Built In Tel Aviv, Instagram Lite Rolls Out In 170 Countries

Facebook is beginning the roll out of Instagram Lite – a lighter, faster product designed for low-speed internet connections and lower-end smartphones – in 170 countries this week, including Israel, with plans for a global launch in the near future.Like Facebook Lite over five years ago, Instagram Lite was developed by a team of engineers, designers, and product managers among hundreds of employees at Facebook’s R&D hub in Tel Aviv, the largest such center outside the US. The work was done in collaboration with a New York-based team including Instagram engineering, product, design, and research.Instagram Lite weighs less than 2MB, allowing for quick installation and load time, and low storage consumption. It will offer the core features of the app including the feed, stories, filters, direct messaging, and some IGTV capabilities. Instagram Lite will allow for the Instagram experience to remain fast and reliable irrespective of the device, platform, and network, the company says.To do this, much of the code actually runs on Facebook’s servers rather than the users’ devices to save on space and processing (like Facebook Lite).The target audience for the app is also the same as for Facebook Lite: hundreds of millions of mobile users in emerging markets…
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