Instagram Lite reboot squeezes the app into a 2MB package

Facebook is today relaunching Instagram Lite, a stripped-down version of the image-sharing app designed for users in emerging markets. Developed by Facebook’s team in Tel Aviv, the birthplace of Facebook Lite and Messenger Lite, the app’s package size is just 2MB. The team said that the focus, like with the other launches, was on users whose smartphones lack storage capacity, processing power and reliable data. In order to reach that size, the app focuses on images, video and messaging, ditching other features and flourishes that fade into the background on the full-fat version of the app.

Instagram Lite still has the main feed, as well as Stories — the ephemeral messaging feature cribbed from Snapchat — but not IG Live or Shopping. Engineering manager Gal Zellermayer said that, as well as live filters and other AR effects that wouldn’t work on low-power devices, animations have been edited down. He cited the example of the cube animation seen when swiping between different users’ Stories, a very processor and data-intensive transition that didn’t work well on older devices, which has been removed. Zellermayer added that a lot of extra compression work is handled on the …read more