Twitter testing 'Lite' Android app in the Philippines

After reaching a near saturation point in the developed markets of the world, technology companies are now pruning down their mobile apps to adapt to the low connectivity regions where the data is slow or spotty. After Facebook and Google, Twitter now joins the league of 'Lite' apps with an ongoing testing of the same in the Philippines.

A company spokesperson confirmed TechCrunch that they are testing a native Android equivalent to its Lite website in the Philippines, where slower phone networks and limited phone storage make the standard app less practical. However, it is just an experiment and it’s still not decided if the micro-blogging site will test the app in other markets.

While the app does retain most of the core Twitter functions, the pruning basically happens with regard to media that saps most of the data. There's a "Data Saver" mode that avoids displaying pictures and videos unless you opt to see them, and Twitter says it can use up to 70 percent less data overall. Even the app itself occupies just 3MB of space.

The app runs Android 5.0 and up, has language support both for English and Filipino and is usable on 2G and 3G networks. It is essentially a native app version of the lightweight mobile website, also called Twitter Lite, that Twitter launched in April this year.