Adios, Google says to Chrome Lite. Here’s why.

Chrome lite mode originally known as data saver mode was launched in 2014. This was one of the oldest features of chrome and was launched to help people use less mobile data on their phones and load web pages faster.

In the decade prior to today, you may remember that internet plans were expensive and limited in terms of the amount of data available. Previously, companies offered a few gigabytes per month, and crossing that limit would incur additional charges. It was very expensive to buy unlimited data plans back then, whereas today, major carriers offer unlimited data plans (or close to it). Local carriers may also limit the speeds of mobile devices in some regions back then.

All the above-mentioned conditions related to internet plans resulted in the development of lite versions of many apps including Google Chrome. It worked by diverting web page data through a Google server before downloading it to your device. That way, each page can be simplified/optimized so less data is required for the page to load quickly.

But Google doesn’t see any reason to keep this feature activated because of the unlimited data plans that are available to the users. Unfortunately for those who relied on chrome lite to cut down on data consumption, Google has announced that they will be ditching the feature in the next major update to its Android app Chrome version M100.

“On March 29th, 2022, with the release of Chrome M100 to the stable channel, we’ll turn off Lite mode, a Chrome feature for Android that we introduced back in 2014 as Chrome Data Saver to help people use less mobile data on their phones and load web pages faster.

In recent years we’ve seen a decrease in cost for mobile data in many countries, and we’ve shipped many improvements to Chrome to further minimize data usage and improve web page loading. Although Lite mode is going away, we remain committed to ensuring Chrome can deliver a fast webpage loading experience on mobile.”

 “Although Lite mode is going away, we remain committed to ensuring Chrome can deliver a fast webpage loading experience on mobile,” added the company.