Facebook rolled out the less data-intensive, Android-only version of Instagram (Instagram Lite) to 170 countries this week. The app takes up only 2 MB and is geared toward emerging markets, where consumers are more likely to use Androids and/or be sensitive to the costs of excessive mobile data usage. Many mobile apps already create lite versions for this very reason, but Facebook noted that this was particularly challenging for Instagram given the app’s wide array and ever-increasing set of features. The slimmed-down Instagram Lite will not include advertising, shopping, or the ability to make TikTok-like Reels, although users will still be able to view Reels. Facebook did, however, say that advertising will be coming to Instagram Lite in a future update.
Instagram’s worldwide user base has seen strong growth over the past year, surpassing 1 billion users in 2020 for the first time. Due largely to the effects of the pandemic, Instagram hit the 1 billion mark roughly four years earlier than we had anticipated in our pre-pandemic forecast. India, Vietnam, and Mexico were the three fastest-growing countries for Instagram in 2020, and growth in the coming year could be aided by the launch of Instagram Lite. For context, last year, Instagram’s global user base was about half the size of Facebook’s, which had roughly 1.90 billion. But in three countries—Japan, South Korea, and Russia—Instagram actually had more users than Facebook.