A few days ago, Facebook quietly introduced a “Lite” version of its Facebook app for iOS devices, but only in a single market, Turkey. The app had been previously available only on Android. Today, the company is following suit with a launch of Messenger Lite on iOS, again just in Turkey.
The launch was first spotted by app intelligence firm Sensor Tower.
Like the Facebook Lite iOS launch, Messenger Lite for iOS also touts a much smaller download size than the normal version, which today clocks in at a whopping 140MB.
Instead, Facebook Lite on iOS is only 10MB in size, the App Store description notes. That’s actually a bit bigger than Facebook Lite for iOS, which came in at 5MB, we should note.
The new app also claims to use less mobile data than Messenger proper, and installs quickly and runs efficiently.
Like Messenger, the chat app can be used with individuals or groups to send text messages, photos, videos, or links. However, according to comments from early users, the Lite version doesn’t show when contacts are online through a “status” dot on their profile or in a menu.
This is a similar feature set to Facebook Lite on Android, which also supports voice and video calls.
While the app instead has only been released to Turkey for the time being, it’s available in several other languages, which could be a hint of markets to come.
As the app is just getting off the ground, it’s only ranked at No. 99 for Social Networking on iPhone, and No. 26 on iPad as of the time of writing.