Meta discontinues Messenger Lite for Android, it will be unavailable after Sep 18. Users need to install regular Messenger app instead

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?

tiredofsametab,

I stopped using anything meta years ago. People who want to stay in touch with me and I them continued to stay in touch. If those people will not stay in touch with you, good riddance to them.

Rekorse,

Its really not that hard to use SMS or signal anyhow. I'm not entirely against WhatsApp either although I dont think I would ever leave it installed on my device long term

sempak,

I don’t use fakebook

I_Miss_Daniel,
I_Miss_Daniel avatar

This might be a bit annoying. On my Realme phone, no amount of setting changes stops it from killing Messenger randomly. It didn't kill Lite so I could trust it, and put up with it despite its issues.

Jimbo,
@Jimbo@yiffit.net avatar

And they put a notification on your phone about it that you can’t remove… this infuriates me more than it should

clb92,

Another reason my phone is rooted. I want to have the final say in whether I can remove a notification or not on my phone.

Mothra,
@Mothra@mander.xyz avatar

I’m also on the uninstall boat with y’all, for this reason. Lucky me, I haven’t used messenger in a year so when I saw the notification didn’t hesitate. Haven’t logged on FB in years so I doubt anyone will try to reach me there.

Rentlar,

Yeah I just turned off every notification from Messenger Lite after seeing that. Next month I might just uninstall it completely, or opt for the Matrix bridge.

sab, (edited )
sab avatar

At least on my phone I could swipe the notification a bit to the left to reveal the cog, "disable notifications", and disable the "standard" category of notifications.

In other news, there's no way in hell I'm installing the full app. People texting me there will just have to wait until I'm by a computer.

varaki,

Yes, but that is the same notification category as your default one for messages, so disabling it will result in no message notifications at all.

Suppoze,
@Suppoze@beehaw.org avatar

You’re right, I did not even notice the persistent notification! What a unnecessarily annoying move. This deserved an early bird uninstall for me…

DogMuffins,

Yeah I uninstalled as soon as I realised it was a persistent notification. Fuck that.

MentalEdge,
@MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz avatar

Matrix with a facebook messenger bridge? I know just the one finnish instance that offers bridging (pikaviestin.fi), though. I host my own home server.

jabberati,
@jabberati@social.anoxinon.de avatar

deleted_by_author

    •
    MentalEdge,
    @MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz avatar

    No

    Steeve,

    This probably won’t work for long since they’re rolling out E2EE for Messenger.

    MentalEdge,
    @MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz avatar

    It works with whatsapp.

    Steeve,

    Oh so it’s just basically a different UI over WhatsApp?

    MentalEdge,
    @MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz avatar

    No. Due to how whatsapp works, you have to have a phone with whatsapp installed, somewhere.

    The matrix bridge connects to that, and “puppets” your account, bringin those chats into your matrix account.

    Matrix can bridge to a ton of different chat services, but each one can work a little differently. They usually don’t support voice and video.

    Matrix is what’s behind the scenes for beeper, for example.

    Steeve,

    Ahh gotcha. Sounds neat!

    Birdcatname,

    Ever since Facebook forced the separate Messenger app, I’ve refused to install it. Instead, when I see a message notification, I pop into a browser, head to Facebook.com and push the desktop version. While it’s clunky, I’ve never had to download Messenger.

    Chriskmee,

    I hate to say this, but Facebook Messenger is one of the most fully featured messaging apps. It has its own internal messaging standard that offers iMessage like features between Facebook users, and it also is one of the better SMS apps out there.

    I can see why they make it its own app, it’s supposed to replace other messaging apps.

    WashedOver,
    @WashedOver@lemmy.ca avatar

    Same here. I wish Disa messenger app was maintained as it was my one stop shop for a few messenger apps.

    MagicShel,

    Same. This will change nothing for me. I refuse their bullshit.

    Steeve,

    You’re still using their shit, just in a very inconvenient way. In fact, you’re going to their site that contains targeted ads rather than using an ad free app. What a strange hill to die on.

    MagicShel,

    I have exactly one group that insists on communicating this way. Which is why this isn’t a big inconvenience for me. Your point is well taken, but doesn’t really apply in my case. I’m not a user of the service, which is why it’s so easy for me to refuse to install it, and hopefully I can use this to pressure the group to move to discord or some other means of communication. But if not I will continue to use the desktop site rather than install an app.

    Ulijin,

    I’m in the exact same position as you and take the same approach. It’s a hill I’m getting a mildly stubbed toe on.

    bobs_monkey,

    I’d rather have a slight inconvenience of seeing their ads on their website for the few moments I’d need to send a message than having their spyware of an app tracking everything I do all day long.

    Steeve,

    Not only is that not possible on both Android and iPhone nowadays, that’s a myth that’s never been remotely proven.

    Vrabielley,

    deleted_by_author

    •
    Steeve,

    Yeah, none of that means they’re tracking everything you do all day long.

    Vrabielley,

    deleted_by_author

    •
    Steeve, (edited )

    What? Nowhere does that say their apps are spying on you when you aren’t using them, this screen just says they have a cross app profile on you. You’ve clearly misinterpreted what this screen means, but “just keep sitting there and saying nuh uh”.

    but don’t try to persuade other more privacy savvy individuals otherwise.

    I’m a Data Engineer, in tech, focused on privacy. Lol

    www.facebook.com/privacy/policy?section_id=4-HowD…

    Seasoned_Greetings,

    Man, this is the single most ignorant comment I’ve seen regarding Facebook. You’ve never wondered how a company that offers a free product makes billions?

