Spotify Lite for Android is now official, launching today across 36 countries. The lightweight version of Spotify's main app weighs in at only 10MB, and is designed primarily for users with smartphones running Android 4.3 and higher.
The app has been in testing for a while now, and its launch marks an important move for Spotify. Other lightweight versions of regular apps - such as Facebook - are primarily designed to run on older, slower handsets, which don't always have the muscle to run the full version, either due to older specifications or outdated software.
Spotify Lite still works like the regular app, and allows both free and premium users to search for and stream music, but with a few features that are essential to the Lite app. For one, users will be able to control the amount of data the app uses, so those on smaller data plans don't run out. The app will notify users when this limit is reached, so there's no worry of the app eating up your precious data plan in the background.
Users will also be able to clear the app's cache with a single tap, which is ideal for phones with limited amounts of free storage.
At the moment the company has no formal plans to bring the app to iOS, but Android users can download the app now from the Google Play store.
