San Francisco, Aug 25 (IANS): Meta is shutting down the Messenger Lite app, the lightweight stripped-down version of Messenger, on Android.

Currently, users of the app are receiving a message that advises them to “use Messenger to keep chatting", reports TechCrunch.

The app has already been removed from the Google Play Store for new users and will no longer be available after September 18 for existing users.

“Starting August 21, people using the Messenger Lite app for Android will be directed to Messenger or FB Lite to send and receive messages on Messenger,” a Meta spokesperson told TechCrunch in an email.

In 2016, Meta (then known as Facebook) had introduced Messenger Lite for Android for users with less-powerful Android devices, offering only the essential features of the instant messaging app to consume less storage space and processing power.

Even thoughMeta released Messenger Lite for iOS, the company had discontinued it in 2020.

According to mobile analytics firmdata.ai, the Lite versions of the app had combined downloads of around 760 million globally, with India holding the single largest portion, followed by Brazil and Indonesia.

Meta recently announced that Messenger will drop SMS support next month.

It had notified users that they “will no longer be able to use Messenger to send and receive SMS messages sent by your cellular network when you update your app after September 28, 2023”.

Earlier this week, Meta had announced its plans to release default end-to-end encryption on Messenger by the end of this year.