Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile
  3. News

Facebook adds video calling service to Messenger Lite app

Lulu Chang
By
Panithan Fakseemuang/123rf
Panithan Fakseemuang/123rf

Facebook Messenger Lite, the low-data version of Facebook Messenger that came to the United States last February, is getting video chat functionality in an upcoming update.

Recommended Videos

The app first debuted as a way for those with weak data connections — especially people in developing nations — to still experience Messenger. The app then made its way to the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, and Ireland, available on Android phones from the Google Play Store. Now, Facebook is expanding Messenger Lite to also include access to video chats.

Facebook says that video calls are subject to growing popularity on the normal Facebook Messenger app, with 17 billion video chats being undertaken throughout the whole of 2017 — twice the number seen in 2016. Face-to-face video calls are rapidly being seen as the next best thing to physically “being there”, whether that’s for birthday wishes, catching up, or just having a chat. Facebook is clearly hoping that users in developing markets and those with low data allowances will stick with Facebook’s services no matter their need, especially since competitors like Google’s Duo calling app are hoping to snag the market.

Emerging markets are becoming an increasingly important space for tech companies and their services, with companies like Google launching initiatives like Android Go that specifically target those areas, so it’s no wonder Facebook is also targeting countries that are not quite as advanced when it comes to connectivity and hardware. While users are still able to “quickly and easily send texts, photos, and links to anyone using Messenger or Messenger Lite,” the new app takes up much less space on a smartphone, and works with much weaker network conditions. “Messenger Lite was built to give people a great Messenger experience, no matter what technology they use or have access to,” Facebook engineering manager Tom Mulcahy wrote in the blog post announcing the app.

Super-lightweight at just under 10MB — 95 percent smaller than the full version of the app — Facebook Lite is both quick to install and start up. Messenger Lite first launched in five countries in October 2016, before debuting in many other countries around the globe in April 2017.

Updated on March 7: We’ve included the news that users can expect video calls on their Messenger Lite apps.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Lulu Chang
Lulu Chang
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Fascinated by the effects of technology on human interaction, Lulu believes that if her parents can use your new app…
ESPN app finally adds long-awaited feature
ESPN+

With its most recent update, the ESPN app has finally brought SharePlay support to all Apple device users. SharePlay has been a long-requested feature for ESPN+ as it allows iPhone and iPad owners to watch and share content across multiple devices via FaceTime.

When it was first introduced, SharePlay seemed like the perfect tool for a company like ESPN to utilize as watching sports games with friends and family is how many fans engage with games. Now that it's finally here, fans won't need to be in the same room to enjoy watching games together. This feature is especially welcome now in the current pandemic landscape that frequently keeps people from being physically close.

Read more
Oversubscribed to apps, services? How to tell and fix it
Apps on the home screen on the Oppo Find X5 Pro.

Let's say you’ve been thinking about food coupons, and you get an ad for a meal discount app! Or maybe you’ve been meaning to catch up on current affairs and you find an affordable news subscription service! 
It’s so exciting to find a new app or a super-relevant subscription service, especially if it claims to offer what we’ve been seeking. It’s tempting to hit download or subscribe. The dopamine hit of novelty is unparalleled. 
But soon you realize you’ve gone overboard. Downloading one or two apps here and there eventually ends up in a phone full of apps you barely open. Think of all the newsletters and subscriptions you've paid for, feeling all giddy. You promise yourself you’ll look at them when you have some free time, but it’s been weeks (or months!) since you last used these services. So why are you keeping them? Why not get rid of all the apps and services you’re oversubscribed to?
When you’re looking at all those colorful apps and services on your phone, it’s easy to lie to yourself and say, “oh, I need this,” aboutevery app, especially if you’ve already paid for it. Sometimes it can be genuinely difficult to separate rarely used apps from the ones you just don’t care about. Fortunately, there are many apps and services to help you figure out which apps to keep and which to let go of. Here’s a list of the best tools to manage and cancel your subscriptions.
Your phone’s app manager
If you’re sick of downloading apps, check out your phone’s built-in app manager. Most devices offer a list of apps that you can order based on your last usage time. So if you use Facebook daily but hardly open Tinder, Tinder will be displayed at the bottom with a “not used in 3 months” tag. 
This feature can help you quickly weed out apps and services that you haven’t even touched for months. 
App Store

Another alternative to directly cancel subscriptions without installing a new app to do so is by directly unsubscribing to apps and services from the app store. 
If you’re using the Apple app store, visit Settings > Subscriptions. Choose the service you want to cancel and select Cancel Subscription. 
Android users can select Payments & subscriptions > Subscriptions on the Google app store. Then click on an app or service you want to cancel and tap Cancel subscription. You can also unsubscribe temporarily by selecting Manage > Pause payments to put the payments on hold for a few weeks or months until you’re ready to use the app or service again.
Truebill budget and bill tracker

Read more
Messenger’s encrypted chats pick up user-friendly features
facebook privacy mark zuckerberg

Facebook Messenger's end-to-end encrypted mode, Secret Conversations, is getting a substantial update today. The company is including several new features that would make the mode attractive to use and bring it on par with regular messages, including typing indicators in chats, reactions, and GIF support.

Secret Conversations debuted a few years ago on Messenger, but it was fairly bare-bones, offering just one-on-one messaging support. The feature picked up support for end-to-end encrypted group chats and calls in summer 2021, and today's update enables almost everything you want from the regular Messenger app. This includes emoji reactions, typing indicators, GIFs and stickers, forwarding, and the ability to directly reply to messages. There are also media-related features that include the ability to save media and edit video or photos before sending. Messenger will also let you know when someone screenshots your conversation. Secret Conversations are meant to be secret after all, but no amount of encryption thwarts a simple PNG screenshot by the other party.

Read more