The "Lite" version of Twitter is branching out.
The microblogging service on Thursday announced that it is making its Twitter Lite Android app available in the Google Play Store in 24 more countries across Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America after testing it in the Philippines since September. Check out the full list of countries where Twitter Lite is launching in the Google Play Store below.
Twitter Lite first launched globally on the web in April, offering all of Twitter's core features including timeline, Tweets, Direct Messages, trends, profiles, media uploads, and notifications, while consuming less data. Aimed at users in emerging markets, the mobile web-based experience "loads quicker on slower connections, and is more resilient on unreliable mobile networks," according to Twitter Product Manager Jesar Shah.
This fall, Twitter tested making it available directly in Google Play in the Philippines as an app to increase discoverability.
"Through on-the-ground user research and Play Store reviews, we received a lot of valuable feedback," Shah wrote in a Thursday blog post. "People using the app valued its small size, quick loading, and minimal data usage. Based on these positive results, we have decided to bring it to more people around the world."
Both the app and mobile web version load quickly on 2G and 3G networks and offer offline support just in case your connection goes out. They feature a "data saver mode," which will let you download just the images or videos you want to see. The app requires just 3MB of storage space, so it won't take up too much room on your phone. In contrast, the standard Twitter app for Android takes 23MB of space.
Over the past few months, Twitter has beefed up Twitter Lite with a few additional features, including GIF search and ranked home timelines. The company said tweets sent from Twitter Lite have increased more than 50 percent since it first launched in April.
Here's the full list of countries where Twitter Lite is launching in the Google Play Store: Algeria, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Egypt, Israel, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Malaysia, Nigeria, Nepal, Panama, Peru, Serbia, El Salvador, South Africa, Thailand, Tunisia, Tanzania, and Venezuela.