Spotify wants to tap into emerging markets and is launching Spotify Lite — a slimmed-down version of its popular music streaming app.
Much like Instagram launching Instagram Lite, Spotify Lite will give users many of the features in the regular app, but it promises to take up less space on your mobile device. The Spotify Lite app appeared in the Google Play store this week and has become available for download on Android Devices. According to TechCrunch, Android Police spotted the app this week in the Google Play store.
According to Spotify, the Lite version will still allow users to play millions of songs; the app will have fewer features than the full app but it won’t be such a drain on your phone’s storage and data plan. It’s a perfect for for older phones, phones with less memory or people who live in areas where wireless service isn’t as developed but still want to have access to millions of songs.
Android Police reports that the app looks similar but is missing certain functionalities such as offline playback and extreme quality playback, which can stream music at 320 kbps which could consume a lot of data if you use the app a lot.
Spotify Lite features
The app has most of the features from the regular app with the exception of a few features that might be heavier on your data plan.
Spotify users can still play music from all artists available on the regular app, discover new music and still listen to “Daily Mix” playlists. In addition to the music, the app is smaller and will load faster than the regular app. According to Engadget, Spotify Lite takes up 15MB of space, whereas the main app can take up as much as 100MB on Android devices.
According to Spotify, the new version of the popular music streaming app will also let users keep track of phone storage and data usage.
Since Spotify Lite is designed for emerging markets and people looking to save space on their mobile devices, it makes sense to cut some of the features from the main app that use a lot of data and storage space such as extreme quality playback and offline downloads. If you’re someone who uses Spotify Connect for streaming to other devices such as a home theater system, then you should know that Spotify Lite doesn’t have that feature. TechCrunch reports that the Spotify Lite app doesn’t seem to let users select specific songs to play and will function in a shuffle mode all the time.
If you can live without those features and are looking for a smaller app, then Spotify Lite might be for you.
Is Spotify Lite available for everyone?
Spotify Lite is currently in beta mode and is being tested in Brazil. The link to Spotify Lite is live on the Google Play store but the app might ask you to be placed on a waiting list if it’s not available in your area. It might be worth the wait if you’re an Android user and are looking to save some space on your Android mobile device.