    If that list didn’t have anything on it except “location”, I’d still say that you’re wrong about them not tracking you. How can you read all of the other things on that list and not realize that selling your data is how they make money?

    Steeve,

    I work in tech privacy, I’m an expert in this space, it’s literally my job to know how this stuff works. I’ve had this conversation many times and the amount of times I’ve been called an idiot, ignorant, a shill, etc for trying to stop the spread of misinfo on here is fucking exhausting. But sure, let’s do it again.

    Facebook makes billions by selling targeted ads, not by selling your data. Facebook has never sold user data, that’s never even been a popular criticism of them. The “other companies” it mentions here are other Meta products. Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Oculus are all considered “other companies”, and even cross app linking is coming under regulation by the GDPR.

    You are being tracked on the internet via web cookies (not personal identifiable information), but that was never the topic of conversation, we were discussing whether or not you’re being spied on “all day long”. There’s a misconception that Facebook products listen to your conversations through your microphone or somehow root onto your phone and dig through your data without you knowing it. This doesn’t happen and there’s no reason to think it’s ever happened.

    Additionally, Facebook’s policy is that the content of private messages in Facebook Messenger is not used to target advertisements.

    And before you say you don’t believe them, look at the size of the GDPR fines that are being handed out. Lying about something like this has the potential to wipe out tens of bllions of the revenue of a company that makes $80-90B per year. That’s hugely significant. Getting caught once would absolutely obliterate their stock price.

    There are plenty of actual reasons to be skeptical of big tech and social media and your comment is nothing but a distraction.

    colournoun,

    mbasic.facebook.com still works. It’s missing some modern niceties, but usable. That’s what I use for occasional messages.

    bamboo,

    In my head, i read this URL as https://YaBasic.facebook.com

    DoucheBagMcSwag,

    I thought of a neck beard: “m’basic”

    Racle,
    @Racle@sopuli.xyz avatar

    www.messenger.com also works (requires to be running as desktop version). Still not ideal but works.

    twistedtxb,
    @twistedtxb@lemmy.ca avatar

    Why? I mean it’s much better to have the messenger app without all the facebook BS.

    Its very easy to disregard facebook in 2023, but Messenger is still one of the more prominent messaging app.

    Carter,

    Separate messaging app was the best thing they ever did. I’ve not had Facebook installed since.

    Dave, (edited )
    @Dave@lemmy.nz avatar

    Are you using video/audio call functionality? If not, get on the beeper waiting list. It supports connecting to facebook messenger, but it doesn’t support video/audio calls.

    Rentlar,

    Does it support image attachments sent via Messenger?

    Dave,
    @Dave@lemmy.nz avatar

    Yes, all file attachmemts. See chart here.

    Some quirks that I think are notable:

    • you can’t create new FB chats. To message someone, you must have already messaged them in the past. You can’t make group chats, but can reply to existing ones.
    • There isn’t a thumbs up button like on facebook. I just add a thumbs up emoji reaction to the comment as a replacement. If the other person thumbs up’s, it comes through as an image.
    • the above linked table mentions no support for “captioned media messages”. I’m not sure what that means (is it snapchat style image with text over it?) or how to do it but maybe this matters for you

    Otherwise FB messenger is one of the better supported platforms on beeper in terms of feature support.

    Rentlar,

    Ah, that’s excellent and just what I need. I’ll probably self host in the next two months.

    Dave,
    @Dave@lemmy.nz avatar

    Just remember the client itself is proprietary (as their business model will be client features), but the bridges are open source.

    So you can self-host a facebook bridge and matrix server, but you’ll need to connect to it from a matrix client. You can’t do it from the beeper applications.

    The Beeper application is a fork of element, but you should be able to use any matrix client. In the past I’ve self-hosted the facebook bridge and successfully used it with Element so don’t let it put you off 🙂

    idotherock,

    Yeh, it works pretty great. And they’re working hard to cut the waiting time down.

    Suppoze,
    @Suppoze@beehaw.org avatar

    Thank you for the tip, I’ll sign up. I occasionally use the audio call functionality, but shouldn’t be an issue.

    sab,
    sab avatar

    What keeps this from being blocked by the service providers like any other third party app?

    Dave,
    @Dave@lemmy.nz avatar

    Probably nothing. I haven’t heard of other apps being blocked. But Beeper has been running for like a couple of years now (but recently changed to a freemium model, before it was subscription only and had some people had been on the waiting list for a year+, they said they are aiming to get down to no wait in the next 3 months, and that was probably a month or two ago).

    If you think it’s at risk of being blocked, that doesn’t mean you can’t make hay while the sun is shining 🙂

    sab,
    sab avatar

    At least for third party WhatsApp clients, they have tended to go down by not only seizing to work, but with WhatsApp temporarily blocking any account connecting from them.

    I'm curious if there's a solution not so much for convenience on android, but it would be a game changer for Linux phones where WhatsApp and Facebook messager is not available at all except in the web interfaces. :)

    Dave,
    @Dave@lemmy.nz avatar

    It seems Whatsapp wants to keep their secure image, and doesn’t allow third party apps. Your only choice is basically to give the third party app your login details, which is against the Ts & Cs.

    Facebook provides a way to authorise third party apps and grant them access to your data. It seems to be a different end goal, and I couldn’t find anything about facebook banning peoples accounts or even blocking third party apps.

    jkmooney,
    jkmooney avatar

    NIce! Thanks :)

    SSUPII,

    So now people relying on the Lite variants will not be able to chat anymore, as Facebook Lite requires Messenger Lite a little time after it got released?

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