Meta is shutting down Messenger Lite, its lightweight stripped-down version of Messenger, the company confirmed to TechCrunch. The users of the app start receiving a message saying they should "use Messenger to keep chatting." The app has been removed from the Google Play Store for new users, and it will no longer be supported after September 18.

"Starting August 21, Messenger Lite for Android users will be redirected to either Messenger or FB Lite to send and receive messages on Messenger," a spokesperson for Meta said in an email to TechCrunch.

Meta then was Facebook launched Messenger Lite for Android in 2016 for less-powerful Android users. The application only offers core features of Messenger to consume fewer amounts of storage and processing power.

Although Meta released Messenger Lite on iOS, the company discontinued it back in 2020.

At one point, the Lite versions of the app had combined downloads estimated at around 760 million worldwide, which data analytics firm data.ai says is mostly from India followed by Brazil and Indonesia. Lifetime downloads ranked the United States No. 8.

The news comes at a time when Meta recently announced that Messenger is dropping SMS support next month. The company's notification to users claimed that "you will no longer be able to use Messenger to send and receive SMS messages sent by your cellular network when you update your app after September 28, 2023".

Meta said on Tuesday that it plans to enable end-to-end encryption for Messenger by the end of this year. And in the process, it is widening its pilot test for end-to-end encryption features to "millions more people's chats."