, and it remains to be seen in which markets will Instagram release this app.
It’s worth noting that Facebook released both ‘Facebook Lite’ and ‘Messenger Lite’ applications, and that both of those apps are available on a global scale, basically, but they were not from the get-go, so it remains to be seen if Instagram Lite will follow in those very same footsteps, or will Instagram release it on a global scale once the testing period is over. In any case, if you’re interested in trying out Instagram Lite, you can click on the Google Play banner down below and see if the app is available to you via the Play Store at the moment, if not, you’ll have to wait until it becomes available, or until someone pulls out an APK of the app.
