This application is really designed for the Instagram experience to be extended in countries with emerging economies. Instagram knows that there is still a lot of market to explore, only that its potential users do not have terminals with great features.
Instagram Lite takes up a lot less space on Android phones. It is a simplified version of the standard app. The idea is that the experience of using the platform is usable in those countries or places that do not have very advanced communications infrastructure or between users who have old phones.
Main advantages of Instagram Lite
- Takes up less space: Uses less memory for both the app download and the APK itself on the phone.
- Consume less data: The design of the application itself is focused on responsible use of data. This is especially useful if we are going to use the social network in a place where we do not have good connectivity.
Why are you interested in Instagram Lite?
The audience that Meta thought of when creating Instagram Lite was India. However, the application may interest you, regardless of the country you live in.
You may live in a town that has poor coverage and using Instagram seems like an ordeal due to loading times. Or you may have at home a old terminal that you want to take advantage of, but that is not compatible with the latest Instagram app. In these cases, Instagram Lite can be a great help.
How to install Instagram Lite
As of March 2021, Instagram Lite is rolling out in more than 170 countries. Most of these have emerging economies or are regions that have poor internet connectivity. Meta’s plans are being fulfilled, since the country that is using this app the most today is India.
To install the app on your Android phone there are two alternatives:
From the Play Store
This is the easiest method, but it may not work for you, since Instagram Lite is limited by territories and also by terminals.
Just in case, do the following steps in case you can install the app directly with this method:
- Enter the Play Store of your Android phone.
- Search ‘Instagram Lite‘ in the browser.
- Observe the result. If the search only shows you the standard Instagram application, your mobile or territory is not available to download the app. In this case, you will have to perform the alternative method.
- If the result shows you Instagram Lite, install it on your terminal and log in with your data to be able to use the app.
From outside the Play Store
Most users who are reading this guide will have to install the app from this other method. It’s a bit more tedious, but if you follow all the steps, you’ll be able to have the app in the terminal and update it quite easily:
Activate the installation of third-party apps
Before we start, we will activate the installation of apps with Unknown origins. It is done this way:
- go to the Settings of your Android terminal.
- Access the section Applications.
- Tap on ‘Special Application Access‘.
- Browse the entire list and enter ‘Install apps with unknown origin‘.
- Activate the option and accept the alert that will appear next.
This process enables the installation of third-party apps. By default, it is disabled in your terminal for security reasons. Now, you can install apps directly by downloading .APK files. However, you should be careful what you download from now on, as you could run a malware if you use an unreliable source. In this guide we will show you only trusted repositories.
Install Apptoide
This step can be skipped, but doing so ensures that we will always have Instagram Lite on our mobile updated to the latest version. Follow the next steps:
- go to browser of your terminal.
- Go to en.apptoide.com
- Download the app. You will get a balloon on the main screen of the web to do it.
- Once downloaded, run it. If you have done the previous steps correctly, your terminal will allow you to do so without hindrance.
- Now, you already have the Apptoide store on your Android.
Install Instagram Lite
Once the previous steps are done, we will open Apptoide and search for ‘InstagramLite‘. In the list of results you can select the version of the app that interests you the most.
Once you install the app, you can easily update it from the Apptoide app (there are alternative ways to install the app, but each update would force you to search for each APK separately, which is not optimal).
What differences are there between Instagram and its Lite version?
- Interface: Instagram Lite’s UX/UI is simpler and less cluttered.
- app size: Instagram Lite is compiled in a way that takes up less space. The current app occupies only 2 MB.
- data consumption: The Lite version of Instagram does not have a data consumption (networks and mobile) as high as in the standard edition.
- Features– Some Instagram functionalities are cut in the Lite version. Direct is not available in this app.
- Information loading: Stories, Reels, Posts… in general, by pulling less data, the Lite app loads less cached content, making for a slightly less immersive experience than the full app.
