Instagram has silently released a version of their famous app in an attempt to appeal to the silent majority of what they hope are a billion new users for their app. This new app is called Instagram Lite.

You are probably wondering where Instagram thinks they can find a billion new users as everyone with an internet connection already seems to be on Instagram. The answer lies in the developing countries, where people do have access to internet but it’s in short supply compared to the developed countries such as the USA and UK.

This new app caters for the needs of those living in the developing world in various ways, the main feature being the size of the app. It is a mere 573 kilobytes which means it doesn’t take up much room on the users’ phone. If people in developing countries wanted to download the regular version of Instagram, their phone’s storage would be taken up with a whopping 32 megabytes that the app needs which may result in deleting something on their phone to make room. This also means that the app doesn’t take so long to download.

But despite the size, the app’s functionality provides users with a similar user experience to Instagram. You can take and post photos, have access to stories, browse and explore and even use Instagram’s famous filters. The only downside is that you can’t Direct Message or share videos but who’s to say when this app becomes more popular, they won’t work on giving Instagram Lite more features of the original.

This is not the first time Instagram has tried to make their service reach a wider audience by targeting less developed countries. As a few years ago, Instagram went about this by enhancing its website so it can be viewed on a phone without having to download the app. This meant that Instagram could combat the internet speeds and cost of data that its users would have to endure if they had to download the app instead.

It can be seen as very beneficial to everyone involved that Instagram is going out of their way by developing a whole new version of its app, with the sole purpose of appealing to those in less developed countries. The internet can provide so much opportunity for everyone therefore not being able to connect to it can be a massive disadvantage, so if there are more people online then this can only be a positive thing. Perhaps, influential people in the technology industry will follow Instagram’s example and start catering more for developing countries too.

https://techcrunch.com/2018/06/27/instagram-lite/
https://techcrunch.com/2017/05/08/instagram-mobile-web/