Facebook-owned Instagram has added support for Instagram Reels on the Instagram Lite app in India. The app which takes up a meager space of around 2 Mb is designed for consuming minimal data.
Support for Instagram Reels in the Instagram Lite app is only available in India for now. This is because Instagram tends to release new features in India first. Even the Reels feature was first released in India. This was just after the Tik Tok ban in the country which led to users switching to other apps.
Instagram released a statement announcing the feature,
Now with this update, everyone using the Instagram Lite app in India will be able to view Reels with the Reels tab. This feature was expedited for India because of the traction Reels is seeing in India, and the early adoption of the new Instagram Lite app.
The statement also explained that Instagram Reels was doing fairly well in India so the decision made sense. This update will let users watch Reels in the app, the app will get a dedicated tab for Reels. The addition of Reels in the Instagram Lite app will take it to the next level.
For the unaware, the Instagram Lite was launched in India in December 2020. It was launched to enable users to use Instagram with minimal use of resources at a fast pace. It does not have all features of the original Instagram app. The dark mode which is a fan favorite is not present in the Instagram Lite app. IGTV and Shopping are absent from the app, but it still did well. Now, the support for Reels has made it more accessible to its users.
The support for Reels is not the only development on Instagram. The app has also made changes to its algorithm. The algorithm will now skip over Reels with content from Tiktok. It will limit the content with the Tiktok logo and watermark. This step will encourage users to create original on the app.
The support for Reels on the Instagram Lite app may be added in other countries but the company has not commented on the issue.