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Meta discontinues Messenger Lite for Android, it will be unavailable after Sep 18. Users need to install regular Messenger app instead (beehaw.org)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/technology@beehaw.org
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I have not found any news article on this on a whim. Because my friends and family, I need to use Facebook Messenger, and Messenger Lite was a OK client - lightweight, no unnecessary features, etc., compared to the regular Messenger app.

Now I'm a little torn, having a Meta app on my phone is already bad, but having to downgrade to the bloated Messenger app? Not sure I will make a change. What are your thoughts?

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[–] 6 points 2 years ago (5 children)

The only and I say the only good thing I can say about Facebook Messenger is... umm...

Can somebody name at least one thing? Really, this app is shit but we must find one at least.

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  • [–] 10 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    At least in Australia it's by far the most popular messenger app. It wins by a landslide thanks to the network effect.

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  • [–] 7 points 2 years ago

    Yes, people using it as the main messaging app is still preferable to the situation in the US where people on different mobile platforms can't message each other without bullshit compatibility issues and bubble colors.

    At least here it doesn't matter what platform you're on - including desktops and the web - and as a result nobody cares.

    Of course, the same is true for almost every other messaging service too, and there are better ones out there.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Back when people used Facebook, it was a convenient way to connect people to chats quickly and easily. I don't think that's the case anymore though.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago

    It isn't. Adding someone is always digging through people with the same name and searching for "that one with glasses on profile picture". There are some codes to scan, but they are Facebook's custom format incompatible with QR code scanners and inconvinient to use.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago

    Facebook Messenger is probably the closest thing to a modern Yellow Pages as we have. Not everybody is on there, but most people are - even if they haven't checked their profile in years. With the fall of landlines, it can be the easiest (or only) way to find/contact someone - especially if you're a GenX or early Millennial because we have all dropped out landlines, but we created most of our social connections before any other messaging service existed. Heck, almost none of the people I knew from college in the 90s even had an email address that they stuck with (assuming I actually had email logs going back thirty years). It's nice that so many message services exist, but most have no way to "look someone up" the way it's possible to do on something like messenger/fb. (admittedly - it's both good and bad)

    I suppose there's a chance that LinkedIn is the other major database of real names out there; I've never tried it for locating people.

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