Instagram Lite is a lite version of Instagram designed for emerging markets

Instagram broke through 1 billion users last week, but to continue to grow, it has to find new markets, including in countries where mobile coverage is uneven and data expensive. To meet the needs of these users, the company launches Instagram Lite, a lite version of Instagram designed to sip and not swallow mobile data.

Instagram Lite appeared without fanfare on the Google Play Store, the company confirming the launch of TechCrunch saying that it is available in Mexico this week and that it's only going to be available. will expand to other countries in the future. An Instagram spokesperson said the new app "takes up less space on your device, uses less data and starts up faster," but did not say whether it would include commercials , which represents an additional loss of data.

The new app has a size of only 573 kilobytes – absolutely tiny! In comparison, the Instagram app on iOS is 246 times larger at 141 megabytes (the app varies in size on Android). You can post photos, share, and view articles on the app, but some features are currently unavailable, including video publishing and direct messaging between users. It is not clear if the mail will be available in Instagram Lite, or if the company will ignore it in order to push people to its standalone email application, Direct.

Launching a lightweight application has become a common practice for companies trying to expand beyond developed markets like Europe and the United States. Facebook has launched lite versions of its main Facebook application and Messenger, while Uber has done the same with Uber Lite.

And while these apps are designed for new markets, they can be attractive to any user. Messenger Lite, for example, gets rid of much of the useless joke that Facebook has pumped, leaving behind a more functional application. If Instagram is also getting overloaded (looking at you, banishing IGTV banners) maybe we'll all go to Instagram Lite instead.