Newsletter
Facebook has announced that a new update for Messenger Lite is now rolling out, and it’s bringing plenty of new functionality, while still keeping the app under 10MB in size. Thus far, you were able to receive GIFs in Messenger Lite, but they were not animated, unless you clicked on them and waited a bit for everything to load. Well, that changes now, if you receive a GIFs, it will be animated, and you can also send regular GIFs, but not through the app. In order to send a regular GIF which will present itself as it should to the person you’re sending it to, you’ll need to use a third-party keyboard, such as Gboard, for example, which supports GIF sending. All you have to do is search for a GIF via the keyboard, and send it.
That’s not all, though, Facebook is also bringing some more customization to the app as well. Once this update hits your device, you will be able to customize your conversations with different people and groups, similar to what you can do in the regular Messenger application. You will be able to change chat color, and also give nicknames to people you’re talking to. Much like with a regular Messenger app, any change that you make to a chat color, will be visible to the person that is in that conversation, same goes for nicknames as well. People will also see an update in the chat itself, that you’ve made the change, and in order to access these features for customization, all you need is hit the info button in the top-right corner of the display.
On top of everything, Facebook is also allowing Messenger Lite users to share a file, picture, video, or an audio file with contacts. All you have to do is tap the “+” sign, select what you want, and hit send. Truth be said, you were able to send pictures and various other content thus far as well, but those pictures were not portrayed as they are when you send them in the regular Messenger app, well, that changes here, as the integration is much better, not to mention that you can now send all sorts of files through the app. Facebook promised more quality improvements for Messenger Lite moving forward, such as removing bugs and generally improving the functionality of the application.
Background: Messenger Lite was released back in October 2016, and it was originally limited to only some markets. Over time, Facebook made this app available pretty much everywhere. This application is actually supposed to be a toned-down version of the company’s Messenger application, as the Messenger app managed to become extremely bloated over time, as Facebook included all sorts of services in there that are simply not necessary when it comes to a messaging application, and the app not only become bloated, but a real battery waster as well. Messenger Lite is much better when it comes to the battery department, and it doesn’t have near as much bloat as Messenger.
Impact: These changes that Facebook made to the Messenger Lite app actually make the app a bit better overall, as they add more customizability and functionality to the table, without making the app more bloated by introducing some additional services or anything of the sort. People will quite probably appreciate having the option to play around with chat colors, sending GIFs, and so on. This update is already rolling out to Messenger Lite users, and these features should become available to you really soon, if they haven’t already.