Facebook has internally started this thing they call Project LightSpeed. It is exactly what it sounds like. Its aim is to simply make everything move faster. Faster for the users that is. Then again, the world today revolves plenty on user experience.

While the world in 2019 and 2020 has been putting plenty of emphasis on user security and privacy (Facebook just had a Data Privacy brief with us two weeks ago), it does not mean that user experience in terms of the User Interface (UI) design, speed, and intuitiveness can be ignored. They are supposed to be developed hand-in-hand; they are supposed to move forward together.

Facebook understands that completely, and that is why they are introducing a new faster, lighter Facebook Messenger specifically for iOS. Before we go on, we did ask on the reason for the exclusivity. If you go on Google’s Play Store on your Android smartphone now and search for Facebook Messenger, you will notice two types of Facebook Messenger apps on the device. One of them is the normal blue pop-up coloured Facebook Messenger, and the other one is a white-faced pop-up called Facebook Messenger Lite. We can explain the differences in that further in the future (comment if you want that!). For now though, that also means that Android users get to choose between using the full beans and might of the regular Facebook Messenger app or choose to keep their devices running nice and quick with Facebook Messenger Lite app.

Let us get back to Facebook Messenger app for iOS. It will be available as an app update in the App Store, so if you already have the Facebook Messenger app there is no reason you need to download another one. It should be an update anyway, who are we kidding.

In layman terms, Facebook says that the new Messenger is supposed to load up or start up faster. While you may not notice too big of a difference at first, Facebook says that the benefit is plenty more visible over time. Thanks to simplified mechanics of the app, it is also a smaller app than before. That also means it consumes less storage space in your smartphone, which also means you get to take more photos. It is not just simplified mechanics though. Apparently, the engineers in Facebook has also simplified the experience within the app to not only ensure a lighter load on the device, but for its users too.

Now for the technical bits. It is actually simpler than you think, not as scary or overly complex. The headline figures are 1.7 million to 360,000. That is the amount of codes that were in the previous iteration of the Facebook Messenger for iOS app, and the amount that it is reduced to with the current iteration. That also means that they managed to shrink the amount of codes contained within the app by 84%. Less codes means less processing needed, and so you get faster load times. It also means reduced complexities and less maintenance needed from Facebook’s side.

What happened to the other codes that was not used in the current iteration? Cloud happened. To be specific, SQLite happened. What they did with SQLite, like plenty of modern mobile apps is to simplify processes and start putting plenty of the database on SQL’s database instead of storing every command on the device. That also means that instead of loading everything on your smartphone, whatever interaction you have with the app is happening on SQLite instantly. That also means that everything on the database is stored and worked on in a server farm somewhere. Again, less load on the device.

You are not losing the experience of a feature packed app like the Messenger with the new update though. In fact, you might be getting more. With the changes, you are not completely using a completely redesigned UI. It is just a small improved UI with better response time. The key here is to not make any major UI changes to the new Messenger build. Instead, Facebook still wanted that familiarity with their users. Like previously mentioned though, instead of storing each interaction as a unique interaction within the device, they moved that to a server with SQLite.

There is more to that though. Instead of storing or processing each interaction as unique interactions, they group them together, combine them and make them mere reactions from the database instead of completely recoating the app whenever something changes. That also means that instead of storing multiple different screens as unique screens, you are now only getting elements of screens popping up as you go along your Facebook Messenger app. Yes, you never noticed the transition. But imagine having to keep loading new screens whenever you scroll through the app and layering them over the previous screen.

The new Facebook Messenger app for iOS with LightSpeed is available for free on Apple’s ever-growing Apple App Store platform. For existing Facebook Messenger app for iOS users, the fourth major iteration is available to users as a simple app update via the Apple App Store as well. LightSpeed is also coming to Android’s Facebook apps in time. For more information on Facebook Messenger’s update and Project LightSpeed, you can visit Facebook’s news release and their engineering blog.