💾 Archived View for jsreed5.org › log › 2023 › 202309 › 20230919-messenger-lite-isnt-dead.gmi captured on 2024-02-05 at 09:52:09. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
⬅️ Previous capture (2023-09-28)
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One of the very few big tech services I still use is Facebook Messenger. I don't like it, but it's the only method I have of contacting many of my friends in real life, so I put up with it. To help a little bit, I've deactivated my main Facebook account, and on my smartphone I insist on using Messenger Lite with almost all permissions revoked.
Last month Meta announced the discontinuation of Messenger Lite. Facebook began inserting notifications into the app telling people to switch to either Facebook Lite or the full Messenger app. These notifications were pinned to the top of the app screen and could not be dismissed.
I steadfastly refuse to install the full Messenger app. It uses way too many resources, requires way too many permissions, and I have no interest in ninety percent of its feature set. But of course, this led to a conundrum for me.
I love archiving things, and a side effect of that love is that I keep old versions of almost all the apps on my smartphone. This includes old versions of Messenger Lite. The most recent version made by Meta was 338, but I have a few previous versions dating all the way back to version 37. As a test, I decided to downgrade my app to version 108, a version I chose arbitrarily because it was the last version that featured a fully blue logo.
Facebook ended the Messenger Lite service yesterday, the 18th of September. This morning I opened up my app to check my messages, and lo and behold, new communications were still arriving and being sent successfully. No update nag, no unnecessary features, no fuss.
I doubt this trick will work forever--it may not even last until the end of the year. If that happens, I plan to switch to one of the excellent Facebook wrapper apps on F-Droid. I'd rather reactivate my main account than be forced to use an app I can't validate and don't trust.
If you use Facebook Messenger and don't want to give up on Messenger Lite, downgraded versions still work, for now.
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[Last updated: 2023-09-19]