Twitter is making it easier for users to keep on tweeting even when they have a poor data connection.
The company today unveiled its new Twitter Lite web app, which is optimized to deliver a smooth and snappy experience over slow and spotty connections. You can access it in your browser, so you don’t even need to download to get started.
Twitter says that bad data connections, expensive plans, and a lack of storage on mobile devices are some of the biggest barriers to accessing its service. Despite smartphone usage reaching an all-time high in 2016, data shows that 45 percent of users are still on slow 2G networks.
That’s why it built Twitter Lite. Available through a mobile browser, it requires no download or App Store account. It minimizes data usage to keep you connected when coverage is spotty, and it takes up less than 1MB of space on your handset.
Twitter Lite offers all of the fundamental Twitter features, including your timeline, tweets, direct messages, trends, profiles, media uploads, and more. There’s also a data saver mode that requires even less data by previewing images before completely loading them.
If you’re on Android using Google Chrome, you’ll also get push notifications, offline support, and the ability to add a Twitter Lite shortcut to your home screen.
Although its primary target is emerging markets across Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Africa, Twitter Lite can be used anywhere. It’s ideal if you find yourself in an area with unreliable data, and you need to get online to find out what’s trending.
You can access Twitter Lite simply by visiting mobile.twitter.com in your browser.
