Facebook Lite could be seen as one of the many alternatives to Facebook; the difference is that it is also an app official, although not available everywhere!
For those who have never heard of it, Facebook Lite is an official alternative to the Facebook application for Android that we all know, designed with slow connections in mind and Android smartphones with not the latest performance, however meet the needs of emerging markets.
In fact, this app is light in terms of weight, tends to save data with some precautions that we will explain later and has little impact on system resources.
Facebook Lite vs Facebook: the difference 1">
Facebook Lite is present only on the Google Play Store of some selected markets and it cannot be installed via the official channel in the city, with the obvious disadvantages of the case - for example having to install an APK from a third-party site and do so manually to updates.
Are you curious about what Facebook Lite has that is different, better or worse than the main Facebook app? Let's find out together!
Facebook Lite vs Facebook
Interface
Facebook Lite's interface is neither better nor worse than Facebook's, it's just… different. By default, it shows up with large enough fonts (a big help for low resolution displays).
They are missing as one might expect ombre he graphic effects typical instead of the main app, making the navigation a little more "ugly" but not for this more uncomfortable.
After the login screen and any contact synchronization request, the timeline presented to us is in the style we all know. The various sections - News Feed, Friend Requests, Messages, Notifications, Search and Menu - are shown exactly as in the main app, with the the only difference is that it is not possible to swipe to move from one to the other.
Browsing the Facebook Lite timeline is certainly less pleasing to the eye than but, thanks to the compressed data and the few resources consumed, certainly more fluid compared to the older sister. The loading (of new contents with a swipe down or of the contents of the various sections) is notified with a green scroll bar - ugly but effective - placed at the top of the app.
Facebook Lite's notification list is quite similar to that of the main app, with the only difference being that the thumbnails of the profile photos are in low quality - this is to save data. Again, edges reduced to a minimum and non-existent graphic effects.
Functionality
The features, initially very meager, are now a lot similar to those present in the main app. More, Facebook Lite allows you to send and receive chat messages from the inside, without the need to install anything else. No chat heads or nice interfaces, just the minimum you need to send and receive messages - with lots of links, images and the many beloved stickers.
This feature may disappear soon, however, as Facebook recently made it available as well a Lite version of Messenger.
Otherwise, there are many features that Facebook Lite has in common with the main app. In fact, it is possible:
- change profile and cover picture;
- update profile and contact information;
- view the News Feed and reorder it for more relevant or newer content;
- access the Facebook profile settings;
- change the language, text size, activate or deactivate push notifications and sounds;
- customize the quality of the images displayed;
- enable or disable the loading of contacts and call and message history for better synchronization;
- publish photos (taken and already present), videos (taken on the fly and already present) and moods;
- activate and deactivate the chat, send and receive friend requests, view events, manage pages, groups and advertisements.
The shortcomings that could be felt most in Facebook Lite (instead present in Facebook) are:
- i video live;
- the ability to add emotions instead of just like; emotions added by others are displayed as likes;
- video comments;
- integration with some third party services (the Games and Moves platform, just to name a few);
- native integration with instagram (if the app is installed);
- the ability to save and view saved items;
- functionality "It Happened Today", unreachable; even friends' memories are not correctly displayed on the News Feed.
As we have mentioned, there is also a "lite" version of Messenger; however the apps are not integrated with each other and, since Facebook Lite has an integrated messaging system, if you decide to install Messenger Lite too, you will have to manually disable the message notifications; this is to avoid ending up with duplicate notifications.
Performances
This is probably the strong point of Facebook Lite. The installable APK weighs in about 1.15 MB (current stable version, 17) and yes installs in just over a second on current mid-range terminals. Once installed, Facebook Lite takes up about 8MB of space. A notable difference from the main app, which weighs today 66.36 MB (which rise to 100 once installed) and takes about 30 seconds to install.
The “savings” argument also applies to navigation: being designed mainly to work on 2G connections, the amount of data downloaded during navigation is significantly lower than its “big” competitor. Facebook Lite also does not automatically play videos present on the timeline nor embeds sponsored video content.
It is possible to upload images and videos in compressed quality and the loading is done in the background, contrary to what happens in Facebook. The navigation on the timeline is also excellent, “ugly” and often not as ordered as we would like, but fluid.
Facebook Lite running takes up between the 4 and the 5 MB RAM: very, very light.
In summary
The merits of Facebook Lite
Wanting to summarize what has been said so far, we can say that Facebook Lite:
- è light in terms of space and memory;
- USA less data compared to the main app;
- has the most used social features;
- offers smooth navigation;
- it is little (but very little) prone to crashes;
- is updated on a regular basis.
The defects of Facebook Lite
Facebook Lite is not without flaws. Personally I have been using it as my main app for some time now and I have seen the (notable) improvements in recent months. Nonetheless, some problems remain - which I do not think are insurmountable. Among them:
- the interface certainly not beautiful;
- geolocation that doesn't always work;
- the chronological order of the News Feed which is not always such;
- notifications relating to managed pages, which appear in the user profile but which cannot be viewed in detail;
- the inability to open external links with the system browser by default ("gift" introduced in the latest versions);
- the inability to open GIF images within the app;
- la need to update the APK manually.
And on top of all, just like Facebook, Facebook Lite also requires one flood of permits. In short, in Palo Alto the data just do not want to miss it, emerging markets or not!
Get Facebook Lite
As already mentioned, Facebook Lite is only available on the Google Play Store in some selected markets. If it is not present in our market, we can safely download Facebook Lite directly from APKMirror.
DOWNLOAD | Facebook (Lite) - APKMIRROR
Facebook Lite vs Facebook: the differences
