A new version of Instagram Lite begins to test in India

At the first ‘Facebook Fuel For India’ virtual event, the company announced the test of a new version of Instagram Lite in India. The app is meant to provide access and a high quality Instagram experience to people in India, irrespective of the device, platform and network they are on. 

Instagram has released a slew of new features in the past few months, that have either debuted in India or India has been one of the first countries to test it. This includes Reels, the Reels tab and Live Rooms. Now, Instagram is extending the test of Instagram Lite to people in India. The app is less than 2MB in size and is built to deliver an Instagram experience that remains fast and reliable for more people. 

Vishal Shah, VP of Product, Instagram at Facebook, said, “India is such an important country for us and has been a testing ground for innovation, thanks to the natural creativity and entrepreneurial spirit we see here. With the test of Instagram Lite, we’re aiming to enable expression for a greater number of people in India, in response to feedback we’ve heard from the country. We’re also hoping to gain valuable insights before a global rollout.” 

Early this year there was research conducted in India, to ascertain the attractiveness and comprehension of new products, and one barrier that was observed was the compromised internet experience, as a result of low memory phones and heavy-sized apps. This set the context for the test of Instagram Lite, and India is a primary test country  for it. The Instagram Lite app is created to bring the core Instagram experience to people who do not have an Instagram experience today. The app is made for Android and this new version has improved speed, performance, and responsiveness. The experience is similar to the core Instagram app experience, though there are some features that are not currently supported such as Reels, Shopping and IGTV. The app will be available in Bangla, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil and Telugu.

At ‘Facebook Fuel For India’, Instagram also shared stories from creators, communities and brands who have uniquely used Instagram to express themselves. ‘Born on Instagram’ was also mentioned, as a unique program from India, that emerged because of the creativity witnessed by young people across India, and has helped discover, grow and showcase creators from Bhatinda to Hubli.