Facebook Lite

In theory, Facebook Lite is meant to do the same job as Facebook Sr., that is, provide access to your Facebook account, but take fewer resources, saving your data, and leaving more free space on your device. Was it really so, though, everybody would have ditched the original app. So, what’s between Facebook Lite and perfection?

Design and Usability 7/10

The first thing to mention in this Facebook Lite review is its design. It will look familiar to you if you have used the original app. If you still have the original Facebook or Messenger app, Facebook Lite will fetch your data from there, so you won’t have to reenter your password (unless you do want to use it with another account).

In theory, the app should load pages, statuses, and photos faster, saving your data due to preprocessing of your feed (as the server recognizes the client). In fact, there are numerous complaints that the app works way slower than the main one. More exotic complaints are also here – in particular, the impossibility to watch videos. I checked some, and they all loaded, but sometimes it took too long to start, from a minute to two and more.

Key Functions 10/10

This app has all that the Facebook app should necessarily have. Necessarily is the word: ditched are features like caching photos and videos, and some others. It’s surprising that there was little to drop at all. The developers even kept the original reactions (missing completely in Messenger Lite). So you can read posts, comment them, react, share, reply to comments, save photos to your own page or to your device, and do most things you usually do on Facebook.

The most important difference, though, is no need to have a separate Messenger app (even Lite). Messaging features are already in. Using it is intuitive; in fact, you have a tab in the app that functions like the standalone Messenger. In theory, it should be lightning fast. In real life, it’s not spared by the overall sluggishness that every action is slowed down with.

Security & App Purchases 8/10

Like most apps by Facebook, it’s basically free (unless you intend to advertise something, but then it’s the ad you pay for, not the access). You can even save on your data, in case Facebook isn’t provided by your carrier for free.

As for security… hmm… it’s Facebook, enough said. No one can grant your data won’t leak, or a troll attack won’t talk moderators into removing it at all. With this app, there is a risk that your status, picture or comment won’t be published at all, or will appear twice.

Conclusion

We recommend you to download Facebook Lite if you have an old or budget phone, or if you are not caring about having the latest versions and the most advanced features. But it should be mentioned that its popularity is much lower than Facebook’s app. Maybe it’s because we always want the best, the fullest-fledged? As for me, Facebook Lite is just too buggy.